The Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) has partnered with healthcare workers to launch a Covid-19 mitigation contact center at the Kenyatta National Hospital targeted at frontline healthcare workers.
The contact center which will sit at the National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK) Headquarters is a partnership between the association and other health care professional associations, Equity Group and Kenya COVID-19 Fund. The center will offer psychosocial support to the front-line healthcare workers as well as provide a platform to access information and exchange best practices among the practitioners.
Speaking during the launch , Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Youth, Mr. Joe Mucheru said, following the COVID-19 Pandemic, health systems are now challenged more than ever, with health professionals having to deal with the double burden of managing the disease as well as stigma and fear of contracting the disease. “It is in view of the same that KoTDA and other partners have set up this COVID-19 Call Centre,” he said.
His ministry, he added, will through KoTDA, provide technical support, reliable infrastructure and devices that will be linked to the National Data center located at Konza Technopolis.
His counterpart, health Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Mutahi Kagwe said the ministry appreciates the utilization of innovation and technology in providing solutions to the COVID-19 challenge.
Eng. John Tanui, the Chief Executive Officer KoTDA said: “As a responsible citizen, KoTDA with other partners have set-up a COVID-19 Contact Centre (Call Centre). The call centre platform that can receive calls into the Healthcare Call Centre for Counselling services, enable workers to see the status of their colleagues, deliver faxes & voicemail to inbox, instant messaging, videoconferencing, online meeting and also provide interconnection to all Nationwide Healthcare Facilities and Workers.”
He added that the Centre is a platform for frontline health workers to access information, exchange best practice, training, psycho-social support and keep track of disease incidence amongst themselves. The platform also provides information for the public and be a one stop shop for Covid-19 related queries for the public.
The Authority will avail some Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) that will be set up at the call centre. The VDI platform will enable integration of additional systems like video conference solutions that will support telemedicine.
NNAK President, Mr. Alfred Obengo lauded the move by the partners, saying it will be instrumental in supporting the wellbeing of the frontline workers.
Globally, technology and innovation centers and hubs are at the forefront of the solution identification. KoTDA as one such center of technology advancement in Kenya is partnering with other like-minded institutions to offer solutions that either help contain the spread of coronavirus or empower the populace to tap opportunities created by the pandemic to earn some income.
Recently the authority partnered with the academia, sector and non-state actors to launch the great Covid-19 innovation challenge which attracted over 300 innovations by Kenya submitted with 15 winners being announced.
The solutions ranged from health systems innovation, food system innovation and dignified work challenge. In actualizing the vision of the contact center, KoTDA worked closely with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of ICT, Kenya Hubs Association, Kenya Medical Association, Kenya Clinical Officers Association (KCOA), Kenya Health Professionals Society, National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK), Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Kenya Psychiatric Association, COVID-19 Fund, Equity Bank and the Clinical Psychologists Association of Kenya (CPAK).
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