Josephine Logedi is HIV positive. And every month, this resident of Johannesburg comes to recover her antiretrovirals in a drug dispenser. A small revolution for this South African who no longer has to queue at the clinic. She usually waited for a good half day before being served. Josephine is relieved: "We can come at any time and we recover these drugs in five minutes.This is a very good idea." In total, 80% of the users of these distributors are HIV positive.
If Josephine has questions, she can ask a pharmacist who communicates via the distributor from a national call center. A logistical and technical feat that can treat 100,000 prescriptions every month.
"We do everything so that the patient is followed"
The system is operational at five sites. His designer is already talking about the pharmacy of the future. "It's a service of professionals, we keep all the medical data, what patients need, we have their phone number to call them if they do not come for their prescription. By texting, everything is done to keep the patient on track, "says Fanie Hendricksz, Director of Right ePharmacy.
The South African Ministry of Health is expected to develop this pilot project across the country, which has 4.5 million HIV-positive people treated free of charge. "Distributing drugs is not easy," says Yogan Pillay, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's AIDS program, "With so many patients, we need to find innovative, cost-effective, patient-friendly solutions. and that reduce the workload of our health services.At 2020, six million South Africans will have access to tritherapies, and the automation of the distribution of medicines may be needed.