‘Housepital’ a word coined from ‘house’ and ‘hospital’ basically means, ‘a hospital in the house’. It basically translates to a scenario where the professional services of a hospital are brought to your house, at the comfort of your home. As long as a patient does not require the intensive care unit (ICU) or theatre, they can successfully be treated from the comfort of their home.
Is Housepital synonymous with home-based care?
The short answer is, no. Housepital introduces a new angle where highly trained and qualified nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals with the expertise of handling mild to very sick patients, actually take their services to the patients in the comfort of their homes.
This sharply contrasts with the traditional home-based care concept, which mainly entailed nurse assistants or patients attendants taking care of stroke patients, or patients with dementia etc.
The making of Housepital
Medicine is an evolving field and innovation is key. When the Covid pandemic began, Dr Theopilus Wangata, a physician and lead consultant at Precise Healthcare in Nairobi, Kenya realised the need to fight the disease by treating from home. While attending to most patients diagnosed with Covid 19, Dr Wangata noticed that a good number preferred to be treated in the comfort of their homes; a phenomenon that lead to the inception of the Housepital.
At Precise Healthcare, the clinic offers various services, which include homecare services, especially during this pandemic. In addition, they also offer weight loss services, pharmacy, laboratory, counselling services, nutrition services, chiropractic services and general consultations.
Dr Wangata, is widely travelled and has had the chance to see and learn the latest inventions in the healthcare industry in many countries abroad and has fully embraced home- based medical services. As such, one of the current ways of managing patients is to bring healthcare to them, at their convenience, rather than wait for them to go to hospital. This way, the treatment is not only convenient but also timely and easily accessible.
Open communication
The relationship between the patient and the caregivers is personalised as there is a close one-on-one interaction between the two, which also extends to the family of the patient who are always keen to be briefed every step of the way.
This ensures that our patients’ medical issues are addressed in a timely manner and there is ease of communication between the Housepital staff and relatives of the patient, many who would be in different locations both locally and abroad. This helps ease any anxieties or uncertainties regarding the patient’s treatment among the close family members and relatives on the progress of the treatment.
Strategic partnerships
Housepital under Precise Healthcare has partnered with various health institutions; ambulance and rescue institutions such as AMREF, CT and MRI scanning facilities, laboratories, doctors, nurses, nutritionists, physiotherapists,
ultrasound sonographers and other healthcare professionals to take treatments to the patient’s home. We also partner with logistics companies to ensure deliveries are done in a timely manner.
Future partnerships
We are in the process of bringing on board more partners for a better customer experience. Some of the insurance companies; both local and international have already started embracing our services for the medical treatment of their esteemed clients.
How does Housepital work?
Advantages of home-based medical care