Jasper Westernik
Royal Philips, a leading health technology company, has indicated its commitment to further explore healthcare delivery opportunities in Ghana.
The company, which is focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum, is poised to leverage on its advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions to the Ghanaian healthcare sector.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Philips Africa, Jasper Westernik, in an interview with DAILY GUIDE during an official visit to Ghana, spoke extensively on the need for partnerships between both private and public sectors to ensure equitable healthcare delivery in Ghana.
He said by harnessing the capacity of primary healthcare system in Ghana through partnerships with organisations like Philips, the government can address the shortcomings in the health sector, particularly primary healthcare.
“There is an improvement in Ghana’s healthcare and there are challenges which we are very much interested in solving together with government,” he stated.
Clearly, Mr Westerink said everybody realises the need for improved primary healthcare which comes with access to clinics operating under a laid-down standardised protocol and treatment.
Citing Philips’ involvement in the area of access to healthcare, he mentioned a perfect example is Philips’ community health centres which provide care services under standardised protocol and treatment that actually works with measurable outcomes.
Mr Westerink added that apart from Philips Africa’s dedication to provide important healthcare technology and services, educating people on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle is a major aspect of their mandate.
He explained that living a healthy lifestyle would reduce the incidence of diseases that require complex treatment, hinting that through its consumer business, Philips Africa implements an educational programme where customers of the brand are introduced to technologies that can help them make healthier life choices.
“Philips air fry and natural juice maker are a few of the technologies we have introduced to support our customers on making good lifestyle choices to reduce many of the risk factors of non communicable diseases,” he said.
Touching on innovation, Mr Westerink stressed that research and innovation are central to Philips’ activities in Africa.
He said the company’s innovation hub in Nairobi-Kenya is at the forefront for developing innovations “in Africa-for Africa”.
Mr Westerink pointed out through the activities of the innovation hub, the devise was created to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia in lower source countries.
“Philips’ children’s automated respiration monitor (CHARM) device has the potential to assist community health workers in establishing a more accurate measurement of a sick child’s breathing rate to help improve the diagnosis of pneumonia.
The device does not only provide quantitative feedback, but also qualitative feedback to the healthcare provider to diagnose fast breathing rates, which is one of the key vital signs to diagnosing pneumonia,” he revealed.
Mr Westerink was optimistic about a continued dialogue to ensure sustainable impact of partnership in Ghana through products and activities.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri