By JOHN SAKALA
Turkey’s ZKR, a healthcare communication solutions provider, plans to establish a regional office for Southern Africa in Zambia.
ZKR Intelligent Healthcare Communications Systems is a manufacturer of versatile and comfort nurse call systems that ensure efficiency in the health delivery system by facilitating constant communication between patients, nurses and specialist doctors.
ZKR Intelligent Healthcare Communications Solutions Africa Regional Manager, Abubacar Agostinho said his company was ready to work with the Ministry of Health to integrate the entire health system to ensure accountability by health practitioners as well as effective dispensing of medicines and utilisation of resources.
“We are now using the latest technology on the market and we are working towards opening regional offices in Africa so that we can share this technology with African countries such as Zambia. For example, in Zambia, we can integrate the entire health system, which would enable the Ministry of Health to control hospitals and account for medicines in the facilities,” Mr Agostinho said.
He said a delegation from his company would soon visit Zambia to explore the possibility of opening a regional office in Zambia.
He was speaking when Zambia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Joseph Chilengi visited the ZKR Intelligent Communications Solutions headquarters in Ankara yesterday.
ZKR Managing Director Hakan Unver said his company is working on identifying a Zambian institution in the health sector for possible collaboration and production of some of its products in the country.
He stated that ZKR was committed to transferring skills and technology to Zambians.
During the interaction, ZKR demonstrated its newly manufactured three-in- one high-tech “Smart Checkpoint” machine used to check body temperature, dispense hand sanitiser and compliance with the requirement to wear face masks in public places.
The machine also has capability to count the number of persons entering a building to prevent overcrowding in accordance with COVID-19 protocols and guidelines.
Meanwhile, Dr Chilengi welcomed plans by ZKR to open a regional office in Zambia.
He said Government under the leadership of President Edgar Lungu, had constructed modern health facilities and upgraded existing ones, which required advanced technologies such as those provided by ZKR.
“We have reached a stage where health has become a critical issue for mankind. Previously, we had other gravitating points on which we rallied around but now there is a transformation, we all have to rally around health and healthcare systems in order to respond to this challenge caused by COVID-19 and other emerging complex health issues,” Dr Chilengi said.
The envoy said stakeholders like ZKR Intelligent Healthcare Communications Solutions had an important role to play in sharing latest technologies in healthcare systems with African countries, including Zambia.
“This would also enhance the performance of our frontline health workers in their day-to-day work because they need to interact every minute with patients due to the complexity of the current health challenges that we have,” Dr Chilengi said.
He urged ZKR to travel to Zambia at the earliest convenience to discuss how its technologies would enable the Ministry of Health to deliver healthcare in a more efficient and collaborative manner, which would enable the country to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on health.
This is according to a media statement made available to The Independent Observer by First Secretary for Press at the Zambian Embassy in Turkey Jeremy Munthali.
