Phone-based service puts South African healthcare on a diet

In some areas of SA, drug-resistant strains of diseases such as TB are developing because too many people do not complete their courses of medication. SIMpill, together with Upfront Systems, have developed a solution to turn the tide.

While the government is committed to providing free access to basic healthcare, its resources are strained by the scale of the problem. This is compounded by non-compliance, which renders medication ineffective. In the medium to longer term, the costs of non-compliance are in fact significantly greater than the costs of the medication.

To address this challenge, SIMpill developed the SIMpill device. It is an SMS-enabled pill dispenser, which "phones home" when opened. This has a two-fold goal. In the first place, caregivers are notified to remind the patient to take their medicine. In the second place, it enables the real-time collection of non-compliance data for the population.

SIMpill contracted Upfront Systems to develop the software counterpart to the SIMpill device. We receive medication events from the device as SMS messages, and based on the patient`s prescription, compliance is noted and reminders or alerts are sent out as necessary. The user interface to this system is built on Plone.

Pharmacists and doctors use the service to register SIMpill devices and enter prescription schedules for patients. SIMpill uses it to view global reports that assist in:

* Identifying the causes of non-compliance;
* Quantifying the effects;
* Providing simple, cost-effective solutions.

"Automating patient monitoring and enabling appropriate support at the time patients need it is the big breakthrough here. This is like assigning an extra health professional to follow each patient around - without the intrusion on the patient`s life and at a much lower cost," says Dr David Green, the inventor of SIMpill. "Plone allowed us to develop an attractive, usable interface to a complex system within a short timeframe. Its fine-grained security and workflow facilities were critical in restricting access to sensitive patient data," says Roch'e Compaan, CEO of Upfront Systems. "We`re excited to be able to implement an open source infrastructure which will have a positive impact on the quality of life of all South Africans (for a start!)."