Online platform seeks to improve disease diagnosis, treatment, reduce death by 10%

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Stack Diagnostics, Nigeria’s first molecular diagnostics and personalised medicine company has launched DiagnoseMe.Africa, an online platform that provides diagnostics and treatment tools for healthcare providers in Africa.

According to the company, the diagnostic platform provides over 300 specialist tests across a wide range of conditions such as genetic disorders, infections (viral/bacteria), cancer, sexual transmitted disease (STD), paternity, autoimmune and hormonal disorders, vitamin deficiencies, and allergies among others.

Speaking during the unveiling of the DiagnoseMe.Africa platform in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Stack Diagnostics, said the burden of diseases requiring molecular and genetic testing were on the rise in Nigeria, hence the need for a platform to addressed the problem.

Ene-Obong lamented that 20 million Nigerians are infected with hepatitis; 22 million women infected with the human papillomavirus (26.3 per cent prevalence), while over 100, 000 infants die from misdiagnosis of sickle cell yearly.

He added that over 100, 000 Nigerian women have breast cancer yearly; of which the survival rate is 10 per cent due to the inability to differentiate breast cancer types using molecular techniques, among other.

He lamented that due to the similarity in presentation of viral diseases and the lack of molecular diagnostics, patients are frequently misdiagnosed with malaria, resulting in unnecessary costs to the patient, late detection, and death.

He said there is dis-aggregation and hyper-fragmentation among health care providers, diagnostics labs and the tools they use, which he said has resulted in poor referral network, poor navigation of specialist health care providers.

“Doctors lack the tools to aid clinical decision support, referral of cases and histories conveniently and securely to specialist treatment centers. Patients equally lack the tools to search and find qualified doctors capable of treating their conditions resulting in medical tourism for patients able to afford this option,” he said.

The CEO said the online diagnostics would provide genetic testing services and other hard-to-access services to providers and patients, using a centralized lab approach, and an online marketplace for ordering and receiving test results, confirming diagnosis, and referring patients for secondary and tertiary care.

This, he said would improve the life expectancy of Nigerians and reduce the death rate to 10 per cent.

The Medical Advisor, Stacks diagnostics/DiagnoseMe Africa, Dr Nchiewe Ani, urged Nigerians to embrace the medical service, as it would improve patients’ experiences and save cost while getting to the root of their ailments.

“It affords us the unparalleled ability to improve health care service delivery and eliminate certain avoidable need for referral abroad for tests not usually done in Nigeria,” she said.

Nchiewe also stressed that the online medical platform was a patient digitalised problem-solving tool that could function across 36 states in Nigeria, where the doctors provide medical service free of charge to patients.