Ghanaians warm up to medical phone service

In about three weeks, Ghana’s health sector experiences a revolution through Vodafone Foundation with the launch of Healthline 255, a medical phone service in response to the need for credible and reliable health information to the Ghanaian people. Even though some people were skeptical about its acceptance and patronage by the Ghanaian community, the Healthline Call center seems to have been embraced quite well by Ghanaians.

Since its launch, Healthline 255 which is run by doctors and nurses with the support of a special triage system, has handled about 4700 calls with an average of 483 calls each day of the week with most of these calls coming in from the Northern parts of the country. This records a great impact for the medical phone service which is the first of its kind in Ghana and Africa as a whole, considering it is opened only six hours every day of the week between the hours of 4pm-10pm.The Healthline call center has succeeded in revolutionalising access to health information and advice for Ghanaians.

According to Dr. Byrite Asamoah, CEO of Vantage Medical Solutions and Director of Healthline 255, “Healthline 255 has come to satisfy a great medical need for Ghanaians by providing expert medical advice and health information that would help them make the best health decisions. Every day, people make choices about their health from what they eat to whether or not to consult a doctor or practice self medication at home among others. Now through Healthline 255, people have access to critical information they need”

Dr. Asamoah also mentioned that, “Being able to make good choices depends on having access to the best health information and advice, and that is where Healthline 255 has added great value in contributing to the health of Ghana.” Some of the common health cases reported to the doctors and nurses on Healthline 255 are; penile problems, rashes, abdominal pains, sexual problems and among others.

Healthline 255 is an extension of Vodafone Ghana’s award winning television programme, Healthline, which recently won the CIMG award for the second year in a row as the ‘Best Television Programme of the Year’.