DURBAN – Some patients taking chronic medication, including anti-retrovirals for HIV/Aids, will soon be able to get their pills ATM-style.
And a live link will also connect a patient up to a remote pharmacist, with both the patient and the pharmacist being able to see each other before the patient’s personalised and labelled medication is delivered via the machine.
Four-and-a-half years in the planning, the ATM-type machine – officially called a Pharmacy Dispensing Unit (PDU) – is the first of its kind in the world.
And it will take just two to five minutes for patients to collect a prescription, “with a consultation also included,” said Fanie Hendriksz, managing director of Right ePharmacy which, together with the national Department of Health, aims to get chronic medication to patients conveniently.
Pilot projects are already operating in three Johannesburg hospitals and clinics, with others planned for selected Johannesburg shopping centres.
The launch of the innovation plan will be in Alex Plaza in Alexandra Township in August, followed by two other Soweto malls and a Johannesburg mall.
Hendriksz spoke about the plans during a session of the 8th South African Aids Conference at the Durban ICC.
A delegate earlier spoke about how he was HIV positive and, because of his studies, was unable to get to his clinic to collect his ARVs when he was meant to.
Hendriksz said that having access to a PDU in a shopping mall would solve his problem.
The PDU is the brainchild of the Right to Care non-governmental organisation.
Designed and developed by Right to Care, it is manufactured in Germany and is being commercialised by Right ePharmacy, a subsidiary of Right to Care.
The Johannesburg PDUs have been made possible by the Gauteng Department of Health, as well as through funding from donors and sponsors. Talks about installing the dispensers in the Free State are at an advanced stage.
The possibility of having the dispensers manufactured locally are being explored to bring the costs down.
“The challenges facing many patients are that they do not have immediate access to clinics where they can get their medication. They have to travel far to get them and have to take a day off work every month to do so. Now, they will be able to go to a shopping centre to get their prescriptions,” Hendriksz said.
Patients with a history of consistently taking their medication every month have been selected for the pilot projects.
Armed with a unique pin or using their ID number, they can access their medication just as they do to get money out of an ATM.
The technology, which includes a cloud-based pharmacy data system, links them to a virtual pharmacist, who ensures that the medicines are dispensed accurately.
There are built-in cameras for monitoring and dispensing and the pharmacist will be able to see that the medication is collected from the bin.