• A partnership with Valentis Health, to provide telemedicine services to Telkom customers through Dial Daktari;
• Telkom customers will pay KSh. 450 to access a doctor for a medical tele-consultation, from the convenience of their homes;
• The service provides an additional route for patients to get medical services for primary healthcare conditions, while maintaining physical distancing, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Nairobi, Thursday, May 14, 2020…Telkom customers will now have convenient and subsidised access to medical consultations through its partnership with Valentis Health, a doctor-founded healthcare service providing Telemedicine.

The medical consultancy service, Dial Daktari, will give Telkom customers access to board licensed doctors, via their phones. This service will enable patients to observe physical distancing and to mitigate the risk of person-to-person infection, as stipulated by health authorities during this pandemic.

Telkom customers will access this service through a toll-free number, 0800-221-011.  A care manager will take you through triage and then assign you to a doctor for a consultation. If a prescription is required, one will be issued by the doctor and will be sent directly to one of various partnering pharmacies or directly to the patient.  Dial Daktari will also make referrals to specialists or to laboratories for further investigations. In emergency cases, Dial Daktari will facilitate the dispatch of an ambulance to the patient for further assessment and transfer to a hospital.

A teleconsultation will cost Telkom customers KSh. 450, payable via T-Kash Paybill Number 144563.

In addition to the phone consultations, the Valentis Health App will allow patients to track symptoms, communicate with the doctors via text and also through video consultations. With Mental Health becoming an increasing and rising concern in this time, Dial Daktari has a team of counsellors to assist patients experiencing acute stress and anxiety.

The Founder and CEO of Valentis Health, Dr. Don OTHORO, says: “The integration of online and offline healthcare means that our doctors are able to deliver seamless consultations, just as they would in person.”

Dr. OTHORO adds: “With the COVID – 19 crisis and mandatory physical distancing guidelines, patients have been asked to avoid unnecessary visits to health care facilities where they may put themselves or others at risk of infection. With this in mind, telemedicine has become an integral part of primary health care, enabling patients to seek medical attention for non COVID-medical conditions as well enquire about possible COVID symptoms.”

Telkom’s Chief Executive Officer, Mugo KIBATI says: “Technology will continue to play an integral part in the lives of Kenyans, more so now that it is enabling them to make the switch to conducting their affairs, virtually, from home: working from home, distance learning, virtual socialisation and now even getting to have medical consultation via phone. As a corporate citizen, we at Telkom chose to continue focusing our corporate social interventions and partnerships on areas such as these, where our core service will have direct and immediate impact, during this time.”

Telkom has also donated a 50 Mbps link to the Kenyatta National Hospital’s Infectious Diseases Unit at Mbagathi. The free Internet has enabled patients in quarantine as well as the frontline nurses, medical officers and doctors at the Mbagathi facility, to keep in touch with their loved ones and the outside world. Telkom has also provisioned the National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus, that is based at the Ministry of Health’s offices at Afya House, with free Internet connectivity, to support their work in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. The 200 Mbps link will also be used by the Ministry of Health’s offices at Afya House.

Mr. KIBATI adds: “This partnership with Valentis Health, demonstrates the role technology can play to bridge the gap of people, physicians and health systems, enabling patients to stay at home and communicate with doctors. Specifically, the digitisation of patient details, will, perhaps, eventually allow the virtual access of patient records from any location, enabling medical staff to attend to patients brought to hospital based on this virtual data.”

Ends…/

About Telkom

Telkom connects the people that keep Kenya on the move. It does this by providing integrated telecommunications solutions to individuals, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Government and large corporates in Kenya, drawing from a diverse solutions suite that includes voice, data, mobile money as well as network services. Powered by its vast fibre optic infrastructure, it is also a major provider of wholesale carrier-to-carrier traffic, within the country and the region.

Telkom is building on strong, consumer-centric ethos that is committed to providing innovative, accessible and refreshingly simple communications solutions that suit customers’ everyday communication needs.

Established as a telecommunications operator in April 1999, Telkom is 60 per cent owned by Helios Investment Partners, with the remaining stake held by Kenyans through the Government of Kenya. Telkom Kenya owns a 23% stake in TEAMS, a 5,000km undersea fibre optic cable through Fujairah, UAE; a 10% stake in LION2 another 2,700km undersea fibre optic cable through Mauritius. It also owns a 2.6% stake in the East African Submarine System Cable and manages the National Optic Fibre Backbone, an inland fibre optic cable network running through Kenyan counties. The arrival of DARE 1 with Telkom as the landing partner further reinforces its role in the management of the National Optic Fibre Backbone.

Please visit www.telkom.co.ke to get to know more about Telkom.

For clarification, please contact: George MLAGHUI | gmlaghui@telkom.co.ke

About Valentis Health

VALENTIS HEATH is a healthcare company providing general practice, wellness and counselling services to individuals and organizations. Founded in 2008, our vision is to increase access to healthcare using mobile phone technology. Through Dial Daktari, our telemedicine service, we offer medical consultations primarily through the phone and the Valentis Health App and through face-to-face, in-clinic appointments when necessary.

Valentis Health is doctor founded and clinically led and upholds high standards in the quality of care given, as stipulated in the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act and the Code of Professional Conduct, Ethics and Discipline. We are incorporated as a limited company.

Dial Daktari services are focused on using multiple innovative tools for comprehensive assessment and diagnosis, to improve the health of our communities. A major problem faced by communities today is the rising costs associated with healthcare. Our services address this while allowing us to identify and manage in a timely manner, any health situations, at reduced costs, due to an affordable fee structure.

We actively work towards bringing healthcare closer to the people, by reducing the time and cost that an individual requires to seek medical attention.

Please visit www.valentishealth.co.ke to get to know more about Valentis Health.

For clarification, please contact:

Dr. Donald OTHORO | dr.othoro@valentishealth.co.ke

Anna M R. OTHORO | anna.othoro@valentishealth.co.ke

Valentis Health, 603 Westside Tower, Lower Kabete, Nairobi, Kenya |T: +254 (0) 800 221 0 11