The subsidiary of the Aba Technology group, specializing in connected health, is launching a wide range of locally produced telemedicine equipment on the market. It thus aims to remedy the medical desert in many rural communities, but also to facilitate access to different medical specialties.
This equipment was presented on the sidelines of the first conference on reducing health risks, held from November 16 to 18 in Marrakech, notably in the presence of the advisor to King Mohamed VI, André Azoulay, the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch, and of the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Khalid Ait Taleb.
Contacted by us, Dr Saâd Chaacho, deputy general manager of Mediot and former director of the Medical Society of Telemedicine (SMT), which carries connected health projects within the Aba Technology group, provides us with details on these devices made in Morocco.
“100% Moroccan equipment”
“Our telemedicine solutions are available in several variants adapted to each use case,” he tells us. “These include portable devices, monitors, trolleys and telemedicine booths, which integrate an online computerized patient file and which are natively interfaceable with third-party information systems such as hospital information systems (HIS).”
“Our solutions are completely open and allow you to connect all types of medical instruments,” adds our source. “The cabin, in particular, stands out from other similar products on the market for its ability to carry out high-tech examinations such as whole-body tele-ultrasound within it. »
“And to extend the capabilities of our devices beyond videoconferencing, we are integrating several medical-class connected instruments, allowing the tele-doctor to carry out additional examinations in order to establish diagnoses equivalent to face-to-face: cardiac, vascular, digestive and gyneco-obstetrics, blood pressure monitor, otoscope, dermatoscope, electrocardiogram (ECG), oximeter, iris-scope, stethoscope, infrared thermometer, scale with impedancemetry, ultrasound measuring rod, etc. »
“In addition, our equipment exclusively integrates our Gateway Health Connect+, making it possible to connect, in addition, all types of specific equipment at the customer’s request, including hospital equipment. »
And to specify: “Our solutions are entirely designed and produced in Morocco, within our own facilities in Casablanca and Bouskoura, and benefit from the synergy of our different engineering, design, supply chain and IT development teams. , medical and biomedical experts, etc. We also integrate third-party medical instruments carefully selected by our teams for their quality and functionality. »
“Regarding the cost of the investment, it is 5 to 10 million dirhams for the needs of prototyping, compared to an amount of 30 million dirhams for industrialization and mass production. »
Teleconsultation, instructions for use
Concretely, how is a teleconsultation carried out using this equipment?
“In a classic teleconsultation scenario, the patient is greeted by a telemedicine assistant suitably trained by us, who is responsible for identifying them on the telemedicine platform, managing their appointments and establishing the videoconference with the tele-doctor,” specifies the deputy general director of Mediot.
“The exchanges between the patient and the latter are established naturally and, at his request, several instruments can be used to establish the diagnosis. At the end of the teleconsultation, the doctor can then write a prescription, provide advice, consider a transfer to a physical care structure or offer to see the patient again in a teleconsultation at a later date, depending on the patient’s condition. »
“Other usage scenarios are also possible: disconnected autonomous mode to directly operate the instruments, terminal mode to access the shared patient file and interactive mode by the patient himself to carry out a health check-up within the cabin . »
What about feasibility on the ground?
“Since the legislation of telemedicine and its regulations in Morocco, there has been a real awareness of its interest, particularly after the emergence of Covid-19. This pandemic has sparked enthusiasm among healthcare professionals for new telemedicine solutions, and has ended up convincing them of their effectiveness. »
“Moreover, the persistence of medical deserts, which concern more than 1.3 million Moroccan citizens, largely justifies the adoption of telemedicine, which requires professional solutions adapted to the national context,” underlines our interlocutor, noting that “ in 123 municipalities, it takes around two hours to get to the nearest doctor, while during these two hours of time, many complications can arise.”
“It is with this in mind that Mediot has developed its own solutions, believing that there is now a real need for adapted Moroccan products and freeing our country from dependence on foreign technologies, thus promoting our national technological and health sovereignty while offering quality products at competitive prices. »
Thus, in terms of attractiveness, “solutions developed by local companies will be more attractive to interested organizations, as imported solutions are often very expensive. »
“There have already been experiments in telemedicine in Morocco, this practice having been governed for around four years,” recalls Dr Saâd Chaacho.
“Until then, there have been a lot of teleconsultations in general medicine, dermatology or any other specialty that lends itself to telemedicine, but using foreign solutions. Until now, there has never been any Moroccan production in this sense. » So this is a first.
“As explained previously, this involves numerous pieces of equipment, including the telemedicine cabin which is new. In Morocco, we have never used it. However, we used other equipment, such as imported telemedicine carts.”
“We can say that telemedicine in Morocco was done in the traditional way, in the majority of cases through smartphones, WhatsApp or Skype, but these can never replace medical equipment. This means that the teledoctor consultant limits himself to what he sees. It cannot therefore measure a set of indicators, which provide more information on the patient’s condition. So we were talking more about telecounseling or remote medical advice.”
Furthermore, “you should know that Moroccan law prohibits patients’ medical data from passing abroad. To use them, through the equipment that we have developed, we have initiated a whole procedure to obtain the agreement of the National Commission for the Protection of Personal Data (CNDP). These are therefore end-to-end integrated solutions, while respecting the confidentiality of medical data.”
“These solutions facilitate access to different specialties”
This equipment “will also allow easier access to different specialties. In some regions, there is a lack of specialists who prefer to settle in more lucrative cities. These solutions will allow citizens to benefit from certain specialties that they do not have in their city of residence.”
However, “these solutions are limited to specialties that lend themselves to telemedicine, and therefore to medical specialties such as dermatology, cardiology and others. »
“In Morocco, the latest implementing decree relating to telemedicine has not yet resolved the issue of surgical specialties. As a result, surgical operations do not lend themselves to telemedicine. However, surgeries can be done in hospitals or clinics, but monitoring can be done remotely, to assess the patient’s state of health by a teledoctor, without them having to travel. .
Equipment intended for the public and private sectors
“The products can be deployed within existing healthcare establishments (dispensaries, health centers, clinics and hospitals) as well as at third-party structures such as businesses, hotels or other communities, a particularly useful use case. suitable for the cabin or cart accompanied by a bed,” says Dr. Chaacho.
“As for the commercial model envisaged, all variants remain possible (sale, rental, provision with joint provision of teleconsultation or tele-expertise, etc.) according to the specific needs of our customers. »
As for the sector concerned, “both sectors, public and private, can benefit equally from our solutions and our associated services”, he underlines. “The versatility of our products also makes them suitable for non-profit foundations as well as for export. »
Where is telemedicine in Morocco?
“It’s a regulated practice,” assures Dr. Chaacho. “There are two implementing decrees which establish telemedicine in its five forms, notably teleconsultation and tele-expertise. »
Indeed, the legal framework for telemedicine is established by articles 99 to 102 of Law 131-13 (February 2015), relating to the practice of medicine. These articles define telemedicine as an integral part of healthcare procedures.
An implementing decree (2-18-378), published in July 2018 in the Official Bulletin, then supplemented this law with some clarifications. This decree defines the types of acts in telemedicine, namely teleconsultation, tele-expertise, telemonitoring and tele-assistance, and sets the conditions for practicing it.
Another implementing decree (2-20-675) was published in January 2021, modifying and supplementing the previous one.
“The first decree specified that teleconsultation must be carried out between a doctor and a patient, who must be accompanied by a nurse, except that this condition presented an obstacle to the deployment of telemedicine. The presence of a nurse may not be necessary in certain cases. »
“The second version of this decree relaxed the conditions relating to teleconsultation, specifying that during the teleconsultation, a professional ‘may’ be present, without this being a condition for the teleconsultation” (article 1, paragraph 1, Editor’s note).
Noting that the Mediot company is a subsidiary of the Aba Technology group, which is a global and integrated operator of med-Tech and e-health.
The Mediot company is characterized by its integration throughout the healthcare value chain:
Design and manufacturing of devices: telemedicine carts and cabins and connected devices;
Edition and integration of software solutions: hospital information systems and mobile applications, etc.;
Delegated management of health establishments of all sizes: health centers, clinics, and hospitals.
