Why AI in Health
My story as to why I decided to offer this Application to the Namibian Medical Industry may be dark, but a silver lining found through the devastation was what it led me to.
Like the First Namibian Mobile App, developed by myself, it too was built on a dark experience in my beloved country. Call me bucolic, blind to the faults in the industry, or simply idealistic, if you must. But I do believe that a simple application, supported by the correct process, policies, and frameworks would go a long way to foster impeccable patient care and offer immense clarity to doctors within their fields. Whether a General Practitioner, a Dentist, a Surgeon, a Dietitian, a Psychologist, or a OB, this app is flexible enough to serve you in any way you need. I call it “Patient Portal”, and it was born of my own experience in the medical industry from surgery to post op that failed me in many ways.
What happened to me?
I had a virus, missed by many doctors, I went from operation to hospital bed, to home. Cut upon cut. I could not eat (starving), for over a year. I watched people eat, (imagine how painful this must be if you can). Driven crazy by the knowledge that within me was an empty and SMA Syndrome burdened and starved stomach that was causing my body to eat itself alive. “Organ Failure Risk”, was my official report to the Medical Aid to get the funding needed for the TPN Port to keep me alive. The balance and struggle was unimaginable. Between my body’s ability to eat away at me, and its intolerance of all medication, I cannot explain in words how I managed to survive.
Laughed at, called vain, told to “Do Yoga”, “Go back to work”, “You were made to go through this”, my insides torn apart, literally bleeding through my skin, my small intestine wrapped around my appendix, and my colon out of place. Veins tearing apart, making it impossible to sustain a drip for more than 7hours. A man next door passing quietly through the night only to have a deceased body slowly rolled past my door at 4am. I was too scared to sleep, too scared to speak, to frail to fight. Too tired, too broken. Never again. “Angry”, my psychiatrist said. “Enraged”, I said. Neglect cost me irreversible damage and no one apologized. Threatened, I lost my voice and my place in the world.
And so, having some form of High Functioning Aspergers, I have opted to put the “Patient Portal” together. Hoping to make sure that no Namibian would have to go through what I have gone through.
