Sometimes some people are too busy to even remember taking their own medication on schedule as prescribed. Because of work-related commitments, some are genuinely too busy to adequately be available to give care, physical and emotional support to their loved ones when they are sick and indisposed. Others are too busy to go carry out a diagnosis to establish basic things like existence of malaria-carrying plasmodium parasites in one’s blood stream. That is how many, detrimentally, resort to self-medication. This involves going over the counter of the nearby pharmacy and prescribe your own medication. Embarrassing as they are, these are challenges many working people experience. It’s true. It’s a fact.
Geoffrey Buwembo the GM for Trahas
THE MUYENGA SOLUTION;
Convinced that the problem is wide spread, a group of people acting very innovatively have come up with a solution aimed at creating a win-win situation. The solution will ensure that your loved one gets the necessary care, emotional support and love they deserve while undergoing treatment and you simultaneously carry on with your busy schedule at office. At the same time the well qualified nurses giving the actual care on your behalf get gainfully employed. Life then goes on uninterrupted for all of us. The innovators coming up with this innovation are operating under an organization called TRAHAS Bedside Care (U) Ltd which is based along Kironde Road Muyenga.It’s so prominently situated (off Tank Hill Road) you can’t miss it.
HOW IT WORKS;
In an interview with Mulengera news website, Trahas General Manager Geoffrey Buwembo explained that they have contracted sufficient number of nurses to work as care givers. This will be at a basic fee of Shs25,000per day and Buwembo believes it’s something that will work especially for the working people who are genuinely too busy to always be by the bedside of their loved once indisposed. Sometimes, especially the terminally ill, get confined on the hospital bed rest for such a long time one simply can’t afford being there 24/7. So, once hired, the Trahas nurse is there 24/7 to give physical, emotional/mental, health and nutritional care to such loved ones as their next of kin go about work to be able to ultimately raise the money for the hospital bills. Buwembo says they conducted research which showed that sometimes patients don’t respond well to appropriate medication because basic things such as the nutritional requirements haven’t been complied with. You need someone dedicated full time to ensure both the medication and nutritional schedules are adequately complied with. This actually enables medication to work better. Equally important is the need to ensure the patient (especially the terminally ill) is aided or reminded to take the right quantity of medication at the right time. Medication shouldn’t be taken too late or too early. It just has to be taken as prescribed by the doctor. You could be away and desire to check on how your patient is progressing and responding to medication. The patient could be in a state that doesn’t enable him or her to speak on phone. This hired nursing care giver comes in handy. You call and get professionally updated on how your patient is doing. Buwembo rightly says there are cases where a patient is bed-ridden but not admitted in the hospital. He or she is being treated at home. The Trahas nurses will still be available to give all the necessary care to the patient while at home. “That too needs to be done appropriately and we are talking about things as basic as administering insulin to the patient or timely adherence to the nutritional prescription. We have dedicated bedside service providers to do all that because that is one area where Trahas has built adequate experiences. Regardless of where your patient is-be it home or hospital-why trek between workplace and wherever he is receiving medication from? It’s costly in terms of time and money.There is also the risk that comes with making frequent travels on our roads as you know them; the traffic jam. We are here to help on all those because as our tagline goes your patient is our own,” Buwembo explains in an interview at the company’s very busy Muyenga offices. It’s a newly opened place but the intensity of human activity around it could make you think the organization has operated for years. People are moving in and out at every minute and the Boda riders at nearby stages have become aware something big has opened up in their area. During the interview we ask Buwembo how they have managed to create so much awareness in such a short time and he says they have been utilizing the digital space to reach hundreds of thousands of people. “We sent our close to 1m messages and the response the feedback has been overwhelming so far. Ugandans have liked the innovation and they have responded with enthusiasm,” saidBuwembo as he prepared to meet his next guest. This news website separately established that whereas Buwembo says the Trahas innovation is unprecedented in Uganda, there is an old man in Kawempe who for the last 10 years has been doing the same but not in a very formal way. He has been charging Shs75,000 against Trahas’ Shs25,000 but because there is a huge demand for such a service, he has been making money. His only problem has been being slow in aggressively marketing and formalizing the service. Apparently it’s that vacuum that Trahas promoters are here to fill by improving on where the Kawempe old man could have had gaps. For instance besides operating under a properly registered business name, Trahas has also sought affiliations and endorsement with a number of professional bodies whose recognition will be key in a business so sensitive. “We definitely know Ugandans have endured a lot. We can’t do anything fraudulent because trust of the market is key in this game. That’s why the process is on to secure as many accreditations as we can,” Buwembo says. He adds that the upcoming grand launch for the service will be graced by top health ministry officials whose invitations are being processed. In the long run, much later on, even the Vice President Edward Sekandi will visit the business in Muyenga all of which will be further testimony to the quality of the service they offer. Buwembo says “if we can get so much public attention before we even launch, how much enthusiasm and public endorsement are we going to attract after the launching ceremony?” Buwembo is optimistic the contracted nurses will give the best care they can, without any reservations, because in part they are to be remunerated on commission basis-taking a fraction of the Shs25,000 paid per day. This strategy will increase self-motivation and the individual nurses’ stake in the business because the better care they offer the more customers the business will attract which is good for the nurses and the investors behind the business.
WHATS ON OFFER;
Buwembo enumerates a range of services to be offered by Trahas and they include: bed bath for the patient, general nursing care, patient feeding, timely drug administering, monitoring vital signs & changes like blood pressure, sugar level and temperature levels. Others are giving care to babies & mothers after delivery and also care to caesarean-operated mothers. Also on offer are the physiotherapy services like helping out on patient physical exercises, helping to sit out patients and helping in patient-walking. Trahas also offers care to the sick, the elderly, the depressed and disabled. They also have a range of medical equipment for purchase and hiring. They also have ambulance services for their own signed up clients and also for hire. For comments, reach us on 0703164755.
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