A giraffe with the city of Nairobi in the background. Image: rjmiguel/Shutterstock
Irish tech firm Vitro signs multimillion-euro contract with prestigious Kenyan hospital.
Doctors at The Nairobi Hospital in Kenya will access clinical management software and services on tablet computers and other mobile devices, thanks to technology created by Dublin firm Vitro Software.
The contract was signed in Nairobi yesterday (8 November) at an Enterprise Ireland trade event officiated by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney, TD.
‘We see our contract with the highly respected Nairobi Hospital as our first step in the vast continent of Africa’
– DECLAN DALY
Vitro’s technology is bringing health systems around the world into the 21st century at considerable velocity.
It provides clinical management software and services on tablets and other mobile devices primarily for the healthcare sector, creating efficiencies while also reducing costs. It reduces change management challenges and provides better patient outcomes.
Vitro is already being used in more than 80 facilities worldwide, including major hospitals in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. It is also used in the management of immigration detainees in Australia and more specialised areas of care, such as rare diseases, and care for children and the elderly.
Vitro is used by Operation Smile, an American-headquartered NGO that provides free cleft lip and palate surgeries to children in more than 60 countries, as well as LauraLynn Children’s Hospice in Dublin.
Med in Ireland
From left: John Muthee, Savannah Informatics; Declan Daly, CEO of Vitro Software; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney, TD; and Gordon Odundo, CEO of The Nairobi Hospital. Image: Vitro Software
The contract win with The Nairobi Hospital came about through a business contact made at an Enterprise Ireland ‘Med in Ireland’ conference that was held in Dublin in 2015.
‘The company’s latest multimillion-euro contract with The Nairobi Hospital is yet another major milestone for Vitro Software for the international scaling of the company’
– JULIE SINNAMON
Vitro executives met with Gordon Odundo, CEO of The Nairobi Hospital, at that event and the introduction has led to Vitro’s first African business win.
In August 2016, The Nairobi Hospital launched an extensive plan to expand the capacity of the hospital to make quality healthcare more accessible in the region. It has earned recognition throughout East Africa and beyond as an advanced diagnostic, treatment and referral centre.
In 2016, hospital professionals saw almost 185,000 patients and performed almost 10,000 operations.
“The Nairobi Hospital is looking forward to working with Vitro on this project, which will offer tremendous value to our clinicians and enhance the quality of care to our patients,” Odundo said.
“The hospital prides itself as being the leading healthcare facility in the region, and this initiative will bear great testimony to our ability to be innovative in all matters that ensure the highest standards are met.”
Vitro Software, formerly known as Sláinte Healthcare, enables healthcare providers internationally to create efficiencies while also reducing costs and change management challenges, and providing better patient outcomes.
First step into Africa
Established in 2006, the company’s first product, Claimsure, met a gap in the revenue cycle management process for Irish hospitals, replacing its paper processes with an entirely electronic system.
Vitro was brought to market in 2012 and was quickly adopted by clients looking for a new approach to electronic medical records, or those that required a custom solution for niche or speciality areas in healthcare.
By 2015, it was being used in more than 90pc of Irish hospitals and integrated with all PAS, laboratory and radiology systems, with clients including Ireland’s HSE.
At the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, there has been a 36pc reduction in the time spent to locate, retrieve and store a patient’s record, and the time to locate historical data within the patient record has been reduced by 66pc.
“We see our contract with the highly respected Nairobi Hospital as our first step in the vast continent of Africa,” said Vitro Software CEO Declan Daly.
“We plan on significant growth over the next couple of years. With The Nairobi Hospital contract and a local Kenyan partner, Savannah Informatics, a Kenyan-based health informatics firm, we are well placed to grow, not just in Kenya, but to other sub-Saharan countries. I want to pay particular tribute to Enterprise Ireland for their focus in helping Irish companies develop export markets, which was significant in leading directly to this opportunity.”
Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon said her organisation has been helping Vitro to achieve its export ambition, reaching 80 healthcare facilities worldwide so far.
“The company’s latest multimillion-euro contract with The Nairobi Hospital is yet another major milestone for Vitro Software, for the international scaling of the company,” Sinnamon said.
