Medical professionals hold a unique and vital place in our society. Few other roles are as important, specialised, or essential as those of doctors, nurses, and medical technicians — the people who care for the health and well-being of our families, friends, and communities.
In light of the existential roles these people play for all of us, it feels somewhat limiting to label what they do as just a “profession” – sure, professions are highly esteemed, specialised, and held to ethical codes, just like medicine, but they are generally nowhere near as intrinsically critical to our existence. But, one thing they do all share with professionals across the globe is a disdain for the kind of bureaucracy that limits their efficacy – which in this space, correlates directly with the improvement – or worsening – of patient outcomes and experiences in SA.
While we may not like it, paperwork is one of these necessary evils. It is a well known fact that most professionals, regardless of which sector they operate in – are required to engage in it for the system to function cohesively and for a greater good. But in the medical field, lengthy delays due to paperwork can have devastating consequences for patients who need a speedy response from laboratories and specialists.
In order for South Africa’s medical community to thrive, the doctors, nurses, technicians, and support staff need to work together across time and space. No man is an island, but the medical community is an archipelago of specialised services that is called upon to assist in diagnosis and treatment of patients. Every day, doctors across South Africa request lab tests – bloodwork, biopsies, or other diagnostic samples – that must be sent to external pathology labs (as not all hospitals have in-house laboratories). This system is still largely operated via paper-based analogues, whereby a physical sample is collected, to which a handwritten request is attached, and sent off to the lab.
This process has remained unchanged and, as such, has not been pruned or fine-tuned over decades, leading to inefficiencies. Labs frequently find themselves chasing missing data, struggling to decipher handwriting, or dealing with incomplete forms. Doctors, as the originators of the sample, are already time-starved and can hardly be weighed down by the extra bureaucratic chore of clarifying and amending tests (generally by phone calls or written requests) – especially given that samples are often time-sensitive, both for the patient’s health or in terms of the integrity of the sample itself. Any lag in the process can mean the difference between a fast diagnosis and a missed window for intervention.
These problems have been long accepted as being part of the medical community’s DNA – an inherent feature of being a doctor and a “necessary evil” to being able to rely on the skills and services of labs across the country. Ampath, a near-household name in terms of South African medical companies, are challenging this accepted truth, putting faith in their belief that the system can be improved by quietly and steadily investing in digital innovation for a number of years.
Their approach to the problem has been deliberate and thoughtful – the foundations of their efforts have relied on the feedback from those who need to use the systems of referring samples to labs: the general practitioners and specialists themselves. What they have gleaned from their discussions, observations, and testing is that isolated tech solutions are not the answer. A holistic approach is needed.
This user-first philosophy is what makes Ampath not just a healthcare provider, but a tech thought leader in the South African med-tech space. Their approach is redefining how healthcare platforms are conceptualized and built – with functionality driven by the needs of those who use them daily, operationalised through the help of UX specialists.
To bring this vision to life, Ampath partnered with Specno, a local company that is responsible for building hundreds of successful digital products, with the level of expertise required to convert innovative digital products into smart, scalable solutions. Why Specno? Because they are among the few companies in South Africa to have developed an app already used by thousands of doctors, Wardworx, by co-founding the solution alongside a practicing doctor who transitioned into a software product specialist. They not only have the technical know-how, but the insights as well, making them a perfect fit for such a job.
The result of their collaboration and joint insights? Ampath Pro Plus, a sleek, secure, and powerful digital platform that replaces paper-based pathology requests with a streamlined mobile and web app. In stark contrast to the prevailing paper-based, time consuming processes of lab requests, Ampath Pro Plus digitizes and modernizes the process of ordering tests. Doctors can now submit requests via the app with a few taps – cutting down on time and the bureaucratic strain of unsecured and unresponsive paper-based methods.
The system’s design, borne out of consultation and technical expertise and experience, is also the root of Ampath Pro Plus’s other strength: the recognition that solutions should not be siloed off behind many different databases and apps. Thus, the platform offers its users – the doctors and technicians of South Africa – ease of access and simplicity in functionality, allowing for the import of existing patient profiles, enabling the ability to quickly access test histories, and navigate through results with ease. The power of being able to view all previous patient results in one place is particularly powerful, promising to improve cross-professional collaboration and workflows, benefitting patient and doctor alike.
Although Ampath Pro Plus is focused on the South African ecosystem and context, its implications stretch far beyond national borders. It showcases that South African med-tech is not just keeping up – it’s leading. In an industry often reliant on imported technology, Ampath, by partnering with Specno, is proving that local innovation can solve local problems in ways that global tools simply can’t; not because foreign offerings lack talent, but because context and input from stakeholders (those who would benefit from the system) is critical. Ampath Pro Plus is greater than the sum of its parts: it is meaningful innovation driven by a daring desire to improve, and not just keep pace.
By Daniel Novitzkas, Chairman at Specno
