Molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine company Stack Diagnostics (StackDx) is changing the face of healthcare in Nigeria by making available to doctors over 300 difficult-to-access diagnostic tests.
Over 20 tests are also being made available to consumers, encouraging them to take charge of their health.
To simplify the entire process, they have created an online platform, Diagnose Me Africa, which uses a centralized lab approach in making these tests available.
On the DiagnoseMe platform, various tests are available to consumers including allergy tests, food intolerance tests, infertility tests, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer predictive tests (BRCA 1 and 2), paternity tests, HPV DNA tests, DNA based sexual health tests and more.
Doctors have access to tests in various categories like cancers, auto-immune, pregnancy and infertility, hormones, hepatitis and other viral DNA tests.
Since its launch in October, DiagnoseMe has signed over 100 hospitals and 200+ specialists including hemato-oncologists, dermatologists, gynecologists, and pediatricians on to their platform.
This also aids in providing a web of shared knowledge as consumers have access to doctors, doctors and consumers have access to tests and doctors have access to other doctors.
Offering the option to have a board certified nurse draw a blood sample from the comfort of your home at no extra cost has propelled individual consumers to also patronize the platform.
The advent of Stack Dx draws attention to various health issues that Nigerians tend to overlook. Giving her feedback on the platform, one of the consumers said “Allergies, as silly and farfetched as they might seem, are capable of killing anyone; old or young.
However in Nigeria we do not take this seriously. As a kid you had to eat what was provided to you without complaint; no parent is checking to see if you are just not genetically compatible with the meal offered. With DiagnoseMe, I have had my children tested because I know allergies are real”
Others highlighted the convenience as being a key advantage of the platform “No one likes the looks nurses give you at hospitals when you want to go for a sexual health test. You can literally feel the judgment in their eyes. Paying N10,000 for a bulk test package is a great alternative”.
As consumers underlined their benefits, doctors also concurred “Due to the current state of the health sector in Nigeria, patients are forced to travel out of the country to better diagnose their ailments and get adequate treatment; this is really expensive’
Stack Dx is set on breaking the dependence on medical tourism by reducing barriers to genetic services and creating ease of access to the necessary tests.
