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NHIF cardiac program offers first CME through Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health is well-known for our twin commitments to spreading health access and awareness among the public, and to fostering continuing medical education (CME) opportunities for medical practitioners. We’re thrilled to share that we recently offered our very first cardiac CME in conjunction with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardiac surgery program!
On April 26, we gathered doctors and nurses from the cardiac unit at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, Kenya. “We shared with them the status of the ongoing NHIF cardiac surgery program, and explained how they can refer patients they are unable to treat themselves through our Eldoret office, to be redistributed for cardiac care to our network of hospitals in Nairobi and Bomet,” said Cornelius Rop, Eldoret Operations Officer. This referral process is of special importance for MTRH’s clinicians, as the facility is partnered with Agile Global Health to support the NHIF cardiac program and is receiving patient inquiries for care, but is not yet conducting its own procedures onsite.
During the morning meeting, Agile Global Health’s Kenya National Director, Stephen Masinde, presented on the successes achieved so far by the NHIF flagship program, including the number of cardiac surgeries performed since the program’s October 2016 launch. “Doctors were impressed by the speedy and quality service Agile Global Health is delivering for cardiac patients,” commented Mr. Masinde.
Four senior MTRH cardiologists – Dr. Myra, Dr. Akwanalo, Dr. Njoroge, and Dr. Barasa – were in attendance. “The meeting presented an opportunity for these specialists to collaborate with Agile Global Health’s program managers regarding ten NHIF cardiac clients in the Eldoret area needing treatment,” said Mr. Rop. Four of these cases required pacemaker insertions, an intervention the MTRH cardiologists were well-prepared to perform, but which MTRH as a facility could not yet host. “We as Agile Global Health provided the coordination and management to shift these four cases to Eldoret Hospital, which could accommodate Dr. Akwanalo and Dr. Barasa to perform these procedures the very next week,” Mr. Rop reported. “And since then, our activity in the Eldoret region has continued to grow! We have now served over 100 cardiac clients through our Eldoret office, and Dr. Akwanalo has performed 17 successful pacemaker insertions at Eldoret Hospital.”
This CME was the first for the cardiac program, but it won’t be the last. Whether you’re a medical provider, facility administrator, or potential patient, follow Agile Global Health on social media to stay in-the-know about upcoming cardiac and healthcare events in your area!
In the photograph above: Stephen Masinde, Agile Global Health’s Kenya National Director, presents about the NHIF cardiac surgery program to cardiac unit doctors and nurses who attended our first cardiac program CME at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Patients honor their physician on India’s National Doctor’s Day
Did you know that India rang in the month of July with a special holiday? Our Kenyan patients currently in India to receive medical care certainly did! And on July 1st, National Doctor’s Day, several of our patients chose to honor their Indian oncologist for the occasion.
“We celebrated National Doctor’s Day at Manipal Hospital,” reported Tabrez Ahmed, Agile Global Health Bangalore Operations Manager. “Our Kenyan clients Violet Kerubo, Anne Murungi, and Jane Kariuki honored their Consultant Oncologist Dr. Amit Rauthan and his assistant with a greeting card and two single red roses.”
India is one of several countries that celebrates a designated National Doctor’s Day in recognition the impact of medical professionals on individuals and societies. Though the date of the holiday varies from country to country, presenting physicians with a card and a red flower is a common observance custom.
All three women are being treated by Dr. Rauthan for breast cancer under the sponsorship of Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), whose beneficiaries enjoy Agile Global Health’s management services at home as well as abroad for certain specialties. Beyond the gratitude our patients expressed for the high-quality treatment and thoughtful care they are receiving from Dr. Rauthan, their use of traditional symbols of the holiday – which is not currently observed in Kenya – displayed to a special degree their respect and appreciation for the Indian culture which has welcomed them on their medical journeys.
As always, we at Agile Global Health are privileged to witness the beautiful human impact of healthcare management done right: whether at the local or international level, connecting patients with the care and providers that are just right for them means life-changing outcomes, and life-long bonds with the people who help to achieve them.
In the photograph above: From left to right, Dr. Ashutosh (assistant to Dr. Rauthan) and Dr. Rauthan of Manipal Hospital with Agile Global Health patients Violet Kerubo, Anne Murungi, and Jane Kariuki. For the occasion of National Doctor’s Day in India, the patients presented their doctors with single red roses and a greeting card.
In the photograph below: Like their live flower presentation, the greeting card offered by the patients portrayed red blooms typical of the holiday.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Have you heard about Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF)? – Part I
Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) is a complex heart defect that involves four different problems in the heart. To fully explain this complicated condition, we’ll address it in two separate posts. Today we’ll cover ToF, Part I!
What are the four problems that comprise ToF?
- Ventricular septal defect (VSD) – a hole in the wall that separates the heart’s two lower chambers (ventricles)
- Pulmonary stenosis (PS) – narrowing of the valve between heart and lungs
- Right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) – thickening of the right ventricle wall
- Overriding aorta – misplaced or moved major blood vessel (aorta) of heart
Together, these problems lead to a mixing up of blood entering and blood leaving the heart. Blood that is low in oxygen (“blue”) mixes with blood that is oxygen-rich (“red”). Babies born with ToF sometimes are called “blue babies” because their lack of oxygenated blood can make them look blue (cyanotic).
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of ToF may be present at birth or shortly afterward, and include:
- Blueish discoloration of skin – “blue baby”
- Clubbed fingers
- Problems with eating
- Failure to gain weight
- Developmental delays
- Episodes of passing out
What are “tet spells?”
Some babies with ToF experience “spells,” in which a sudden drop in blood oxygen level causes the baby to become very blue. During a tet spell the baby may also:
- have difficulty breathing;
- initially become very irritable, later very tired and unresponsive; and/or
- have fits/seizure attacks.
The exact cause of these episodes is not known. Tet spells can be triggered when a child is upset, has a low red blood cell count (anemia), or is dehydrated. Reducing a baby’s anxiety by anticipating what he/she needs to stop crying can help prevent tet spells.
What should an adult do during a baby’s tet spell?
- Bring the baby’s knees up tight against the baby’s chest (the knee-chest position).
- Attempt to calm the baby.
- Call your doctor and/or take the baby to the hospital if there’s no improvement.
Even if the child improves, a consultation with the treating doctor following a tet spell is mandatory.
That does it for our introduction to ToF. But for the rest of the story, including diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment life, be sure to watch this blog for our upcoming “Have you Heard about Tetralogy of Fallot? – Part II” post!
Image credit: A.D.A.M.Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Hospitality partners uphold our “agile” pledge to patients
You’ve met Agile Global Health’s patients, staff members, and leaders. You’ve been introduced to some of the hospitals and physicians with whom we partner. Today, we bring you another important branch of the Agile family: our hospitality partners, who work every day to put our traveling patients at ease.
When we help clients travel to India from other countries, we know it’s important they be comfortable, as well as close to their treatment hospital. So Agile Global Health works with a plethora of hotels and guesthouses near our partner medical facilities to provide a diverse range of quality accommodation options to patients.
We take the same care in selecting lodging affiliates as we do in choosing clinical cohorts. And our discrimination does not go unnoticed! For example, we recently received this email from our patient, 59-year-old Mr. Mohamed Sheikh Ali of Nairobi, Kenya, who was treated at Artemis Health Institute for diseases of the nervous system. He took a moment upon his departure to appreciate the hotel services arranged by Agile’s Destination Management Center (DMC) in Delhi:
“This message is to inform you of the hospitality accorded by our guesthouse. As Kenyan visitors facilitated by A&K [Global Health], we were very excited with the services of our residence – all was taken care of very well.”
“This is another piece of evidence that each institution involved in what we do strives to make the customer experience better and help patients to a speedy recovery,” said Senior Relations Officer Aleksandra Golota.
We are always welcoming better and better hospitality partners into our network. Sometimes, this means a patient who has traveled with us previously is accommodated in a different facility from their last treatment trip. Uncertainty about a new residence can be unsettling – but as always, our team handles patient concerns with the utmost respect, professionalism, and support.
Take 44-year-old Mrs. Lilian Nyabuto. Agile Global Health manages her cancer treatment at Medanta The Medicity in Gurgaon, India, where she has traveled several times. On her most recent trip, we booked her into a new partner guesthouse near her hospital. Joyce Wambugu, her Kenya Care Consultant, admitted “We had a rough time trying to convince her husband back in Kenya that she and her attendant would not be returning to their previous hotel. I reassured him that the new residence is a nice place and showed him photos…A day later, he called me, sounding so elated that the new accommodation is such a nice option and a lovely facility. He wanted to apologize for doubting us and to thank us for the new solution!”
These relationships with lodging facilities don’t build themselves: rather, they are the product of our DMC team’s persistence and dedication. “Just yesterday, we had a meeting with an exceptional hotelier,” Ankur Gupta, our Delhi-based National Manager, recently explained. “They clearly heard our patients’ concerns, and in response added a refrigerator and dining table to all Agile Global Health rooms – above and beyond the standard amenities they already have. We continuously patronize and develop such partners, who are sincere about customer care and agile to accommodate client needs, while remaining cost-competitive for our institutional clients like the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) who sponsor patient accommodations.”
Just like us, our exceptional hospitality partners are always working to better serve our patients as individuals and support their healing. Watch this blog for an upcoming testimonial from one of our patients regarding her outstanding Indian lodging while in treatment, including her thanks to her sponsor, the NHIF!
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Agile Global Health joins Kenya conference on sustainable health
From April 19th-23rd, 2017, healthcare professionals from across Kenya gathered in Nanyuki for the 45th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Kenya Medical Association (KMA). Agile Global Health’s Nairobi team proudly joined this group of practitioners, policymakers, and thought leaders to share how our current initiatives in Kenya are supporting individuals in obtaining healthcare while also building capacity in the Kenyan healthcare system.
Founded in 1968, the KMA is a voluntary membership organization open to all medical and dental practitioners registered in the Republic of Kenya. Agile Global Health is pleased to partner with the KMA on occasional events given its important role in informing Kenyan healthcare policy. Per its website, the association – today around 3000 members strong – is charged with:
- promoting the practice of medicine in Kenya;
- upholding high standards of medical ethics and conduct;
- advising the Government, other medical bodies, and the general public on matters related to health;
- promoting the welfare of doctors;
- maintaining the honor and interest of the medical profession;
- supporting continuing professional development (CPD) through periodic publications, seminars, and scientific conferences; and
- liaising with medical associations around the world.
This year’s conference theme was Health Indicators for Sustainable Development. Agile Global Health participated as an exhibitor, represented by System Analyst/Cardiac Data Officer Faith Simiyu and Public Relations and Communications Officer Eva Gulavi; our Kenya National Director, Stephen Masinde, also participated as a delegate. Attendees ranging from doctors and government leaders to sponsors and other exhibitors visited our booth, where we shared with them our work in healthcare management both locally and internationally.
Presentations delivered throughout the three-day conference covered a wide variety of topics. Given this year’s theme, safe and sustainable strategies for nutrition, drinking water and sanitation, energy, and medical sector jobs – the “brain drain” of clinical professionals is a continuing concern for Kenya’s long-term healthcare system development – dominated discussions. Talks also addressed disaster risk management, pre-hospital care, infectious disease (including HIV and TB), and non-communicable disease, a focus of Kenya’s Vision 2030 strategy as well as of the NHIF @50 Cardiac Surgery Program that Agile Global Health implements. Additionally, the KMA educated conference attendees on its role in the national and county-level legislative and policymaking processes.
“Agile Global Health was especially pleased to attend this year’s conference because of the way this meeting’s theme touched upon what we do,” said Mr. Masinde. “We also look forward to being part of this event in future years, as Agile Global Health continues to support the advancement of healthcare for every Kenyan, and of health system management for the Kenyan nation.”
In the photograph above: Agile Global Health’s Eva Gulavi (left), Public Relations and Communications Officer, and Faith Simiyu (right), System Analyst/Cardiac Data Officer, are joined for a photo during the Kenya Medical Association’s 45th Annual Conference by Dr. Henry Wanga (center), Vice Chairman of the Kenya Medical Board National Executive Council.
In the photograph below: Ms. Gulavi and Ms. Simiyu represented Agile Global Health to medical professionals, sponsors, and other exhibitors at the April 2017 conference in Nanyuki, Kenya.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Meet an Agile Global Health partner: Sri Ramakrishna Hospital
Every single care provider and facility partner we welcome into the Agile Global Health network is selected for its clinical capacity and quality, procedure diversity, equipment and medical technology, and overall value, to name but a few parameters we carefully assess. But something additional makes one of our newest hospital relationships unique: a commitment to many of the same core values that guide Agile Global Health.
Sri Ramakrishna Multispecialty Hospital is located in Coimbatore City, the traditional textile capital of South India, which offers a calmer urban environment compared to the popular treatment destinations of Delhi and Bangalore. It is run by the SNR Sons Charitable Trust, a non-profit trust committed to bettering society through healthcare and education. “Driven by our founding motive of providing accessible healthcare to society,” the hospital’s website states, “patients receive the very best of care at virtually nominal costs…We are the rare exception to the rule – a private hospital driven by motives of empathy, service to society and excellence.”
With 29+ specialty areas of practice and the affirmed core values of reliability, responsibility, respect, and cost reasonableness, Sri Ramakrishna was an obvious partner for Agile Global Health. Our collaboration was jumpstarted by the hospital’s participation in the December 2016 tour of Indian partner hospitals that we arranged for a delegation from Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). Sri Ramakrishna’s CEO and the NHIF’s visiting leadership quickly connected over their shared commitment to corporate social responsibility: Sri Ramakrishna described its program providing free treatment to Tamil Nadu state pediatric cancer patients, while NHIF presented its new initiative sponsoring a surge of cardiac interventions throughout Kenya, including a recent surgical mission focused specifically on complex pediatric procedures.
Just weeks after the NHIF’s visit to Sri Ramakrishna, Agile Global Health managed our first Kenyan client to the hospital. And over the past six months, Sri Ramakrishna’s broad clinical capability has been on full display, as its staff has treated Agile Global Health clients for conditions ranging from rheumatic heart disease, spondylosis, and epilepsy and recurring seizures to encephalitis and diseases of the circulatory system.
“Our growing relationship with Sri Ramakrishna hospital is important because of the strategic alignment of their values with ours, particularly their dedication to cost-effective treatment without compromising quality,” said Sarala Gangadhara, Director of Agile Global Health’s Treatment Management Center. “We look forward to the continued expansion of this partnership with Sri Ramakrishna, as we serve patients within India’s national health system as well as individuals traveling here from more and more countries around the globe.”
Does your organization also share our healthcare philosophy? Is your hospital ready to join the premier international network for patient-centered, health system capacity-building care? Don’t delay. Agile Global Health is waiting to hear from you!
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Community gathers to give thanks for NHIF cardiac program
At Agile Global Health, we’re known for personalizing your healthcare experience even as we manage it professionally. And our close, continuous support to clients during their medical journeys forges special bonds between our staff and our patients, who often describe us as their “Agile Global Health family.”
Recently, our Public Relations and Communications Officer Eva Gulavi was honored with an invitation indicative of one family’s trust and gratitude for our support: a thanksgiving ceremony for a patient in the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Cardiac Surgery Program. Less than six weeks after her successful cardiac surgery, Felistus Chege gathered her extended family, her church parish, and her village community in Githunguri, Kiambu County, to celebrate her recovery. Ms. Gulavi was invited to receive thanks on behalf of Agile Global Health.
“They were very grateful to Agile Global Health for the amazing management job, and to NHIF for offloading their family the burden of the costly cardiac treatment,” said Ms. Gulavi. “I was given a chance to talk about the NHIF-funded program, and what Agile does as program implementer.”
Felistus’s husband said it had been a six-year journey for his family after numerous hospital visits. “We had many tests done on my wife before we learned that we had a cardiac case, because most doctors gave asthma treatment,” said Mr. Chege. When 42-year-old Felistus was finally diagnosed with rheumatic mitral stenosis, finances became the Cheges’ biggest challenge, and Felistus ended up on the waiting list for cardiac treatment. “When the time for Felistus’s treatment came according to the waiting list, we went to the hospital, only to be told that her dates were pushed back even further,” Mr. Chege recounted.
Thus, the Cheges were financially stranded until Agile Global Health called them in December 2016 to inform them about the NHIF Cardiac Surgery Program. “Our Cardiac Program Care Consultant forwarded Felistus’s name to The Karen Hospital, where the process for her treatment began with pre-assessment,” explained Ms. Gulavi. “Felistus was then admitted to The Karen Hospital in Nairobi on March 17th, underwent mitral valve repair on March 18th, and was discharged on March 24th.” Felistus’s care before, during, and after her surgery were fully funded by the NHIF and carefully managed by Agile Global Health.
“It’s been over a month now,” said Mr. Chege at the thanksgiving ceremony, “and we are now here thanking God for what he has done for me and my family through Agile Global Health and the NHIF. You are great people! We really appreciate you – through you, we have been able to get to where we are. Only God can reward you for what you have done for me and my family.”
In the photograph above: Eva Gulavi (left), Agile’s Public Relations & Communications Officer, joined our former cardiac patient Felistus Chege (right) six weeks after her successful surgery to celebrate her return to good health through the NHIF @50 Cardiac Surgery Program.
In the photograph below: Felistus’s family, friends, and community held a special thanksgiving ceremony in gratitude for the NHIF-funded, Agile-managed cardiac surgery that saved Felistus’s life.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Kenya Cardiac Conference Rallies Key Stakeholders to Celebrate Lives Saved, Augmented Clinical Capacity
North Carolina, USA – June 23, 2017: On June 8th, Agile Global Health’s Kenya team gathered key stakeholders in Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Cardiac Surgery Program from around Kenya, and the globe, for a half-day cardiac summit at Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi.
The meeting, which drew more than 150 attendees, brought together cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, NHIF leadership and board members, the Ministry of Health, the Kenya Medical Association (KMA), the Kenya Cardiac Society (KCS), a World Bank representative for Africa, participating hospital clinical and administrative staff, and surgery beneficiaries with executives, staff, and the original founder – a guest of honor for this special occasion – of program implementer Agile Global Health. Through presentations, patient testimonies, a moderated panel, and a press briefing, the conference conveyed the program’s progress over its first eight months of activity, and fostered open exchange among all participants on aspirations and strategies for its future.
Since October 2016, over 300 Kenyans have received NHIF-covered cardiac interventions or open-heart surgeries as part of the “NHIF @50” Cardiac Surgery Program. As acknowledged during the conference – as well as by NHIF CEO Geoffrey Mwangi in an interview on NTV’s AM Live show leading up to it – a key enabler of NHIF success has been Agile Global Health’s disciplined management focus on data capture, analysis, and continual monitoring, which has allowed the program to continuously adapt to emerging opportunities and challenges. “This conference was a critical turning point in ensuring that all stakeholders clearly understood why NHIF chose us to implement this program, and how we are making all its disparate parts function collectively, to the benefit of patients and the capacity of Kenya’s health system,” said Joyce Wambugu, Agile’s Nairobi-based Care Director. “I believe the question ‘why Agile Global Health?’ was answered that day.”
Ms. Wambugu’s conviction has been borne out by the numbers. In the weeks since the cardiac conference, we have witnessed two marked shifts: first, with growing knowledge of the program’s work and accomplishments, more Kenyan hospitals are now earnestly seeking out Agile Global Health to join this crucial initiative. And second, the program’s elevated profile since the conference has heightened public awareness, leading to a surge of new patients. “Since the publicity boon of the conference, we’ve seen our open-heart surgery volumes trending up,” said Dr. Rainer Hilgenfeld, Chief Medical Officer, “and we’re also realizing major growth among interventional and diagnostic cardiac procedures. This means that increased awareness is rapidly driving the program in the direction of more patients using it to access preventative and early-intervention care, which saves lives as well as funds.”
“We as Agile Global Health are thankful for the hard work of many that made this event possible,” said Stephen Masinde, Agile’s Kenya National Director. “We acknowledge first the NHIF and our hosting venue Sarova Panafric Hotel, as well as The Mater Hospital, The Karen Hospital, Tenwek Hospital, Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, Nairobi Hospital, Coast Provincial General Hospital, M.P. Shah Hospital, Dr. Harun Otieno for his presentation on heart attacks in Kenya, and our moderator, Mr. Eric Latiff.”
Connect with the latest NHIF @50 Cardiac Surgery Program news, and all Agile Global Health initiatives, on our blog.
In the photograph above: Agile (operating as A&K) Global Health’s CEO Morgan Darwin, founder Wes Edens, and Chief Medical Officer Rainer Hilgenfeld (center back row) proudly stand with members of our Kenya team following the successful stakeholder summit for the NHIF @50 Cardiac Surgery Program.
In the photograph below: From left to right, Mr. Darwin, NHIF CEO Geoffrey Mwangi, and Mr. Edens joined representatives of numerous government ministries, medical societies, healthcare institutions, and patients themselves in Nairobi to celebrate the accomplishments of the cardiac program.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Agile Global Health’s SMS services are a 24/7 patient helpline
Agile Global Health is dedicated to comprehensively managing your healthcare experience with speed, accuracy, and personalization. We’ve already introduced you to the mobile SMS program we use to keep in constant touch with our clients traveling to India for treatment, continually measuring and assuring their satisfaction. Today, we’ll explain how our SMS surveys go beyond providing internal feedback to function as a patient helpline.
In addition to the six sequenced questions that internationally-traveling patients are sent during their stay in India, we send a welcome message immediately upon arrival: “Agile Global Health welcomes you to India. Thank you for choosing our services for your medical needs. We wish you a safe & pleasant stay in India. For any assistance, please contact your Operations Officers.”
“It’s a personal gesture, but also an invitation for the patient to communicate proactively with us for any reason at any time,” explains Dominique Yonzon, Assistant Manager of Agile’s Treatment Management Center (TMC) in Bangalore, India
Some patients are so positive they express gratitude for the welcome message – for instance, “Thanks. Already in India and so far, no complaints. We are okay,” which we received from a Kenyan patient whose travel and care we managed at BLK Super Specialty Hospital. Some patients also go beyond supplying a numerical response to the survey questions, like a Kenyan patient for whom Agile coordinated treatment at Artemis Hospital, who shared “I am happy about the reception received all the way from airport up to hospital. Keep up the spirit.”
And when our patients have negative feedback, our SMS services become their helpline. Take an Iraqi patient being treated in Delhi, who responded to our survey question about accommodations with a 4 (“very dissatisfied”). We immediately reached out to him and listened to his complaints. “When we learned that he had issues with food variety and cleanliness, his Agile Operations Officer arranged an urgent meeting directly with the owner of the hotel, making certain the patient was specifically served non-vegetarian meals, per his cultural preference, and that the kitchen staff wore gloves while preparing food.” The outcome? “Because our patient was happy, he did not change hotels, which also pleased the owner as our partner!”
This story illustrates our SMS service as a multifaceted helpline, covering our patients’ logistical, medical, financial, and perhaps most complicated of all, cultural concerns. “Our staff go above and beyond to handle complaints that may not be about health crises, or crucial legal or financial problems, but which are difficult for them because they challenge cultural norms and expectations,” says Saraladevi Gangadhara, Agile’s Bangalore TMC Director. “We strive to put our patients at ease – whatever that means for them.”
Providing expertly nuanced services that honor cultural differences is complex, but at Agile Global Health, it’s our specialty. Our SMS communications – currently available in English, Kurdish, and Arabic – will continue to expand as we enter new markets, serving an increasingly global representation of patients from all over the world.
Photo by Susanna Marsiglia on Unsplash
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Agile Global Health spreads care & information throughout Kenya
You’ve heard the exciting news: A&K Global Health is now Agile Global Health! And our pace and activity across Kenya during the first five months of 2017 certainly live up to our new name.
On January 24, our Mombasa team traveled with National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) officers to Kenya’s northern coast to jointly present our partnership to 85 Lamu County Government employees. “Agile Global Health had already facilitated a number of Lamu County staff members’ treatment in India,” said Operations Officer Bernard Ademba. “This opportunity allowed us to present step-by-step how our management can now help patients receive affordable, quality healthcare locally as well as internationally.”
On January 26, our Eldoret staff addressed 80 Longisa County Referral Hospital personnel in Bomet County, educating doctors and nurses on the NHIF benefits available to them and their dependents, explaining how their patients can access specialized treatment through Agile’s international hospital network for conditions not manageable in Kenya, and making them aware of our work with the NHIF’s ongoing, growing national cardiac program. Thanks to this event, seven new patients entered our screening pipeline for cardiac interventions!
March 16 took our Eldoret team to Nakuru’s Evans Sunrise Hospital with the same presentation. We’re currently assisting patients from among the 40 attendees with care needs ranging from liver transplant to brain tumor treatment.
Weeks later, Agile Global Health joined forces with India’s BLK Super Specialty Hospital to offer medical camps in central Kenya for the first time in four years! From March 3 to April 1, Kilifi County’s Malindi Sub County Hospital and Star Hospital Milindi hosted 188 patient consultations and a local physicians’ roundtable with BLK specialists, as well as a continuing medical education session by Agile Global Health for over 100 healthcare professionals. “Information on the NHIF cardiac program excited the participants, which lead to our Care Consultant and one of the doctors visiting a local 11-year-old cardiac patient who required urgent evaluation,” said Mr. Ademba. The camp continued at Kimkan Hospital in Muranga County from April 3-4, with 152 patients seen.
On April 8, our Marketing Executive Lencer Misiani represented Agile Global Health at a large Ministry of Health-organized medical camp in Masogo. 354 patients and 70 nurses from different facilities within Kisumu County attended! “We introduced the NHIF cardiac program,” said Ms. Misiani. “The nurses were glad to learn of it, and eager to refer cardiac clients.”
On May 2 at Burnt Forest County Hospital, 45 staff listened keenly as we presented their NHIF insurance benefits, how these benefits apply to Agile’s local and global medical management services, and shared about the NHIF cardiac program. Two patients with oncology concerns and four seeking cardiac treatment were able to connect with us for care.
From May 19-20, Mombasa’s Mewa Hospital hosted visiting doctors from Mumbai, India’s SevenHills Hospital, who offered professional advice to 218 patients seeking specialty care. Less than a week later, we had already scheduled two cardiac clients for travel and treatment.
Our name is new, but some things are unchanging – like our dedication to empowering patients and doctors alike with expanded health knowledge and capability. Keep up with us on the Agile Global Health blog as we continue to grow this important work!
In the photograph above: A nurse takes a patient’s blood pressure at the recent Masogo medical camp organized by the Kenyan Ministry of Health.
In the photograph below: Agile Global Health’s Lencer Misiani, far left, with several of the 70 enthusiastic nurses who traveled from facilities throughout Kisumu County to Masogo Sub County Hospital, where together they saw 354 patients in a stunning one-day effort.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries), an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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What is Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)?
What is atrial septal defect?
Atrial septal defect (ASD) is a congenital heart disease where there is hole (septum) in the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart (the left and right atriums). As a result, the oxygen-rich blood in the left atrium flows into the right atrium, where it mixes with the oxygen-poor blood and thereby increases the volume of blood flow to the lungs.
What are the signs and symptoms?
Symptoms of the disease depend on the location of the hole in the septum and the size of the hole. Children with small-sized holes may not have any symptoms. However, if the hole is medium to large, the following symptoms may be observed:
- Shortness of breath
- Poor growth
- Lack of appetite
- Easily tired
- Lung infections like pneumonia
In cases where a medium to large ASD has not been repaired, complications like heart rhythm disorders, heart failure, stroke, and pulmonary hypertension can occur. These complications are generally seen around age 30 or later.
How is ASD diagnosed?
The presence of abnormal heart sounds (murmurs) during a physical examination is usually the first indicator of an underlying problem. The patient may then undergo a chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), echocardiogram (echo), cardiac catheterization, etc.
How is ASD treated?
Treatment options vary, depending on the child’s age as well as on the size, location, and severity of the defect.
- Very small ASDs may close on their own, and until then require only regular follow-up with a physician or cardiologist.
- Larger ASDs may be closed by direct surgical closure with cardiopulmonary bypass or percutaneous transcatheter closure, or via endoscopic minimally invasive surgery.
What medications are used in ASD treatment?
Drugs may be required in cases of heart rhythm disorders and/or fluid overload. Antibiotics are used during the post-operative period before any routine dental work or any surgical procedures are performed, in order to prevent infections of the inner lining of the heart.
What is the follow-up protocol after surgery?
Regular follow-up should be maintained with the cardiologist. A physical exam and echo may also be required, depending on the specifics of the case.
A doctor should be seen immediately if the child has any of the following signs or symptoms:
- Difficulty breathing
- Poor appetite or difficulty feeding
- Prolonged or unexplained fever
- Increased pain, redness, or pus from the incision site
- Bluish skin around the mouth, lips, and/or tongue
- No weight gain, or weight loss
- Tiredness and decreased playing
- Increasing pain, tenderness, or pus oozing from the incision
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know.
Image credit: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -
Signifying vision and expansion, A&K Global Health becomes Agile Global Health
The international healthcare manager A&K Global Health today announces it will begin doing business as Agile Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company.
The new name is inspired by the core capability that has earned this young company its worldwide reputation: delivering swift, effective movement and comprehensive management for each patient through the healthcare experience best suited to their needs, whether found in the patient’s home region, home country, or abroad.
This marks a transition from the company’s founding focus on medical travel – namely, moving patients from one national health system into another for treatment, and supervising their seamless transition back into their home health system for follow-up care – and acknowledges the much broader work that Agile Global Health conducts today, as a system manager within the healthcare field operating internationally as well as at the national level in more than a dozen advancing economies.
Retiring the “A&K” inherited from its former sister company, luxury global tour operator Abercrombie & Kent, also signifies the company’s maturation into its own distinctive identity and market space.
“I am very proud of the heritage of our namesake, Abercrombie & Kent. Our big sister has built a global reputation for excellence in tourism, and in our youth, it was great to have her example to help us get started,” said Morgan Darwin, Agile Global Health’s Chief Executive Officer. “But today we are standing on our own. The new opportunities we are advancing in healthcare management make now the time for us to build a unique brand around a name that articulates the impact we strive to have: creating an agile health system that rapidly adapts to the needs of each patient.”
The new opportunities that Mr. Darwin references include four signature service lines: 1) management of logistics, claims and medical care for institutional patients; 2) hospital services, in the form of performance metrics and patient management (local/resident as well as nonresident/international inbound); 3) collaboration with national and local healthcare authorities to address management issues that hinder effective care delivery; and 4) working in support of national and local healthcare objectives to increase accessibility, improve clinical outcomes, and lower costs, in rural and urban settings.
Specific initiatives in each of these areas are already underway. In management of tertiary care abroad, Agile Global Health has exceeded 2,500 cases to date, with more than 500 of these in the first five months of 2017 alone. As the implementer of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardiac surgery program in Kenya, the company has managed the local performance of nearly 300 open- and closed-heart cardiac interventions over the past eight months. In the next six months, also in East Africa, Agile Global Health will launch both a pilot maternity mortality reduction project as well as a rheumatic heart disease (RHD) screening, treatment, and eradication scheme. And it is currently forming its first official partnerships with several high-profile global nonprofits and international organizations, with details to be announced in a series of upcoming press releases.
2017 has started with amazing activity that could surpass 2016, even before the middle of this year,” said Mr. Darwin. “2017 is unfolding as a year of powerful change.”
Agile Global Health attributes its tremendous growth to how it serves clients and patients as much as to whatservices it provides. “Our management goes beyond clinical excellence,” explains Aleksandra Golota, Senior Relations Manager. “We strive not just for the clinical outcomes, but also for the financial and customer experience outcomes, to be right every time for every individual. And we do this through our relationships with healthcare funders and providers, our on-the-ground presence, and our technology.” These focal pillars will continue to undergird the company’s growth as it expands into Agile Global Health.
Mr. Darwin will make the first formal introduction of the company as Agile Global Health on Thursday at the NHIF-sponsored cardiac surgery symposium in Nairobi, which is being covered live on Kenyan national television. Guest of honor Wes Edens, the original founder of A&K Global Health, will also attend this important occasion.
Agile Global Health will detail the cardiac summit in a forthcoming press release. For that story and for all current news and achievements, patient testimonies, and partnership opportunities, visit the Agile Global Health website.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company, is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Cardiac patient’s sister sings thanks to NHIF, A&K Global Health
Every day, A&K Global Health encounters astonishing stories from patients benefiting under Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardiac surgery program. Fredrick Orina’s experience is one example.
Sponsored by the NHIF, 46-year-old Fredrick underwent aortic valve replacement surgery at Mater Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya on January 17. He was discharged from the hospital on February 16.
“This man’s story has just amazed everyone…his case is particularly touching because he’d been sick for 18 years, and nearly everyone had given up hope for him, knowing he was going to die,” said Eva Gulavi, Public Relations and Communications Officer. “Mr. Orina was so thankful for the second chance his surgery provided that he walked right into the Mater Hospital CEO’s office, in his hospital gown, to express his gratitude!”
When the A&K Global Health team visited Fredrick after his surgery, his sister was similarly overcome with joy and broke into a song of thanksgiving. At his discharge from the hospital, a nurse told our team that Fredrick was sharply dressed in a suit, adding “no one could have imagined that this man was the same sick person who went in for treatment.”
Hear Fredrick’s sister singing her gratitude, and see the healthy glow on Fredrick’s face, in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company, is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Meet an NHIF cardiac surgery program partner: Tenwek Hospital
In the past, we’ve introduced you to some of our hospital partners in India. Today, we’re thrilled to offer you the first in a series of posts presenting our Kenyan hospital partners, who are boldly implementing Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardiac surgery program – and not just in Nairobi County, but truly nationwide!
Meet Tenwek Hospital, a 300-bed teaching hospital in western Kenya’s Bomet County. The name “Tenwek,” derived from “ten weeks,” refers to the length of journey the founding missionaries undertook to reach the area from Mombasa in 1937, when the hospital was established.
A team from A&K Global Health’s Nairobi office recently traveled to Tenwek – thankfully, now only a few hours by car! – to meet with their cardiac program clinical and support staff. “The main objective for our visit was to strengthen the relationship that exists between us,” said Phylis Wanjiru, Cardiac Program Care Consultant. “We thanked the Tenwek team for their excellent work with the cardiac program thus far, and assured them of our continued support.”
Tenwek has one of the highest procedure volumes among participating hospitals: with over 30 cardiac interventions conducted since the program began, it is the busiest program facility outside Nairobi. Tenwek also boasts a track record of successful high-risk cardiac procedures. Dr. Russ White, Tenwek Hospital’s Chief of Surgery, told our team about one such surgery that lasted for 12 hours. “None of the surgeons attending to this patient thought it was likely she would make it through, but they were absolutely determined to complete this complex procedure despite the odds,” said Eva Gulavi, Public Relations and Communications Officer. “Dr. White categorically stated that the only other hospital he knew to be capable of handling this kind of procedure was in Houston, Texas. It’s a tremendously proud achievement for Tenwek Hospital to have saved this woman’s life by successfully performing this surgery.”
A&K Global Health’s team toured hospital, visiting Tenwek’s operating theatre, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Unit (HDU). Two of our patients who had recently undergone successful cardiac surgeries, including a four-month-old infant, were recovering well in the ICU. Another of our patients, a seven-year-old girl, was admitted in the general ward awaiting surgery; our team spoke to her and encouraged her as she waited.
Despite their distance from Nairobi, the Tenwek staff expressed how much they look forward to attending the upcoming cardiac symposium that A&K Global Health is coordinating for NHIF leadership, Ministry of Health and Kenya Cardiac Society representatives, local cardiac surgeons and cardiologists, and administrators from participating hospitals. “This event will gather all cardiac program stakeholders to address crucial questions and requirements for further developing the program’s capacity,” said Ms. Wanjiru.
We hope you’ve enjoyed your virtual visit to Tenwek Hospital as much as we enjoyed our live one. Stay with us here on the A&K Global Health blog to meet more of our amazing Kenyan hospital partners, who are administering life-saving cardiac procedures every day!
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health cardiac program officers joined Tenwek Hospital staff at their facility in Bomet County, Kenya to collaborate on their cooperation under the NHIF’s cardiac surgery program.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company, is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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NHIF support “does Kenyans proud” during medical treatment abroad
The life-changing, positive effects of the healthcare management experience we ensure for our patients don’t stop with them. These benefits also profoundly impact their community of family and friends.
Take it from George Aran. His wife Margaret, 55, of Kisumu, Kenya needed treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee; the severity of her condition required her to seek care outside Kenya. With financial sponsorship from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and A&K Global Health’s expert medical management throughout their journey, the Arans traveled to BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, India, where Mrs. Aran underwent a successful knee replacement.
So moved was Mr. Aran by the professional, personalized support he and his wife experienced that he recently wrote directly to the NHIF CEO to share their story.
“On behalf of my family, I wish to express our utmost gratitude for making it possible for my wife to travel to India for medical treatment. The NHIF Comprehensive Medical Insurance Scheme came as a godsend in response to our distress. Indeed, the NHIF cover in general did Kenyans proud at BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, where we were…Kenyans were highly respected by doctors, hospital staff, the local community and other foreigners because of the relative ease with which they settled their medical bills, accommodation and related expenses. I shared substantially with a member of parliament of an African country who was at the same hospital, and she was all praise for the NHIF scheme, which she felt should be adopted by other African countries.
“But the NHIF spirit went beyond easing the financial burden…It fostered unity among Kenyans in Bangalore. The NHIF topic featured in virtually every discussion among Kenyans. It promoted a sense of belongingness, a sense of ‘Kenyanness’ which clearly won the admiration of other foreigners and the local community. Kenyans were identifiable by their sense of comradeship: we provided a social climate in which new arrivals felt as comfortable as possible, and a supportive atmosphere for those in hospital wards and guesthouses alike. To me, this was a lifetime experience which will remain etched in my memory.
“I wish to take this opportunity to most sincerely commend the NHIF Kisumu office for their concerted effort to enhance the quality of services to top-notch levels. The way they go about their duties enthusiastically is a demonstration of their will and determination to succeed. Similarly, the excellent facilitative skills of the A&K Global Health Kisumu office must be commended. Indeed, the combined efforts of the two offices provide a sense of hope and a sense of wellness to patients and relatives long before medical intervention. Yours is a noble duty, service to humanity; the change you make in the life of a single person leaves a lasting impression on that beneficiary, and on many others.”
In the photograph above: George and Margaret Aran of Kisumu, Kenya shared their joyful smiles and deep gratitude with the NHIF and A&K Global Health following Margaret’s successful knee replacement at BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, India.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company, is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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What is Patent Ductus Arteriosus?
Before we discuss patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), let’s quickly review how the normal heart functions: the heart is a pumping machine with two sides. The right side pumps blood to the lungs to collect oxygen. The oxygen-rich blood then returns from the lungs to the left side of the heart, which pumps it to the whole body.
Now, what is PDA?
A baby in the womb receives oxygen from the mother’s lungs; therefore, there is no need for the baby’s heart to pump blood to its own lungs. The ductus arteriosus (DA) is a blood vessel, present in all babies in the womb, which allows blood to bypass the lungs. After birth, the baby needs its own lungs for oxygen supply and the DA normally closes within 2-3 weeks. If the DA remains open after three months of life in preterm infants, or after one year of life in full-term infants, the medical condition is known as patent (meaning open) ductus arteriosus, or PDA.
What are the effects of PDA?
- A PDA allows extra blood to flow into the lungs, straining the heart. The larger the PDA, the greater the amount of extra blood that passes through the lungs.
- Increased blood flow through the lungs can also mean reduced blood flow to the rest of the body, causing damage, especially to the intestines and kidneys.
- A PDA can also slightly increase the risk of infective endocarditis (inflammation of the inner tissues of the heart).
What symptoms should I look for, and when?
- Look for faster and heavier breathing, difficulty in feeding, and/or lagging growth.
- If the PDA is large, symptoms may appear after several weeks of birth.
How is PDA diagnosed?
The patient may undergo a few tests, which could include an echo, chest x-ray, magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA), and/or cardiac computed tomography (CT).
What are the treatment options for PDA?
- A small PDA usually closes by itself within a few months of birth, but regular check-ups with a cardiologist are required to monitor the condition.
- Medications are needed to prevent bacterial infections and heart failure.
- A PDA may be surgically closed, either through video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), ligation, or posterolateral thoracotomy.
- Non-surgical interventions to close a PDA include cardiac catheterization with a closure device, or transcatheter occlusion.
What can the child do after undergoing surgery for PDA?
- Regularly brush and floss teeth to prevent infections, and attend regular dental check- Dental infections are a common way that an infection that spreads is initially introduced to the body, so dental prophylaxis is essential post-surgery.
- Play and exercise as per the doctor’s advice.
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know.
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A&K Global Health celebrates Rose’s birthday, 2nd year in a row
A&K Global Health loves finding ways to make our patients’ special occasions, from birthdays to holidays to health milestones, a little more festive. We recently had an extra “sweet” opportunity to share some cake and celebrate with our patient Rose.
With the support of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), Rose Macharia of Kisumu, Kenya has been undergoing breast cancer treatment over the past year and a half. A&K Global Health has been managing her care continuously during this time, including coordinating periodic trips from her local oncologist in Kisumu to Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India. We’ve also had the pleasure of celebrating her birthday with her in India, two years in a row!
“This year, we celebrated Rose’s birthday at her guesthouse,” reported Operations Officer Tabrez Ahmed. “Many other patients and their family members also joined us to wish her well. She thanked A&K Global Health for remembering her birthday, for celebrating it with her when she is away from her family, and for showing concern and care for her always.”
That’s the A&K Global Health commitment in action: whether you’re a new client or a returning one, receiving treatment in your home country or traveling with us abroad, you can count on our outstanding support and personal care to be constants throughout your journey. Here’s to wishing Rose, and all our patients, many happy and healthy birthdays ahead!
In the photograph above: Rose Macharia (second from left) cuts into her birthday cake from A&K Global Health. Joining her to celebrate are Operations Officer Tabrez Ahmed (second from right), the attendant of another A&K Global Health patient (left), and a new friend from her guesthouse (right).
In the photograph below: Just like A&K Global Health’s team, Rose’s daughter (left) and the attendant of another A&K Global Health patient (right) are happy to surround Rose with love and joyful wishes on her birthday!
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company, is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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After cardiac surgery, 5-yr-old says he’ll grow up to be a doctor
Five-year-old Joel Wesonga had a difficult infancy. “He cried a lot, and we didn’t know what the problem was,” said his father, Peter Wesonga. “When I took him to the referral hospital in Busia County, I was sent to a hospital in Kisumu which had facilities to test what the doctors were speculating. That’s how we found out that Joel had a hole in his heart,” Mr. Wesonga recalled, referencing a congenital heart condition known as a ventricular septal defect (VSD).
Joel was put on medication in hopes that his VSD would close over time, but instead his health deteriorated. While his peers were bursting at the seams with energy, Joel became weak and tired very quickly, and could no longer go to school or play with friends.
Joel’s father consulted a heart specialist at Kenyatta National Hospital, and was ultimately referred to Mater Hospital in September 2016. While Mr. Wesonga was trying to raise funds for the very costly surgery the doctors recommended for Joel, the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) in conjunction with A&K Global Health launched the cardiac surgery program, sponsoring patients who had been waitlisted for treatment. Mr. Wesonga described the cardiac program’s benefits, and its timing, as “a miracle” for his family: Joel would receive surgery at Mater Hospital, and it would be covered by the NHIF.
A&K Global Health closely managed Joel’s preoperative, perioperative and postoperative care. Our team’s final visit to Mater Hospital before Joel’s discharge was particularly special. “When we entered his cube, one could feel the excitement and energy of this little boy!” said Eva Gulavi, Public Relations and Communications Officer. “The whole room was filled with laughter as Joel told us stories of how he wants to become a doctor when he grows up, so that he can fix people’s hearts too. Joel had already made friends in the ward, and one came to visit him while we were there. They were all over the place with their toy trucks, just like five-year-olds should be! And when Joel heard the sound of an airplane, he announced that he was going to leave us with his truck so that he could fly with the plane back to his home in Busia County. This could only mean that, with a healthy heart and newfound liveliness, this little boy was looking forward to going back home to live a normal life…the kind he could not have previously because of his heart condition.”
“It’s hard to overstate the profoundly positive medical, social, economic, and interpersonal impacts of this program,” said Stephen Masinde, Kenya National Director. “The NHIF’s cardiac surgery program is saving lives, using Kenyan doctors and hospitals to do it while augmenting their capacity at the same time, and inspiring the next generation of Kenyan citizens.”
We can’t wait to see where Joel’s future takes him. Whether he pursues medicine or not, we are simply grateful that this little boy now has his whole life ahead of him to dream big.
In the photograph above: Joel and his father, Peter Wesonga, joyfully await Joel’s discharge from Mater Hospital and a healthy, happy return to their home in Busia County.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health, an Agile Health Systems company, is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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“Awesome” response to Fortis, A&K Global Health medical camps
A&K Global Health is proud to announce the success of recent medical camps in Kisumu and Kisii, Kenya, held in conjunction with our partner Fortis Hospitals of India. Through our relationships with local medical facilities, Fortis’s visiting oncology and orthopedic specialists spent four days in February providing free consultations to a huge patient turnout.
On February 24th and 25th, the Fortis doctors received 205 patients at St. Luke Medical Center in Kisumu, where they also conducted a continuing medical education (CME) event for local physicians. And after a day of travel to relocate to Ram Hospital in Kisii, they consulted with 464 additional patients there on February 27th and 28th.
“The camp was awesome!” Reuben Kangogo, A&K Global Health Kenya Operations Director, enthusiastically reported. “This was one of the highest attendance rates we’ve ever seen over four days of consultations…the visiting team averaged nearly 170 patients per day. Incredible!”
As usual, since the camp’s end, A&K Global Health’s staff has been hard at work following up with attendees who were assessed to be candidates for local or international treatment. We’ve also been busy planning and executing other similar events that connect Kenyans with affordable and high-quality local, regional, and global healthcare options to meet their individual needs. From a cardiac screening camp to identify candidates for the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) heart surgery program, to the first-ever medical camp in central Kenya featuring foreign specialists, A&K Global Health’s activities and partnerships are continually maximizing care access, quality, and affordability for our clients, in Kenya and around the globe. Reports on these and other events are coming soon…check our blog regularly and follow us on social media so you don’t miss a single detail!
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health staff members assist patients at St. Luke Medical Center in Kisumu, Kenya, which recently hosted oncology and orthopedic specialists from India’s Fortis Hospital for a very highly attended two-day medical camp. Fortis’s doctors also offered a camp in Kisii, consulting with more than 650 patients between the two events, both of which were organized and coordinated by A&K Global Health.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Have you heard about Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)?
What is a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)?
A VSD is a hole in the wall that separates the two lower chambers, called ventricles, of the heart. A VSD is one of the most common congenital (that is, seen from birth) cardiac defects, and can occur either by itself or in combination with other congenital defects.
What causes VSD?
The exact cause of VSD is not known. Early in pregnancy, a baby’s heart ventricles are not separated; it is as the baby grows in the mother’s womb that a septum (or wall) is formed to divide the ventricles. When the formation of this septum is incomplete, VSD results.
In most children, VSD is associated with a genetic disorder like Down’s syndrome. VSD is rare in adults, but if present it is serious, and may occur after a heart attack.
What are the symptoms?
Children with small defects may not have any symptoms. However, if the defect is large, the following symptoms may be observed:
- Difficulty breathing
- Increased heartbeat
- Poor feeding
- Failure to gain weight
- Increased tiredness, easy fatigability
- Recurrent respiratory infection
What medical tests help diagnose VSD?
- Complete physical examination, listening for abnormal heart sounds (murmurs)
- Electrocardiogram (ECG)
- Echocardiogram (Echo)
- Cardiac catheterization
What is the treatment?
- Small VSDs often close on their own; nonetheless, once any size of VSD is diagnosed, regular follow-up with the physician/cardiologist is required.
- If the VSD is large, the patient may undergo either open heart surgery (intra-cardiac repair) for ventricular septal defect closure, or a transcatheter ventricular septal defect closure.
When should I consult my doctor?
- If your child gets tired easily while playing or eating
- If you feel your child breathes rapidly and/or has breathing difficulty
- If your child is not gaining weight
- If your child develops recurrent attacks of cough, cold and fever (respiratory infection)
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know.
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Artemis Hospital recognizes A&K Global Health with exemplary service award
Have you ever had a “good problem,” a challenge whose very existence was a measure of success? A&K Global Health’s team in New Delhi, India was recently presented with one such happy predicament.
Artemis Hospital, one of our partner facilities, had organized an event to present selected honorees with certificates of appreciation for exemplary service to its hospital and patients; A&K Global Health was among those to be honored. Fortunately and unfortunately, our exponential growth has been keeping our New Delhi staff busy around the clock caring for our many new clients – so we were unable to send a representative to the Artemis Hospital presentation.
Artemis Hospital correctly recognized our absence as one more sign of A&K Global Health’s tireless dedication to our patients: they always come first, no matter what the issue or what time of day or night. So Artemis decided the best chance to pin us down to present this award was to catch us in the act of the great service for which they were commending us! They did just that early last month.
“During one of my regular visits to check in with our clients at Artemis Hospital, the administration awarded A&K Global Health with their institution’s certificate of appreciation, in recognition of our dedicated service,” said Jasmeet Singh, Delhi Operations Manager for A&K Global Health. Mr. Diveya Shah, Artemis Hospital’s Deputy General Manager for International Marketing, presented the award to Mr. Singh.
“On behalf of the A&K Global Health family, I received the award and thanked the entire Artemis Hospital team,” said Mr. Singh. “It is great to be appreciated by our partners, and it’s exciting to know that this year we will be able to share the same quality services for which Artemis Hospital awarded us with even more patients than ever before.”
In the photograph above: Jasmeet Singh, Delhi Operations Manager (left), receives an exemplary service award on behalf of A&K Global Health from Mr. Diveya Shah, Artemis Hospital’s Deputy General Manager for International Marketing.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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NHIF cardiac program gets preschool teacher life-saving surgery
Ebby Voregwa is a preschool teacher in Nairobi, Kenya. In May 2016, after several attempts at treating what she thought was pneumonia, Ebby was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease, with severe mitral stenosis and moderate aortic valve leak.
When her doctors discovered that she had a heart disease, Ebby was immediately hospitalized for 10 days – but the hospital bill was too costly for her, and she could not afford to pay for the complex and expensive cardiac surgery her doctors advised as treatment. She was added to the long waiting list of heart surgery candidates, and began to search for way to fund an operation. But saving money for surgery proved difficult, because as she awaited treatment, Ebby was put on a medication that cost her approximately KSh 5,000 per month – a handsome portion of her pay. To make matters worse, Ebby’s heart condition was impacting her ability to perform her duties at work: she found herself having to teach her students sitting down because her overworked heart became so quickly became exhausted whenever she was on her feet. Though constantly fatigued, Ebby pleaded to retain her teaching job, as continuing to work was the only way she could afford her medication or hope one day to be able to pay for surgery.
“When I received a call from A&K Global Health last December, informing me about the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardiac surgery program and reaching out to cardiac patients on the waiting list, I was not sure whether it was real,” Ebby remembered. She says she only truly believed this good news when “…I was called for pre-assessment at the Karen Hospital, where I eventually had my cardiac surgery done.”
“My family and I will forever be grateful because we had no heads or tails of where or how I was going to get this treatment,” said Ebby. “We were already under financial strain after losing my father…and then came the discovery of this sickness I never imagined I could have.”
“It is all about saving lives,” said Faith Simiyu, A&K Global Health Software Analyst and Cardiac Data Officer, “and we as the A&K Global Health team implementing the NHIF’s cardiac program are reminded of that reality every day by testimonies like Ebby’s.”
In the photograph above: NHIF cardiac program beneficiary Ebby Voregwa, far right, with her family shortly before her discharge from Karen Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.
In the photograph below: Ebby receives a visit from the A&K Global Health team during her inpatient stay at Karen Hospital. Pictured here with Ebby is Joyce Wambugu, our Nairobi Care Director.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Hip replacement success leads patient back to A&K Global Health
Margaret Wanjiru, 52, of Nairobi, Kenya was born with a dislocated hip joint. She had undergone numerous procedures throughout her life to correct it, but to no avail: a failed hip replacement surgery in 1998 was followed a decade later by an accident that compounded her troubles. Nonetheless, she remained determined to find the right corrective surgery.
“In 2013, I started developing pain on the same hip, so I decided to seek further treatment,” says Margaret. “I visited NHIF, and they advised me that I can come to India through A&K [Global Health].”
With National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) sponsorship, A&K Global Health’s Nairobi and Bangalore teams facilitated Margaret’s journey to BGS Global Hospital, where she finally underwent a fully successful hip replacement in 2014.
“I chose BGS because my doctor back at home advised me that I could come here and meet Dr. Basavaraj and the entire ortho team, who could do a good job on me,” Margaret explains, referencing Dr. Basavaraj C.M., Orthopedics & Joint Replacement Consultant at BGS Global Hospital, who ultimately led the team of surgeons who performed her hip replacement. “The [local] A&K team [did] a good job also because they kept in constant touch with me…they facilitated everything. And there was a big difference between [when I left Kenya and when I returned home], because after the surgery I was in no more pain! I was able to do most of the things I could not do initially.”
Although Margaret’s case was challenging, Dr. Basavaraj and his colleagues prevailed: “She had a failed total hip replacement which…was complicated with a fracture around the hip, so in her case, most of the bone which is here” – Dr. Basavaraj uses a model of the hip to illustrate – “was missing. It was a challenge to reconstruct that bone. We used trabecular metal, made up of tantalum, to reconstruct the bony defects that she had, and we also took bone allographs to reconstruct the inner defect that she had on the cup side.”
“I would like to thank the entire ortho team at BGS Global Hospital, because they did a good job on me and other patients…I thank them for all the quality services they are providing to their patients, both international and local. I would also like to thank A&K Global Health for the good work they [did] – they visited us all the time at the hospital and the guesthouse, they [kept] calling to know how we [were] doing. I would also like to thank NHIF back in [Kenya] because they [funded] my coming here.”
So satisfied was Margaret with her 2014 A&K Global Health experience that in autumn 2016, she returned to BGS Global Hospital for a review of her hip replacement and other medical appointments. Hear Margaret describe her health journeys herself in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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How do you diagnose heart disease?
Here at the “Cardiac Care 101” corner of the A&K Global Health blog, we’ve recently been sharing about how the heart works and how to recognize and treat the most common heart diseases. These posts often reference the two most common cardiac diagnostic tools: ECGs and echoes. Today, we explain what these terms mean, what information these tests provide to doctors, and what the test experience involves for patients.
What is an ECG (electrocardiogram)?
An ECG detects heart abnormalities. It records the electrical activity of the heart, and can detect any abnormal rhythm (arrhythmia), infarct (heart attack), or hypertrophy (enlargement) of the heart. Although it may look scary with all the metal electrodes stuck to the arms, legs, and chest, the test is both painless and harmless. Wires from these electrodes are connected to the ECG machine, which detects the electrical activity that occurs at each heartbeat. This activity is then recorded onto a paper, allowing doctors to make a diagnosis.
- A Treadmill Test (TMT) is a specialized kind of ECG, conducted while the patient is exercising on the treadmill. Blood pressure is also recorded regularly during this test. A TMT is done to detect the severity of heart disease, when there are minimal or no symptoms, but abnormality is suspected based on the results of the standard ECG.
- Patients who complain of a pounding heartbeat that comes and goes may benefit from a Holter Monitor test. In this ECG variant, the patient wears a monitor for 24-48 hours that continuously records cardiac activity as they go about their usual routine.
What is an echo (echocardiogram)?
An echo takes a picture of the heart using high-frequency sound waves. This picture shows the shape and size of the valves and the heart chambers, the functioning of the heart, and the blood flow. Like the ECG, this is also a painless test where some gel is placed on the patient’s chest, and a probe (transducer) is moved over the chest to view the heart from different directions.
- A transesophageal echo, or TEE, is a special kind of echo in which a tube (endoscope) is used to guide the transducer down the esophagus. The TEE provides doctors with more detailed information about the heart than a standard echo. This test may be done in cases of aneurysm, other heart or blood vessel diseases, or to guide cardiac catheterization.
- A fetal echo is performed in order to examine an unborn baby’s heart during the second trimester of pregnancy. This test is used to detect congenital heart diseases.
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know.
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NHIF visit to A&K Global Health’s India network sparks big plans
You know A&K Global Health maximizes healthcare access, affordability, and quality everywhere we work. But how exactly do we do it, you ask? Though implementation is challenging and complex, our approach is simple: serving as healthcare management thought leader and “connector” of relevant parties, we facilitate positive exchange between national health systems for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Take December 2016, for example. To cap a year during which we oversaw unprecedented collaboration between East African and Indian health sectors, increasing both national and international patient care, we managed a visit by Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) leadership to a collection of our Indian partner hospitals that treat NHIF beneficiaries.
From 7-10 December 2016, our Delhi and Bangalore staffs welcomed four top NHIF officials. The delegation received briefings from A&K Global Health leaders and visited BLK Hospital, Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), and Artemis Hospital in Delhi; Columbia Asia, Fortis, and BGS Global Hospitals in Bangalore; Sri Ramakrishna Multispecialty Hospital in Coimbatore; and Fortis and Global Hospitals in Chennai.
“A&K Global Health regularly hosts NHIF delegations to India,” said Aleksandra Golota, Senior Relations Manager. “While these trips are partly prophylactic checks, ensuring all hospitals are fully meeting expectations, they deliver much more than quality assurance. They facilitate direct relationship building between our partner institutions, and create fresh opportunities for collaboration.”
For instance:
- Numerous BLK medical departments briefed, and toured the delegation around, their respective sections. BLK’s cardiac department asserted their willingness to partner with Kenyan hospitals participating in the NHIF cardiac surgery program.
- FMRI discussed its desire for a special relationship with the NHIF, including designing packages specifically for NHIF beneficiaries, and proudly introduced the delegates to two NHIF members currently in its care.
- Artemis announced its plans to increase capacity by adding a new tower with 150 patient beds, raising its total capacity from 450 to 600 beds.
- Columbia Asia briefed the delegation on its recent soft launch of a clinic in Kenya. Specializing in family and internal medicine, it offers health checks as well as telemedicine, so patients can consult remotely with specialists.
- Fortis Bangalore shared plans to open a dedicated oncology block by April 2017, addressing a major treatment demand among NHIF beneficiaries.
- BGS Bangalore and NHIF discussed cooperating with Kenyan hospitals to help treat patients who cannot afford, whether clinically or financially, to travel for care.
- Sri Ramakrishna’s CEO and NHIF’s delegates connected over a commitment to corporate social responsibility: Ramakrishna described its program providing free treatment to Tamil Nadu state pediatric cancer patients, while NHIF presented its new initiative sponsoring a surge of cardiac interventions throughout Kenya, including a recent surgical mission focused specifically on complex pediatric procedures.
- With Fortis Chennai, which has completed 60 heart transplants since 2010 and the most pediatric heart transplants in India, NHIF traded success stories from its own cardiac surgery program. Fortis invited NHIF to send Kenyan doctors to Chennai for additional training.
- Global Hospital Chennai highlighted its advanced surgical capabilities through a presentation by a surgeon who has performed more than 900 pediatric liver transplants, including one 5-year-old – a Guinness World Record! The highlight of this visit was the delegation’s meeting with an NHIF-sponsored patient undergoing a lung transplant at Global Hospital.
“It was a pleasure welcoming NHIF around India,” said Saraladevi Gangadhara, Director of A&K Global Health’s Treatment Management Center in Bangalore. “We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with NHIF, and liaising with our Indian hospital partners, to serve NHIF’s patients and domestic healthcare providers in 2017 and beyond.”
In the photograph above: A representative of Global Hospitals in Chennai, India (left) warmly welcomes A&K Global Health Kenya National Director Stephen Masinde (right) and the accompanying NHIF delegation to his facility.
In the photograph below: NHIF delegation members, A&K Global Health leaders, and BLK Hospital clinicians and staff join together for a photo during the NHIF’s December visit to Delhi, India.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health Nairobi celebrates two star employees of 2016
Every year, A&K Global Health offices in different countries commend the exemplary service of one team member with an employee of the year award. For 2016, our Nairobi staff decided to add a twist: looking back on A&K Global Health’s biggest and best year to date, our Kenya leadership thought, why not let the staff bestow the honors?
“We allowed the staff to vote for the colleague they thought had been a team player, timely, proactive, and representative of the A&K Global Health spirit,” said Reuben Kangogo, Kenya Operations Director. “We excluded the senior management in this exercise.”
The competition was friendly, but fierce! “We are blessed at A&K Global Health with a very close-knit team,” explained Joyce Wambugu, Nairobi Care Director. “Every day, I see my coworkers support each other, encourage each other, and continually commit to bettering themselves. In truth, there wasn’t a single staff member whose performance in 2016 didn’t warrant recognition!”
The voting reflected this: “Two of our Nairobi staff members, Melody Mumbe and Simon Njenga, tied in the vote and emerged as winners together,” declared Mr. Kangogo. “They both received nice portraits featuring their newly-earned title, as well as certificates of recognition.”
Melody, who serves as a Logistics Officer, says of her work with A&K Global Health, “I love the fact that I get the opportunity to change our clients’ lives for the better. I appreciate life more in service to my fellow citizens and humanity at large.” Simon, an IT Officer, says “Working for A&K Global Health is a heartfelt privilege. Being part of a team that’s touching and transforming the lives of so many people around the world, easing their burden and the red tape so they can quickly access affordable medical care, is an honor.”
It may only be March, but it’s already clear that the contest for 2017 Nairobi employee of the year will be fueled by plenty of work. In the first eight weeks of this year alone, A&K Global Health has already managed care for more than three times the number of patients as we did during the same period in 2016. “At this rate, we are on track to experience more than 100% growth in 2017,” announced Chief Executive Officer Morgan Darwin.
Don’t get left in our dust. Keep up with A&K Global Health’s every patient testimony, partner spotlight, inspiring initiative, and healthcare innovation right here on our blog!
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health’s Nairobi office team is joined by Chief Executive Officer Morgan Darwin and Chief Medical Officer Rainer Hilgenfeld in celebrating 2016’s employees of the year.
In the photograph below: Melody Mumbe, one of two peer-voted employees of 2016 for A&K Global Health’s Nairobi office, is presented with a commemorative portrait by CEO Morgan Darwin.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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NHIF, Karen Hospital perform high-risk heart surgery on 17-yr-old
17-year old Purity Chelimo from Kitale, Kenya, had been sick for fully half of her young life. Since age nine, she had suffered from tuberculosis as well as from rheumatic heart disease (RHD). So last autumn when Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) launched its nationwide cardiac surgery program, implemented by A&K Global Health, Purity’s family – with current NHIF membership and good financial standing – was quick to have Purity screened for medical eligibility for the surgical initiative.
The good news? Purity qualified as a surgery candidate. The bad news? Her case was direr than her family had realized. Eight years of struggle with RHD had taken its toll: at the time of Purity’s childhood diagnosis, only one heart valve was affected by her disease. Now her cardiologist confirmed that three valves were impacted. Purity needed two valve replacements and one valve repair, a complex cardiac surgery…and she needed it quickly.
She was pushed to the top of the surgery waitlist, and just in time. In December 2016, Purity was rushed to Nairobi’s Karen Hospital in heart failure. She was admitted directly to the ICU for stabilization before she could be scheduled for surgery. Her case would now be considered high risk, due to the complication of heart failure as she waited for treatment.
Even her ominous health circumstances failed to distract this tenacious young woman from her goals. “When we [the A&K Global Health team] spoke to Purity in the ICU, she looked frail, but was very optimistic about her oncoming surgery,” said Eva Gulavi, A&K Global Health Public Relations and Communications Officer. “She said ‘I want this to be over as soon as possible so I can go back home and go back to school, because I will be a candidate for my final secondary examination in 2017.’”
Purity’s father, Joel Talam, admitted that he was very worried as he waited for what felt like an eternity for his daughter to wake up following surgery. But with her procedure successfully completed, he announced, “I am very happy that my daughter is recovering well. This was truly a miracle, and I’m grateful to A&K Global Health and NHIF for supporting my daughter through her cardiac treatment.”
About six weeks after Purity’s surgery, Mr. Talam visited his local A&K Global Health branch office in El Doret to relay his continued gratitude and appreciation. “Mr. Talam was very happy and thankful for the great work A&K Global Health is doing to help patients like his daughter access life-saving treatment,” said Cornelius Rop, El Doret Operations Officer.
“I have been searching for funds [for Purity’s surgery] for the past three years, but in vain,” Mr. Talam continued. “Today I can afford a smile, because through NHIF and the facilitation of A&K Global Health, my daughter underwent a successful surgery right here in Kenya at Karen.”
In the photograph above: Purity and her father, Joel Talam, during her recovery at The Karen Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.
In the photograph below: Purity Chelimo in the ICU before her surgery at The Karen Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Heart Disease During Pregnancy
Do you know a mom-to-be who has a heart disease, and is worried about how that will affect her child? Read on to learn about heart disease in pregnancy.
What happens in an expecting mother with heart disease?
The heart is a blood-pumping machine, and blood carries oxygen. In pregnancy, the demand on the heart increases. If the pump is not working well, the baby may not get the oxygen it requires and may not grow well, or may be born prematurely.
The symptoms of pregnancy complications due to heart disease can be similar to general pregnancy side effects – so what are the specific symptoms to look for?
- Feeling very short of breath, especially when lying flat
- Repeated episodes of feeling dizzy
- Chest pain
- Cough with wheezing
- Increased tiredness and inability to do routine work – difficulty walking at usual pace or climbing a flight of stairs
- Sense of increased heart rate, or sensation of pounding heartbeat
- Gradually increasing swelling in hands and feet, which may not reduce with rest
What can be done to avoid heart disease-related complications in pregnancy?
- Immediately visit your physician upon confirmation of pregnancy. Visit every 2-4 weeks until 20 weeks, every 2 weeks until 24 weeks, and weekly thereafter.
- If experiencing any of the above symptoms, see your physician as soon as possible and get a routine examination. If possible, complete tests like an electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiogram (echo) at the physician visit.
- Immediately visit your physician if you experience a sudden change in weight, chest pain, or any shortness of breath.
- Ask your doctor about getting an influenza vaccination.
- Follow a healthy diet: avoid smoking and excessive weight gain.
- Avoid excessive physical activity. Talk to your doctor about the activities you should and should not do.
While it is not entirely possible to prevent heart defects in babies, it is possible to have a healthy pregnancy by seeking care at the right time and following the lifestyle guidelines described above.
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know.
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Cardiac mission saves 13 children’s lives with complex surgeries
All over the globe, A&K Global Health excels in matching people who need healthcare with the right organizations to fund it and the right doctors and hospitals to provide it. A recent international surgical mission at Mater Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya delivered a powerful example of our life-saving coordination and management in action.
For two weeks last November, a team of cardiac surgeons from Kardiocentrum University Hospital in Motol, Czech Republic and Kramala Hospital in Bratislava, Slovakia, embedded with Mater’s resident surgical and support staff. In conjunction with the National Hospital Insurance Fund’s (NHIF) cardiac surgery program, the mission aimed to address the most urgent pediatric cardiac cases on the hospital’s waiting list. It conducted 13 complex surgeries in just 13 days, including one Rastelli procedure – the first to be performed at Mater Hospital. All 13 surgeries were successful, and all 13 children have since returned home to their families from the hospital.
One of these children’s remarkable stories was featured in Kenya’s The Standard shortly after the mission concluded. “Godious Kiptoo Chumba is a two-year-old patient who has benefitted from the NHIF cardiac program…at Mater Hospital,” read the testimonial. “His father…could not hide his joy and relief after his son was successfully operated on. ‘We are very happy that our son’s surgery was successful. It was a very long process before we got to where we are but we are indeed very grateful. What wonderful work NHIF has done to reach out to Kenyans!’”
Because 10 of the 13 children who received surgeries were sponsored by the NHIF and managed by A&K Global Health, Mater Hospital and the visiting surgeons organized an event at the mission’s end to acknowledge and appreciate everyone’s role. It was an emotional evening for the local and foreign doctors alike: in their presentation to our CEO, Morgan Darwin, the surgeons stressed that these patients would have died without A&K Global Health’s involvement. Several medical professionals were moved to tears as they expressed their gratitude.
“There are so many beautiful stories to be told about this mission,” said Mr. Darwin. “There are the 13 children who now have the chance to live long and healthy lives. There’s also the dedication, determination, and professionalism of the Kenyan and foreign surgeons – their courage, cooperation, and teamwork, across different countries and cultures, directly enabled these life-saving procedures to be successful. It was our great privilege, as the implementer and manager of the NHIF cardiac program, to witness this surgical mission’s impact at Mater.”
A&K Global Health has more collaborative surgical initiatives on the horizon. At Mater as at every hospital involved in the NHIF’s cardiac surgery program, we are using our experience and expert knowledge to put together surgical alliances that benefit every participant, from patients and families to Kenyan as well as international surgeons and medical professionals. And we’ll continue to showcase here on the A&K Global Health blog the incredible positive returns that occur when we bring people together, united toward the common goal of expanding healthcare.
In the photograph above: Mater Hospital’s cardiac surgeons and a member of the Czech/Slovak medical delegation together begin a procedure on a patient.
In the photograph below: At the end of the mission, Mater Hospital and the visiting surgeons organized an event at which A&K Global Health was recognized for our implementation and management of the NHIF’s cardiac surgery program.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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What is rheumatic fever? Part II
A few weeks ago, we shared about rheumatic fever’s causes, risk factors, and symptoms. Today, we turn to the treatment and prevention of rheumatic fever (RF).
What is the short-term treatment for RF?
- It includes bed rest, antibiotics, painkillers, and other supportive treatment.
- Penicillin is the antibiotic of choice: patients are given either a single-dose penicillin injection, or a 10-day course of alternative oral antibiotics, if allergic to penicillin.
- The exact treatment regimen and medication are decided by the treating physician.
What is the long-term treatment for RF?
- Patients with definite RF but without heart damage should receive treatment for five years or until age 21, whichever is longer.
- Patients with heart damage, but unaffected heart valves, should receive treatment for 10 years or until age 21, whichever is longer.
- Patients with heart damage and affected valves should receive treatment for 10 years or until age 40, whichever is longer; lifelong treatment may be required.
- All patients should visit their treating doctor at least once a year while on a treatment regimen.
How can RF be prevented?
- Environmental improvements: reducing overcrowding and maintaining good sanitation help reduce the threat of RF.
- Early diagnosis and treatment: consult a doctor immediately if your child develops a fever. The prescribed treatment regimen and drugs should not be stopped when the patient begins feeling better. Review with the doctor following full completion of the treatment regimen is essential.
- Regular treatment once a diagnosis is confirmed: once diagnosed, taking regular treatment helps avoid recurrent RF as well as complications of the disease. Penicillin injections are given every four weeks once in standard patients; for high-risk patients, these are administered every three weeks.
- Good follow-up throughout treatment duration: the duration of treatment is decided on case-by-case basis, but can require regular follow-up with doctors for anywhere from five years after the first attack up to lifelong treatment and care coordination.
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know.
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A&K Global Health brings Christmas cheer to hospitalized patients
A&K Global Health has done it again: surprised our patients traveling abroad for medical care by remembering one of their home country’s most important holidays!
In Kenya, Christmas is a major annual affair. Businesses and government offices close for weeks in December and January: the national focus during this season is on spending time with one’s family. Being in the hospital is never easy, but the strong emphasis on the company of family during the Christmas season makes December an especially difficult time of year for Kenyans to be separated from their loved ones for medical treatment.
Thanks to A&K Global Health, however, every single one of our Kenyan patients across India had a smile of Christmas cheer on his or her face this past December 25.
“Ataur and I celebrated Christmas with all our patients in Gurgaon,” reported Nitin Ahuja, Delhi Assistant Operations Manager, speaking of his Operations Officer colleague Ataur Rahman. “On behalf of A&K Global Health, we provided Christmas cakes to them. All the patients and their family members felt very happy, and thanked A&K Global Health for the surprise arrangement!”
Gurgaon wasn’t the only Indian city where A&K Global Health’s Christmas surprise operation was unfolding, though. In the south, Operations Officer Somashekara Madhukar and Operations Manager Tabrez Ahmed were also busy making the rounds to our patients throughout Bangalore. “Our patients thanked us for taking such good care of them,” Mr. Ahmed said. “Because of our care, they said they felt like they were ‘home away from home.’”
From holidays to birthdays, from the day of a patient’s first post-procedure steps to the day of their flight home, we at A&K Global Health remember and honor the important occasions and personal triumphs that punctuate our patients’ health journeys. And our signature combination of continuous professional support with genuine personal care makes a real difference. But don’t take our word for it – check out these Christmas 2016 photos for yourself. A very happy holiday, indeed!
In the photograph above: Our patient Grace Naftal, right, of Nairobi, Kenya, and her attendant Lillian Anyota, left, showing off the Christmas cake they received from A&K Global Health. Grace spent Christmas 2016 at HealthCare Global Enterprises in Bangalore, India, where A&K Global Health is managing her treatment for pancreatic cancer.
In the photograph below: Our patient Marina Mututo, seated left, of Nairobi, Kenya, and Caroline Muriuki, seated right, the attendant of our patient Bernard Irumbi, not pictured, cheerfully sport the Christmas hats and cakes they received from A&K Global Health’s Gurgaon team. Standing behind them are Gurgaon Operations Officer Ataur Rahman, left, and Delhi Assistant Operations Officer Nitin Ahuja, right, who are helping to manage and support Marina’s treatment for uterine cancer at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon, India.
In the photograph below: Bangalore Operations Officer Somashekara Madhukar presents a Christmas cake to our patient Susan Wanjiru, right, and her attendant Lucy Kinuthia, left. Susan calls Nairobi, Kenya home, but celebrated Christmas with A&K Global Health in Bangalore, India while undergoing treatment for uterine cancer at Manipal Hospital.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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2016 in Review: New Partnerships, Pioneering Projects Mark Game-Changing Year for A&K Global Health
North Carolina, USA – January 27, 2017: A&K Global Health is proud to record 2016 as its most dramatic year of growth and progress to date.
The company entered last year strong, on the heels of one that solidified its vision and backed it up with solid growth, but rapidly surpassed 2015’s achievements in quantity as well as scope.
“2016 has truly been a landmark year for global healthcare management, and I’m proud to share that A&K Global Health has been both the thought leader and the implementer driving much of last year’s progress forward in the field,” said Chief Executive Officer Morgan Darwin.
Three major categories characterize the organization’s 2016 accomplishments. “First, there’s the growth of our geographic footprint and our human impact,” said Aleksandra Golota, Senior Relations Manager. “This year alone, we assisted over 600 patients in major medical events, like travel abroad or local surgery. We managed healthcare delivery in India, Turkey, Kenya, Germany, the United States, Thailand, and Mexico. And we expanded into the regional market of the Arabian Gulf by adding a licensee in the United Arab Emirates.”
Second, Ms. Golota points to A&K Global Health’s enhancements to, and recognition received for, its quality standards. In April, the company’s rigorous internal quality criteria earned it distinction as the first U.S.-based medical facilitator certified for quality by the venerated international medical accreditor Temos. “We also reinforced the quality of our care management by updating our hospital portfolio to include some new facilities with advanced accreditation and cutting-edge capabilities,” Ms. Golota noted. For the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) of Kenya, one of A&K Global Health’s largest institutional clients, the company facilitated a delegation’s visit to its Indian hospital network. “The NHIF’s trip to India is an example of how we help government agencies meet their health mandates, ensuring they are continually satisfied with our partner facilities and the care our providers are delivering to their patients,” Ms. Golota explained.
Third, A&K Global Health in 2016 determinedly pursued the creation of opportunities for increasingly local treatment management. Its signature achievement in this area launched in October: a pioneering new program, in partnership with Kenya’s NHIF, to conduct cardiac surgeries domestically, strengthening national healthcare capacity and saving hundreds of lives across a country that had previously outsourced many such procedures. “The cardiac surgery project is a particularly exciting development in this area of identifying and fostering local care resources,” Mr. Darwin said, “but its overall impact is identical to what our ongoing medical camps, continuing medical education, and healthcare advocacy events do every day – help governments optimize healthcare availability and distribution within their national borders.” Worldwide, A&K Global Health supported more than 1,000 patients and over 100 physicians and caregivers through such outreach and training events in 2016.
Mr. Darwin summed up his reflections on 2016 this way. “A&K Global Health’s success is measured by the success of those organizations we work for…we excel by using our expert management to make our institutional clients effective. And looking at the tremendous strides we have enabled organizations like the NHIF and others to achieve in 2016, we can definitively declare this our best year yet.”
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health’s Kenya staff celebrated the close of this tremendous year with a team building event at Amare Tiwi Resort on Kenya’s south coast. As we continue braving the uncharted waters of global healthcare management in 2017, you can see that our team is not afraid to explore the depths and make a splash!
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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What is rheumatic fever? Part I
What is rheumatic fever (RF)?
It’s a fever that results as a complication of inadequately treated strep throat or scarlet fever, infections caused by the bacteria streptococci A. RF mainly affects the heart, joints, skin, and brain.
Why does RF affect body organs?
When the bacteria enter the body, the immune system reacts and produces antibodies to fight the bacteria. But because some protein in the bacteria is similar to body tissue, the antibodies end up attacking the bacteria as well as the body’s own organs. These attacks often damage the heart valves, joints, brain and skin; recurrent attacks lead to long-term damage of the body’s organs. In the heart, they can result in rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
Who is commonly affected?
Children between 5-15 years are most commonly affected, although adults and older children can also get RF.
What are the risk factors?
- Family history: a person with a family history of RF has a greater chance of developing the fever.
- Type of streptococcus bacteria: certain types of bacteria are more likely to cause RF than others.
- Environment: overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of clean water, and the absence of a good healthcare management system increase the risk of RF.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms usually appear 1-6 weeks after the infection. A patient may not necessarily have all of the symptoms below.
- High fever/sore throat/throat pain
- Nosebleed
- Joint pains, which usually spread from one joint to another
- Small bumps, called nodules, seen under the skin
- Raised red rashes on the back, stomach and chest
- Increased tiredness and difficulty breathing
- Outbursts of crying or laughter during attacks of fever
- Uncontrollable movements of the face, hands and feet during attacks of fever
- Loss of appetite/weight loss
- Vomiting/stomach pain
I have some of these symptoms. What tests and appointments should I make with my doctor?
- Detailed physical examination
- Blood tests
- Chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), and echocardiogram (echo)
What is the treatment?
Penicillin injection remains the treatment of choice for RF.
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know. And stay tuned to our blog for a second post about rheumatic fever, coming soon!
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How does your heart work?
Here at A&K Global Health’s Cardiac Care 101, our medical team breaks down complex topics related to your heart. Today we cover the basic workings of this powerful organ. Understanding the heart helps us appreciate how to keep it healthy, and what has gone wrong in the case of disease.
What are the different parts of the heart?
The heart has four chambers. The right and left atriums are the two upper chambers that collect blood as it flows into the heart. The right and left ventricles are the two lower chambers that pump blood out of the heart, to the lungs or other parts of the body.
The heart also has four valves – tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral, and aortic – that control the flow of blood. Think of the valves like doors that open and close: they open to allow blood to flow to the next chamber or artery, and close to keep blood from flowing backward.
How does the heart function?
The heart is a pumping machine with two sides. The right side pumps blood to the lungs to collect oxygen. The oxygen-rich blood then returns from the lungs to the left side of the heart, which pumps it to the whole body.
What are some common heart diseases?
There are two kinds of heart diseases: congenital (conditions present since birth) and acquired (conditions developed after birth). Some conditions, like aortic stenosis, can occur as either congenital or acquired.
Common congenital heart diseases include:
- Septal defects – ventricular septal defect (VSD), atrial septal defect (ASD), atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD)
- Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)
- Tetralogy of fallot (TOF)
- Transposition of great arteries
- Double outlet right ventricle (DORV)
- Coarctation of the aorta
- Tricuspid atresia
- Pulmonary stenosis
- Aortic stenosis
Common acquired heart diseases include:
- Rheumatic – mitral stenosis, aortic stenosis, mitral regurgitation, aortic regurgitation
- Coronary artery disease/ischemic heart disease – myocardial infarction (heart attack), unstable angina
- Heart failure
- Cardiomyopathy
- Pericardial disease
- Infectious myocarditis
- Arrhythmias – atrial fibrillation (AFib), paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), atrial flutter, ventricular tachycardia (V-tach), ventricular fibrillation (VFib), heart block
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know!
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A&K Global Health family “stands” with our patients
At A&K Global Health, our team members have the privilege of witnessing amazing medical achievements each day – but our patients’ milestones feel personal to us every single time.
While managing care for Margaret Aran of Kisumu, Kenya, during her recent stay at BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, our Senior Operations Officer Prashant Lakkannavar had one such exciting experience.
“This picture was taken the very next day after our patient Margaret underwent knee replacement surgery,” recalls Prashant. “I was amazed to see her walk with ease! Four days post-surgery, she could walk without a walker’s assistance, and was discharged from the hospital. Seriously a wonderful sight to see…she is very happy to see herself walk in a proper manner and without the incredible pain she had before.”
This joyful photo was only the beginning of positive outcomes for Margaret. With her swift and complete recovery from knee replacement, she was able to undergo a needed spinal surgery just two and a half weeks later. A week after that procedure, Margaret was discharged to the quiet guesthouse where she and her husband were staying between hospital visits. Her Operations Officer reported that “she is now able to walk very long distances…she is happy that she can now accompany her husband for evening walks.” And three weeks after spinal surgery, Margaret’s doctor cleared her to fly home to Kisumu.
We know that our Operations Officers’ diligent care helps enable the speediest and most successful recoveries possible for our patients. But observing our patients reap the results of their own tenacity and effort brings genuine pleasure to our staff, too: it is a continual honor to celebrate our patients overcoming obstacles they never dreamed possible.
Know someone who could benefit from this kind of support in facing their own health challenges? Reach out today to meet your A&K Global Health family. We are here to help.
In the photograph above: Prashant Lakkannavar, left, A&K Global Health Senior Operations Officer, grins as widely as our patient Margaret Aran herself upon witnessing her walking for the first time after a successful knee replacement at BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, India.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Man finds “silver lining” of wife’s cancer in A&K Global Health
“Every cloud has a silver lining,” reads the title of a moving testimonial letter we recently received from the husband of one of our patients.
“As the saying goes, there is something valuable in every situation,” begins Reverend Gilbert Gathura’s letter. “I wish to register my overwhelming joy in the midst of copying with the challenges of my ailing spouse.” A&K Global Health has been managing breast cancer treatment for Rev. Gilbert’s wife, Maina Wambui, for the past year.
“I am greatly humbled by the Kenyan and Indian governments for their concerted effort in facilitating cancer patients traveling to India for specialized treatment. As a beneficiary, [I was accorded] world-class healthcare and hospitality at Bangalore City’s Manipal Hospital. I am at a loss for words to appreciate the massive support my wife and I received.
“I am indebted to the Chief Executive Officer of A&K Global Health and his team, [who] facilitated our travel bookings and made payments to the hospital. Their excellent general care while in Nairobi, Mumbai, and Bangalore has and will continue to linger in our minds.
“It is worth mentioning the tremendous contribution of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). This government initiative has not only brought hope to many sick Kenyans but also subsidized treatments of chronic illnesses.
“I must commend the Indian Premier [for his] pledges to assist and partner with Kenya in improving medical infrastructure and personnel. This engagement is yet another milestone Kenya is marking in its efforts [against] chronic disease. Economic development is only realized when citizens are healthy. Kenyans are waiting with bated breath to find their loved ones treated in Kenya.”
Rev. Gilbert’s list of silver linings has grown. Just days after delivering this letter to our Nairobi office, his wife made her third trip to Manipal with A&K Global Health, where she learned that her cancer is not progressing and she has no further need for chemotherapy. And even as Maina returned home to Kenya, where we’ll continue to support her, the NHIF and A&K Global Health kicked off a new program to provide cardiac surgeries locally in Kenya – an initiative that goes right to the heart of Rev. Gilbert’s call for further collaboration between the Indian and Kenyan healthcare systems, in a way that both improves health outcomes and builds national healthcare capacity.
Today more than ever before, A&K Global Health is dedicated to expanding healthcare access, affordability, and quality within national borders, in Kenya and in every country where we work. Learn how our support could be the silver lining to your medical challenge: contact us today.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health patient Maina Wambui, left, and her attendant Wangombe Waithira, right, depart Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India with joyful hearts after learning that Maina’s breast cancer is stable and not spreading. Maina’s husband, Reverend Gilbert Gathura, had written a touching testimonial letter to A&K Global Health about his family’s experience being in our care just shortly before they received this wonderful news.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Kidney transplant gets Kenyan civil servant back to normal life
John Gachie Mwangi, 57, is an auditor serving the Kenyan Ministry of Education. His life was upended in March 2015 when he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.
“Back in 2014, I started having some sweating on the feet, so I went to the hospital, they did some tests…I was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure,” John recounts. He was discharged after two weeks, but required dialysis three times weekly to survive in his current state. His nephrologist recommended a kidney transplant in India.
“My insurer, the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), told me that they insure such treatment through A&K Global Health,” says John. “[At] A&K’s office in Nairobi, I met a very, very helpful lady called Eucabeth, who started the process of coming over to Columbia Asia [Hospital].”
“At Bangalore we were met by staff members of A&K…I would like to mention especially Mr. Ahmed Tabrez, who went out of his way to ensure that we were comfortable. Because I was on dialysis, the same day, he brought me to Columbia Asia,” John remembers, where the doctors immediately provided that necessary treatment.
“Following that we started the evaluation…but the surgeons said I could not go for transplant because I was overweight. They advised me to reduce at least 15 kilograms.” Serious about his recovery, John adhered strictly to his prescribed diet and exercise program, dropping 20 kilograms in less than half the time his doctors had predicted it would take.
“Mr. John came from Nairobi, [where] he was on dialysis for about a year,” says Dr. Sankaran Sundar, Chief Nephrologist at Columbia Asia Hospital. “When he came to us, his weight was a little bit high for [kidney] transplant, so we suggested he go on a rigorous diet…he being a good patient, he followed our diet, followed all our instructions, and in a couple months’ time he lost 20 kilograms and we could do the transplant.”
John’s brother was the live kidney donor; both surgeries went smoothly, and John came off dialysis promptly. “For kidney failure, the ideal treatment is transplantation,” Dr. Sundar explains, “because with transplantation, you can get back to near normal life.”
And back to normal life John is. “Special mention about NHIF, because they funded the trip. For traveling, I highly recommend A&K [Global Health]. They went and got visas for us, they helped with passports, they took over the whole thing…even payment! We were so comfortable, because anything that we needed, we just told A&K.”
John’s accolades were sincere: upon returning to Kenya, he promptly wrote a letter of appreciation to the head of the NHIF, commending their financial support and A&K Global Health’s exceptional care management.
Hear John’s experience in his own words:
In the photograph above: John Mwangi (left), and his brother and kidney donor Gideon Mwangi (right), listen intently during a meeting with John’s nephrologist at Columbia Asia Hospital in Bangalore, India. John’s A&K Global Health-facilitated kidney transplant was a complete success, and he is now back to normal life in his home country of Kenya.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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What is mitral stenosis?
Mitral valve stenosis, more commonly known as mitral stenosis (MS), is a heart condition where there is a narrowing of one of the heart’s valves (the mitral valve). This blocks blood flow into the main pumping chamber of the heart. If the condition is not treated, it can cause serious complications.
How does one get mitral valve stenosis? The most common cause is rheumatic fever, brought on by strep throat infection.
What are the symptoms?
- Shortness of breath – initially only while active, but later on, even at rest
- Feeling extremely tired with mild physical activity
- Awareness of pounding heartbeat
- Swelling in feet
- Fainting episodes
- Chest pain
- Coughing episodes with blood in sputum
- Headache
How can I find out if I have MS? A detailed clinical examination by a physician can reveal certain signs, like heart murmurs, that are indicative of MS. Later on, the doctor may ask for chest X-ray, ECG, and echo to confirm these findings.
What treatment options are available? Treatment depends on the severity of the disease.
- If mild: regular checkups and medications to prevent complications
- If more progressed:
- Balloon valvuloplasty (a procedure that widens the narrowed valve using a balloon catheter)
- Mitral valve repair/replacement surgery (the most definitive treatment option)
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know!
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Kenyan patient’s A&K Global Health experience makes Indian press
Fifty-two-year-old Margaret Wanjiru of Nairobi, Kenya didn’t travel to India to become a media sensation: she went for the chance of walking freely again, after more than four failed surgeries on a hip that had been dislocated since her birth. But the stellar results of the complex hip replacement she received made headlines anyway!
Margaret’s hip replacement was facilitated by A&K Global Health and took place two years ago at BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, India. Given the overwhelming success of her first experience with us, Margaret recently engaged A&K Global Health a second time, returning to BGS Global for additional medical consultations in other specialty areas. It was during this autumn 2016 trip that her powerful testimony caught the attention of regional media at a press conference hosted by the hospital.
Margaret’s story was quickly picked up by the South Indian daily newspaper The Deccan Chronicle, which published an article about her experience the very next day. BGS Global made their own press release about her story, and posted about it on their Facebook page. “[Margaret] is now back on her feet. This is a testament to her sheer willpower, and our small contribution in giving her the joy of movement,” the hospital said in a statement.
“Our patients’ life-changing experiences are increasingly garnering press attention,” said Saraladevi Gangadhara, Director of A&K Global Health’s Treatment Management Center in Bangalore. “This kind of publicity points not only to the high quality of the medical procedures our patients receive, but also to the importance of A&K Global Health’s comprehensive management of our patients’ entire treatment processes. It’s because we are with them all the way, sometimes over many months or years and multiple interventions, that our patients achieve lasting positive results.”
We’re always honored to share our former patients’ stories about how they are thriving in their new, post-treatment lives: it’s an extra thrill to see press outlets where we work increasingly drawn to do the same. Stay with us on our blog to find out how A&K Global Health will make news next!
In the photograph above: Following her successful hip replacement surgery, A&K Global Health patient Margaret Wanjiru of Kenya and her surgeon, Dr. Basavaraj C. M. of BGS Global Hospital, addressed a press conference in Bengaluru, India. (Photo credit: Deccan Chronicle)
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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What is rheumatic heart disease?
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a chronic heart condition. It occurs as a result of rheumatic fever (RF). The valves of the heart that are most commonly affected by RHD are, in order, mitral, aortic, tricuspid, and pulmonary. In most cases, the mitral valve is involved with one or more of the other three valves.
One example of the life-threatening conditions that can develop for individuals with RHD is aortic valve stenosis/regurgitation. The aortic valve allows the blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta: when this valve does not open or close properly (stenosis), or leaks blood backwards (regurgitation), there is increased pressure in the heart, which leads to heart damage.
What causes aortic stenosis/regurgitation?
- Rheumatic fever / rheumatic heart disease
- Calcium deposits on heart valves (age related)
- Congenital disorders
What are the symptoms?
- Breathlessness
- Chest pain
- Fainting attacks
- Noticeable heartbeats
- Feeling extremely tired during routine activities
- Initially, it’s possible to have no symptoms at all
What about children, any special symptoms?
- Failure to gain weight
- Poor feeding
- Breathing problems
- Decreased crying/playing
I have some of these symptoms. What tests and appointments should I make with my doctor?
- Detailed clinical examination
- Chest X-ray, ECG, echo and cardiac catheterization
How is aortic stenosis/regurgitation treated?
- For no symptoms or mild symptoms: through regular monitoring
- For more progressed cases:
- Balloon aortic valvuloplasty (a procedure that widens the narrowed valve using a balloon catheter)
- Aortic valve repair/replacement surgery
Have questions? Have a disease, treatment, or medical topic you’d like to learn about? Comment on this post to let us know!
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After 34 years, from pain to peace with A&K Global Health
As 2016 comes to a close, we at A&K Global Health are grateful to be able to look back at the patients whose lives our work touched this year. One of those patients recently paid a visit to our Nairobi office to express just how much our care helped change her life.
Since 1982, Sophia Momanyi had suffered extreme pain from a chronic wound, unable to even sleep. “I had been sick for over 30 years and on treatment in Kenya until I was connected to A&K through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) in 2013,” Sophia said. With NHIF sponsorship, A&K Global Health arranged for Sophia to travel from Nairobi, Kenya to Fortis Malar Hospital in Chennai, India for further treatment for her condition.
“After my treatment in 2013, A&K Global Health’s Nairobi staff visited me at my house – it was a very special experience,” Sophia said, recalling how much our continuing care meant to her upon her return home. So in May 2016, when she fell sick again and needed to return to India, she knew she could rely on her A&K Global Health family for support.
“I’m very grateful to A&K Global Health for journeying with me throughout my treatment process, from my first trip back to home, and then to India again,” Sophia said. “Each time I visited India, the A&K Global Health team there received me at the airport, helped us with the immigration and clearance process, and facilitated transport and communication for my attendant and me. They visited me in hospital and checked on me during my treatment process.”
Most importantly, we stayed with Sophia to comprehensively manage the course of her care over time, ensuring that she found a complete solution to her illness. Through A&K Global Health, Sophia found a path to healing that had eluded her for 34 years: she is now full of life and sleeping through the night.
“Sophia’s testimony reminds all of us at A&K Global Health that we play a critical role in delivering healthcare to those in need…our work is important,” said Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO.
We’re privileged every day to help people like Sophia find the peace that a healthy life brings. Do you or a loved one suffer from an unresolved condition or untreated illness? There is hope. Reach out to us today for support.
In the photograph above: Our healthy former patient, Sophia Momanyi, recently stopped by A&K Global Health’s Nairobi offices to personally share her gratitude with our leadership. From left to right are Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health Kenya National Director; Ms. Momanyi; and Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health events encourage local care usage & development
Welcome to A&K Global Health’s final 2016 update on our regular continuing medical education (CME), healthcare access and medical policy awareness events throughout Kenya! This year saw tremendous growth in our nationwide outreach and impact, and we’re proud to announce that we’re now facilitating local as well as international care for Kenyans – expanding healthcare utilization at the local and national levels while also augmenting the quality of domestically-available medical services. Here’s a full fall recap before we head into the new year!
On September 30, our Eldoret staff addressed 82 officers at Kapsabet Prison on how to use their National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) medical insurance to receive covered specialty care from A&K Global Health’s local and international network. Our former patient Samuel Kitum joined us to share his story: “A&K Global Health gave me a second chance in life, because through them I was able to receive world-class cancer treatment. Today I am cancer-free!” Samuel’s testimony alone encouraged two oncology patients to pursue treatment with us; both have selected hospitals and are now preparing to travel.
From October 21-22, A&K Global Health made media waves with our medical camp at Alfarooq Hospital in Mombasa! K24 Television’s footage, aired on the evening news, captured the hospital’s hallways bursting with patients eager to be seen and included interviews with BLK Hospital’s International Marketing Manager Abhishek Joseph, A&K Global Health’s Operations Officer Bernard Ademba, and Mombasa patient Wako Dida.
“I came here from BLK Hospital in New Delhi to organize free medical camps here in Mombasa as well as in Eldoret, in collaboration with A&K Global [Health],” said Mr. Joseph. “Our prime objective is to start [establishing specialty] facilities here, [to] treat patients here, to create inspiration for what can be accomplished locally.”
“October being cancer awareness month, our camp – which provided free oncology and cardiology consultations to 138 patients – showcased A&K Global Health’s dedication to the community’s well-being and our efforts to ensure that patients get first-rate medical advice and management, here in Kenya and abroad,” said Mr. Ademba.
From October 24-25, BLK’s medical camp continued at the Family Medical Care Centre in Eldoret. Over 100 patients were seen, including 13 orthopedic cases that were able to be referred locally for medication and physiotherapy, and 24 healthcare professionals benefitted from a CME presentation.
In early November, A&K Global Health’s Lencer Misiani visited Siaya County Referral Hospital and Kakamega Provincial General Hospital to coach their staffs on using our care management and the NHIF’s medical coverage resources. Ms. Misiani also called on the NHIF’s local branch manager to congratulate him on Kakamega County’s recent joining of the NHIF’s insurance program, and to plan future outreach events to ensure that all county employees understand and draw on their new health benefits. And from November 16-18, Ms. Misiani addressed similar forums with Busia and Kisumu Counties at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), while A&K Global Health’s Jack Owuor presented to the Kenya National Nurses Association annual meeting in Kisumu.
Thanks for filling this autumn with enthusiasm for learning about and leveraging your healthcare, Kenya. Keep reading our blog to be the first to know about A&K Global Health’s exciting plans for 2017!
In the photograph above: The reclaimed health and happiness of former A&K Global Health cancer patient Samuel Kitum (front bottom right) are on full display as he poses with officers from Kapsabet Prison in Eldoret, Kenya, in October, where Mr. Kitum gave his testimonial and urged others to seek our expert, life-changing management for any challenging health issue.
In the photograph below: A&K Global Health Kenya Operations Director Reuben Kangogo (left) and Marketing Executive Lencer Misiani (right) meet with local NHIF branch manager Mr. Kennedy Ontiti in Kakamega in November, where A&K Global Health’s community outreach and health education events are helping ensure that residents of the county – a new member of the NHIF’s insurance program – are aware of and able to utilize their NHIF medical resources and benefits.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health headlines as presenter and awardee at international healthcare conference
North Carolina, USA – December 7, 2016: From November 13th-15th, healthcare experts and advocates from around the world gathered in Berlin, Germany for the 7th Annual Temos Conference. A&K Global Health had the honor of delivering a presentation as well as receiving a certificate at this important international gathering.
Temos, which stands for trust, effective medicine, and optimized services, is a global certification agency that evaluates and certifies hospitals catering to medical travelers. Temos also offers a rigorous quality assessment and endorsement program for medical travel facilitators; in April 2016, A&K Global Health became the first U.S.-based company to earn this coveted certification.
The topic of this year’s three-day meeting was Healthcare Abroad and Medical Tourism. Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health’s CEO, addressed a session entitled “What makes a great facilitator?”
“Our role at this conference marks two key successes for A&K Global Health,” said Mr. Darwin. “First, recognition by this forum demonstrates the global profile our high quality, cross-border medical travel management has achieved. And second, the invitation to speak about our experience optimizing healthcare resources within national borders shows the widespread interest in and growing demand for our unique approach to comprehensive healthcare management – the differentiator that makes A&K Global Health an unmatched value to patients, governments, medical funding organizations, and care providers alike.”
A&K Global Health’s presentation, delivered by Mr. Darwin and Dr. Rainer Hilgenfeld, Chief Medical Officer, introduced conference attendees to our collaborative Cardiac Care Indicator Project (CCIP) with Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), highlighting the initiative as a case study for how oversight and measurement of clinical performance can positively impact national and international care management. “We addressed the role of generic clinical indicators within a specific effort,” said Dr. Hilgenfeld, “and then challenged the community to consider the critical role of metrics in healthcare more broadly – as it may apply to their particular business segments within the field of global health.”
In addition to presenting, A&K Global Health received a “Preferred Medical Travel Facilitator” certificate from the global think tank The Diplomatic Council. As its website explains, “The Diplomatic Council (DC) medical program is designed for patients striving for more security and quality and for hospitals seeking more international patients. ‘DC Preferred Partner [Hospital/Facilitator]’ is the highest qualification standard and is only awarded based on experts’ evaluation.”
The certificate was presented by Dr. Bettina Horster, Chairwoman of the DC’s Global Healthcare Forum, which manages the think tank’s medical sector activities. “Receiving this certificate was a special privilege for A&K Global Health because of the DC’s history of respected work in diplomatic circles, including medical travel,” said Dr. Hilgenfeld. “Further, the DC, Temos, and A&K Global Health share a common appreciation: that the future of international healthcare will be driven by mutually beneficial exchange between national health systems,” said Dr. Hilgenfeld, “and by connections that build capacity, strengthen good processes, and improve outcomes for all stakeholders.”
For more on how A&K Global Health is realizing these goals through the CCIP in Kenya and similar projects in 14 countries worldwide, follow the company on the A&K Global Health blog and on social media.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin (center) and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rainer Hilgenfeld (right) receive the Diplomatic Council (DC) distinction of “Preferred Medical Travel Facilitator” from Dr. Bettina Horster (left), Chairwoman of the DC’s Global Healthcare Forum, at the 7th Annual Temos Conference in Berlin, Germany.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Kenya medical camps connect, inform & empower patients
Think medical camps with foreign doctors are only about medical travel? Think again.
A&K Global Health’s medical camps optimize two things: healthcare access and affordability. We bring the clinical knowledge of international specialists to our patients in their own home countries, and through personal consultations, our patients receive expert guidance on the most appropriate place for them to pursue treatment – whether that’s locally, nationally, or globally.
Our September medical camps in Kenya with Fortis Hospitals of India are perfect examples of our healthcare management in action. From September 16-17, Indian specialists from Fortis offered professional medical advice to the public during a medical camp at Pandya Memorial Hospital in Mombasa County. The 132 patients seen included 33 cardiac, 21 nephrology, and 78 orthopedic cases. “The patients appreciated A&K Global Health for facilitating the free medical camp, giving them an opportunity for personal consultations and second opinions,” said Bernard Ademba, Mombasa Operations Officer. “Through this camp, we also shared with patients the partnership between A&K Global Health and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), especially the kidney transplant benefits, which are available to all NHIF members.”
From Mombasa, the Fortis doctors traveled to meet A&K Global Health’s team in Eldoret, where from September 19-20 we jointly conducted another medical camp at Reale Hospital. “The teamwork between A&K Global Health and Reale Hospital staff allowed this camp to be well coordinated and successful,” said Cornelius Rop, Eldoret Operations Officer. Another large crowd turned out, with 36 cardiac, 26 nephrology, and 71 orthopedic consultations totaling 133 patients seen. A highlight for AKGH was being able to advise economically disadvantaged Kenyans who need expensive surgeries that they can now enroll as NHIF members for health insurance, an opportunity formerly available only to civil servants. Another highlight was seeing patients like Samuel Cherutich, who previously traveled with A&K Global Health for treatment in India, return to receive continuing care and monitoring of his health condition. “Our follow-up ensured that Samuel’s case was appropriate reviewed,” said Mr. Rop.
Empowering individuals with professional, personalized medical counsel, connecting new patients with advanced specialty care, checking in with former patients to assure their sustained progress – A&K Global Health’s medical camps do it all! Follow us on social media to learn when we’re bringing a medical camp to your neighborhood, and visit our blog for regular updates on our health management successes around the world.
In the photograph above: A clinician from India’s Fortis Hospitals takes a patient’s blood pressure at the A&K Global Health-facilitated medical camp hosted by Pandya Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya.
In the photograph below: A&K Global Health staff pose with the Fortis team during the Eldoret medical camp, hosted by Reale Hospital. From left to right are Reuben Kangogo, A&K Global Health Kenya Operations Director; Dr. Manoj Kumar, Fortis Orthospine Surgeon; Dr. Satish Javait, Fortis Cardiac Surgeon; Dr. Vishal Saxena, Fortis Nephrologist; Cornelius Rop, A&K Global Health Operations Officer; and Linner Soy, A&K Global Health Care Consultant.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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First heart surgery in NHIF / A&K Global Health program succeeds
Sally Chesang never thought she’d see her young son undergo open heart surgery. She especially didn’t expect him to receive this specialized procedure in their home country of Kenya.
But on October 24 at Gertrude’s Children Hospital in Nairobi, four-year-old Kevin Kimutai became the first patient to receive cardiac surgery in Kenya under A&K Global Health’s implementation of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Cardiac Care Indicator Project.
Kevin was born weighing just 1.5 kilograms, or 3.3 pounds. His growth was abnormal; he was much smaller than other children his age. His parents later learned that Kevin suffered from congenital heart disease, a condition requiring surgical intervention and complex care management.
“When my son was brought back to the general ward from the ICU, people flooded into his room in disbelief,” Sally said, recalling the sense of pride during Kevin’s recovery as the clinical team and program managers realized what they had achieved. “This was a successful open heart surgery, conducted by Kenyan doctors at a Kenyan hospital, for a Kenyan patient whose life depended on the procedure. It’s an important turning point for the individuals involved as well as for the country,” affirmed Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director.
“More and more people need to know about this NHIF cardiac program because there is great need out there,” Sally added. “In Nandi where we come from, people still don’t believe that my son has received treatment that is fully paid by NHIF, considering the long waiting lists in hospitals for such conditions. Many people on the cardiac waiting list die before they get to their names for treatment.”
The cardiac program is designed to begin preventing such tragedies by infusing funding, improving the triage process for local or international treatment decisions, and supporting local healthcare professionals in expanding their clinical capabilities. The ambitious initiative is the result of years of effort by the NHIF towards addressing both financial and clinical hurdles to Kenyan citizens’ consumption of healthcare services.
And as Kevin’s experience indicates, the project is off to a strong start. “I’m very grateful to Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital and their first class customer service. Their staff relations are top notch – I could hardly tell the difference between a guard and a nurse because of how each individual treated us with such care and concern,” said his mother.
“I am also grateful to A&K Global Health for the good work you are doing. Keep it up! Please come and visit us in Nandi so that more people can hear and know about you.”
It’s been our pleasure supporting your family and managing Kevin’s progress, Sally. We look forward to continuing to spread the word throughout Kenya about this critical project. And we can’t wait to share more stories of beneficiaries just like Kevin!
In the photograph above: Four-year-old Kevin Kimutai glows with good health just weeks after he became the first patient to undergo open heart surgery in Kenya under the new NHIF Cardiac Care Indicator Project. His surgery, managed by A&K Global Health, was conducted at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital in Nairobi.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Beating MS with A&K Global Health: “No wheelchair from now on!”
2016 marked an unwelcome anniversary for 48-year-old Getu Abebe Degfie of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: it had been one decade since her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet she still hadn’t obtained lasting treatment.
“I had been diagnosed 10 years ago in the USA. They treated me with Solu-Medrol, medicine to make me regenerate [muscle] and [be] able to walk,” Getu remembers, referencing a drug popular for short-term management of severe MS attacks. After finishing the five-day course of Solu-Medrol, she was indeed able to walk – but the drug’s effects are not permanent. Solu-Medrol temporarily alleviates symptoms of MS attacks without fundamentally slowing the disease’s progression. “They [weren’t] able to give me disease-modifying medicine, like Avonex, because [this required] a passport or being a citizen.” Reluctantly, Getu returned home to Ethiopia.
“Whenever the attacks came, I used the same medicine…many times I had attacks.” Dissatisfied that Solu-Medrol was not slowing her MS overall, Getu traveled to Norway in hopes of obtaining disease-modifying medication. “The same thing happened: they said that I should have [citizenship] or a passport. So I came back home.”
Then, in Ethiopia, Getu met a man who had undergone brain surgery in India. “[He] told us that Indian [clinicians] are good at [treating] all diseases, not just MS…heart surgery, bone marrow transplant…unbelievable! He explained everything, [saying] ‘just go there, you will get treatment…they are excellent!’”
His urging convinced Getu to seek treatment in India, and her exploration led her to A&K Global Health. We guided her into the exceptional neurology care of Narayana Hospital in Bangalore, India, facilitating all travel and legal arrangements. Just weeks after meeting our Addis Ababa staff, Getu and her husband were in Bangalore.
“Right after my arrival, I was admitted to the hospital, and I saw Dr. Krishna,” Getu says of her first meeting with Dr. Gopal Krishna Dash, Narayana Consultant Neurologist and Epileptologist. “He explained everything to me and I started the [five-day course of] Solu-Medrol. On the [sixth] day, he said that ‘you should be on the disease-modifying medicine Avonex,’” – the life-changing drug Getu had pursued for 10 years. She was thrilled with Dr. Krishna’s confirmation that Avonex was right for her treatment. “He asked the pharmacy people to come and explain every detail, whatever question I [had]…they explained to me the side effects, how to inject, each thing they explained to me before I [took] the medicine.” And the same day, Getu gave herself her first, long-awaited injection of Avonex.
After years of seeking treatment that could slow her MS, the country where A&K Global Health helped her find it holds a special place in Getu’s heart. With a twinkle in her eye, she declares her intention to return: “Next time, I know that I am going to be able to walk – no wheelchair from now on – so I will come and visit all of India!”
Your A&K Global Health family looks forward to welcoming you back standing tall, Getu.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Indian magazine names A&K Global Health “game changer”
A&K Global Health is excited to share that we were recently profiled by Healthcare Radius, a leading monthly magazine for Indian medical professionals covering healthcare trends and developments across the country.
In the publication’s 4th anniversary special edition, Healthcare Radius announced its picks for the best healthcare facilitators working in India – and A&K Global Health was at the top of the list.
“This profile highlights the strength of A&K Global Health’s relationships with our Indian partner hospitals,” said Saraladevi Gangadhara, Director of A&K Global Health’s Treatment Management Center in Bangalore. “First, we were recommended to Healthcare Radius as a top facilitator by Mr. Benny Daniel of Manipal Hospital, based on his institution’s experience working with us. And second, what really distinguishes A&K Global Health from other quality medical facilitators is that bringing patients to India isn’t the only thing we do. We also leverage our relationships with Indian hospitals to build partnerships with the existing health systems, care facilities, and clinicians in the countries where our patients come from.”
The profile, based on an interview with A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin, introduced readers to our background in medical travel facilitation to India. Mr. Darwin also explained how our broader experience in healthcare management and health system development is allowing Indian hospitals and doctors to have a profoundly positive impact in the other countries where we work.
“From medical camps and continuing medical education events to short-term immersive training programs and cooperative surgical initiatives, we connect our Indian and international hospital partners in a way that encourages developing health systems to advance. At the same time, our financial model for these engagements ensures that our Indian hospitals partners garner the revenues their businesses require, making their involvement sustainable,” Mr. Darwin said.
Game-changing, indeed. Stay current on how our work is transforming healthcare for patients, providers and organizations all around the world – follow us on the A&K Global Health blog.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Record med camp turnout, new local training initiatives in Kigali
This fall, Rwandans demonstrated unprecedented demand for two of A&K Global Health’s signature activities: our expert international medical facilitation and care management, and our continuing medical education (CME) and clinical trainings to strengthen their national healthcare capacity.
From September 13-14, 2016, A&K Global Health conducted a medical camp and CME event in conjunction with visiting cardiology and orthopedics/spine specialists from BLK Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India. Baho International Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda hosted the two-day program.
“We had a huge number of clients – each doctor saw 60 patients a day,” said Gratien Twizeyimana, A&K Global Health’s Representative and Regional Manager for Rwanda, Burundi, East Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition to the two busy doctors, BLK’s International Marketing Manager also attended. “He thanked A&K Global Health on behalf of the BLK team for our good partnership and especially for arranging this very successful camp,” Mr. Twizeyimana noted.
But A&K Global Health’s coordination didn’t just provide a record number of patients with personal medical consultations. We also facilitated new partnerships between BLK and Rwandan doctors and hospitals with a goal to improve local healthcare.
“During the visit, I arranged for the Indian doctors to meet Dr. Muneza Severien, Rwanda’s national neurosurgeon,” Mr. Twizeyimana said. “Drs. Srivastava and Girdhar shared with Dr. Severien a BLK computer-based training on the microscopy machine used for modern neuro and spine surgeries, explaining how surgical outcomes are improved by this new method.” This CME session built camaraderie among the surgeons – and got them thinking. What if they could collaborate to provide these advanced orthopedic surgeries in Rwanda, where many need them and not all are able to travel abroad?
Two exciting initiatives emerged. First, BLK has invited Baho International Hospital to send a surgical team for a short practical training program at BLK, building their capacity to conduct some surgeries in Rwanda upon their return. Second, BLK intends to send a group of medical consultants to Rwanda for several weeks to conduct orthopedic procedures locally. “These programs will expand the range of locally-available orthopedic surgeries, while also improving the quality of Rwanda’s existing orthopedic offerings,” Mr. Twizeyimana said.
Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO, agreed. “This was a tremendously successful event on all sides: good for the patients, the physicians, and the country!” For more on how A&K Global Health is expanding healthcare quality and access in 14 countries through events just like this one, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and our blog!
In the photograph above: Key members of A&K Global Health’s successful Kigali medical camp pose for a group photo. From left to right are Dr. Sushant Srivastava, BLK Super Specialty Hospital Cardiothoracic Surgeon; Dr. Puneet Girdhar, BLK Orthopedic/Spine Surgeon; Mr. Diganta Bhattacharya, BLK International Marketing Manager; Dr. Ardent Joseph Nibarere, Baho International Hospital Medical Director; Mr. Gratien Twizeyimana, A&K Global Health Representative and Regional Manager for Rwanda, Burundi, East Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Mrs. Umuhire Liliane, Baho International Hospital Marketing Manager.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health leverages technology as health management tool
From our founding forward, technology has played a major role in how A&K Global Health manages the complex clinical, financial, logistical, experiential and other aspects of our patients’ medical journeys. But as our work expanded beyond the established industry of medical travel and concierge services into the uncharted territory of comprehensive healthcare management, we realized this new, unique field we were pioneering would require tailored technology to support our management process.
A&K Global Health originally conceived and developed the Patient Advocate Support System (PASS), a cloud-based mobile application, to support the specific data collection and distribution requirements associated with our work moving patients and managing their care. At the beginning of 2016, however, we made the exciting transition to the Orsalus Exchange (OEX), a new platform focused on all-inclusive and dynamic activity management instead of strictly static patient management.
“Orsalus developed its software to help institutions better manage complex human activities across widely distributed systems and involving multiple participants and stakeholders,” said Jeanine Ayers, Orsalus Chief Technology Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer. “With the OEX platform, A&K Global Health can capture metrics, assess outcomes, and apply this data to help governments and other health policy organizations advance clinical quality and optimize care distribution locally, regionally and internationally.”
OEX provides a centralized, secure database in the cloud that is accessible to A&K Global Health employees and licensees from anywhere in the world via desktop, tablet and mobile devices. The platform provides permission-based storage of our patients’ complete electronic medical records, as well as extensive information about our hospital partners and their treatment capabilities. It allows live updates on patient clinical or logistical status and tracks the feedback our patients provide us via the Short Message Service (SMS) surveys we use to ensure their satisfaction throughout the phases of their medical journey. The system also features advanced financial management and invoicing capabilities. “With all these data stored in the single OEX platform, A&K Global Health can generate reports on patient diagnoses, emerging health indicators, movement, costs, and outcomes,” said Aleksandra Golota, A&K Global Health Senior Relations Manager. “The information captured from the 7,800 clinical activities we’ve managed through this system to date provides invaluable analysis to the health policymakers, funding organizations, and clinical communities that together make up regional and national health systems.”
Take, for instance, the Cardiac Care Indicator Project we are currently leading with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) in Kenya. This program is beginning to treat locally – rather than sending abroad – cardiac disease cases that can safely be performed by Kenyan cardiothoracic surgeons. “Our focus is on collecting pre-surgery qualifiers of patient health and disease stage, and then monitoring outcomes through the entire treatment process,” said Dr. Rainer Hilgenfeld, A&K Global Health Chief Medical Officer. “The OEX platform allows us to track these indicators over time, across a large population and distributed geographies, to analyze them, and ultimately generate a body of historical data against which we can make assessments of the health system’s development. We are then able to accurately inform the NHIF of the risk associated with local treatment, to improve the triage process for local or international treatment decisions, and to assist local providers in improving their services.” By increasing the capacity for cardiac surgeries and other advanced procedures to be conducted within Kenya, A&K Global Health’s use of OEX makes better and more affordable care available to Kenyans, and contributes to establishing Kenya as a regional medical treatment hub.
The cardiac program in Kenya is just one example of how A&K Global Health’s use of technology is helping governments and health funding institutions better manage patients within national borders and when international treatment is required. We’re also working in partnership with existing healthcare systems in 13 other countries to build sustainable economic models that incentivize excellence in care delivery. For all the latest on all our patients, partners, and projects, follow us on the A&K Global Health blog!
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health to Manage Nationwide Cardiac Surgery Program in Kenya
North Carolina, USA – October 19, 2016: Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has announced a bold new program to provide cardiac surgeries locally, addressing a tremendous need among Kenyan citizens while driving major advancements in Kenyan health system capacity.
The nationwide, multi-year Cardiac Care Indicator Project will be funded by the NHIF, and implemented and managed by A&K Global Health.
“Our goal is to support national and local healthcare objectives, providing transparent management of required international care while working with health leaders to safely and ethically build national capacity,” said Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO.
The program will begin treating locally – rather than sending abroad – cardiac disease cases that require low-risk open heart surgery. A&K Global Health will manage all patient care, with a focus on collecting pre-surgery qualifiers of patient health and disease stage and then monitoring outcomes through the entire treatment process. The company will also coordinate with the NHIF, local hospitals, and a group of select care providers and cardio-thoracic surgical teams to provide these services, including facilitating clinical reachback and surge support through its global partners.
The initiative’s purpose is to accurately inform the NHIF of risk associated with local treatment, to improve the triage process for local or international treatment decisions, and to assist local providers in improving their clinical services. These goals are directly aligned with A&K Global Health’s work in partnership with existing healthcare systems in 14 countries to build sustainable economic models that incentivize excellence in care delivery.
“Our role supporting the NHIF’s cardiac program is a clear example of our determination to expand healthcare, and serve as an expert manager of healthcare deliverables and processes, within the national borders of each country where we have a presence,” said Mr. Darwin. “This initiative is in alignment with Kenya’s strategy for increased national capacity, saving the lives of thousands of Kenyans while increasing domestic healthcare self-sufficiency.”
Mr. Darwin was among the approximately 50 people – including NHIF leaders, Kenyan hospital representatives, and A&K Global Health corporate and Kenyan staff – who attended the program’s kickoff meeting in Nairobi on October 3. Interventions are scheduled to begin this month, with the program’s official launch taking place in November.
“We are eager to get started,” said Stephen Makoka, A&K Global Health Kenya National Director. “Our approach is to provide real value to the government and the people. It’s taken four years for us to solidify what that looks like with regard to cardiac care…Kenya has a limited number of surgeons experienced in these procedures, and more than 500 patients urgently requiring open heart surgery. With the support of NHIF funding in combination with A&K Global Health’s international clinical network, we can finally begin addressing these critical needs.”
An update on this program’s initial progress will come in just a few weeks, when A&K Global Health presents the initiative as a case study at the annual Temos conference in Berlin. And because of the importance of custom technology to the program’s rollout, A&K Global Health will soon publish an article explaining how the processes and platforms developed for this initiative correlate to its trans-national healthcare management activities broadly.
That piece will join many others on the A&K Global Health blog, where the company tells the story of its continuing work around the world to serve patients, develop partnerships, and promote solutions that expand and enhance healthcare.
In the photograph above: Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health Kenya National Director, addresses an audience of NHIF leaders, Kenyan hospital representatives, and A&K Global Health corporate and Kenyan staff who gathered on October 3 in Nairobi for a kickoff meeting of the NHIF’s new Cardiac Care Indicator Project.
In the photograph below: Dr. Elly Nyaim Opot of the NHIF Board of Directors presents his organization’s Cardiac Care Indicator Project to kickoff meeting attendees. The program – funded by the NHIF and implemented by A&K Global Health – will begin providing cardiac surgeries locally rather than overseas, addressing a tremendous need among Kenyan citizens while driving major advancements in Kenyan health system capacity.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Hundreds across Kenya attend healthcare access & awareness events
It’s that time again! – time for an update on A&K Global Health’s ongoing health advocacy events in Kenya. Our single-minded focus on managing healthcare deliverables within the borders of each country where we work has generated great progress in Kenya since our last update this summer.
At each of these events, our goal is the same: helping you obtain the highest quality, most affordable healthcare for your needs and benefit fully from your medical insurance coverage. We do this by sharing about our collaboration with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to offer specialized treatment, both locally and overseas. Our staff in Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret have recently encountered some remarkable stories as they spread this empowering message:
On July 22, A&K Global Health addressed 160 disciplined service members at Shimo La Tewa/Shanzu Prison. “The officers were grateful – most were unaware of what their NHIF benefits entitle them to,” said Bernard Ademba, A&K Global Health Mombasa Operations Officer. “Right now, we are facilitating care in India for our fifth patient from this prison’s staff so far in 2016. And our sixth patient is preparing to travel later this month.”
On August 1, 102 officers from Kabarnet Prison welcomed A&K Global Health’s Eldoret presenters – and a live testimony from one of their colleagues, our former patient Samuel Kitum! Last year Samuel traveled with A&K Global Health to India for thyroid cancer treatment. He’s now healthy, happily back at work, and eager to share his A&K Global Health healing experience.
On August 10, our Kisumu staff worked with two audiences: one of health professionals for a continuing medical education event, and the other of county government officials whom we addressed at a Kisumu County Heads of Departments meeting. The crowded rooms at each event demonstrated the high interest in our outreach!
On August 12 and 16, A&K Global Health continued with additional presentations at Kisumu County meetings, reaching over 80 staff members. “We had a particularly interactive meeting on 16th, as our former client Florah Ambani spoke on her experience with A&K Global Health,” said Lencer Misiani, our Kisumu Marketing Executive/Care Consultant. “Her testimony was an added advantage for other attendees…many people wanted to hear more about her journey with us. We have similar events scheduled for this quarter, too.”
On September 13, our Eldoret team gave a lunch presentation to 102 Iten Police Officers. “Epilepsy, cardiology, kidney transplantation, and orthospine are all specialty treatment areas with which we’re now assisting patients reached through this event,” said Cornelius Rop, A&K Global Health Eldoret Operations Officer.
As these events demonstrate, A&K Global Health is determined to expand healthcare and awareness nationwide in Kenya – and everywhere we work. Follow us on social media to find out more, and to be the first to know about a potential upcoming live stream of one of our presentations!
In the photograph above: Samuel Kitum (squatting), a former A&K Global Health patient healed from thyroid cancer, joyfully shared his testimony with an audience of his colleagues at Kabarnet Prison in August.
In the photograph below: Lencer Misiani, A&K Global Health’s Marketing Executive/Care Consultant, addressed a large assembly of Kisumu County government officials about their NHIF benefits. Our successful meetings in August have led to the establishment of a series of presentations for Kisumu County employees on how A&K Global Health can help them access their medical coverage for care at home or abroad.
A&K Global HealthA&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Iraqi doctor brings passion to patient care & health policy alike
Dr. Dara Rashid Mahmood of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, is in many ways an ordinary man. He is 40 years old, the proud father of three children. But Dr. Dara is also extraordinary, and his work is changing the landscape of healthcare management in Iraqi Kurdistan and nationwide.
A radiologist by training, Dr. Dara serves as General Director for Medical Issues in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Health (MOH). He is also Head of the Cancer Patient Support Fund.
A&K Global Health was introduced to Dr. Dara in early 2013. Later that year, we partnered with the KRG MOH to manage the travel and treatment of all patients requiring care outside Iraq for thalassemia and malignant blood disorders. We soon began managing overseas liver transplants as well. To date, we have facilitated KRG-sponsored care – including treatments, consultations, and second opinions – within Iraq and abroad for more than 3,620 individuals.
Over nearly three years of working with the KRG MOH, we have witnessed how Dr. Dara’s dedication to improving Kurdish healthcare management impacts his community. He is passionate about serving his patients, always striving to provide the best care solutions despite the challenges faced by Kurdistan and Iraq. And he holds himself to the same high standard for exceptional care and service that A&K Global Health practices with each one of our clients.
But Dr. Dara has not stopped at aiding his fellow Iraqis through conventional means. His drive to realize comprehensive healthcare management throughout Iraq has also compelled him to help institute quality control for medications available on the Iraqi market; to support Peshmerga fighters combatting the Islamic State by providing health supplements and assisting the wounded; and to open clinics and laboratories in rural areas of Iraqi Kurdistan.
In addition, Dr. Dara initiated the bone marrow transplant (BMT) program in Kurdistan for both thalassemia and malignant blood disease. This program currently sends abroad patients with these complex conditions for care, as well as for other specialized procedures, including PET scans, liver transplantation, and various oncology treatments.
Dr. Dara shares another priority with A&K Global Health, too: even as he assists patients urgently needing care overseas, he also seeks opportunities to invest in training and professional development for Iraqi physicians with the goal to eventually establish domestic diagnostic and treatment facilities for these acute conditions and specialty areas. Already, Dr. Dara has presided over the opening of the first autologous BMT center in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan.
We are pleased to spread the word about the work that Dr. Dara and individuals like him are doing to bring vital medical care and health system development to their home countries. A&K Global Health is also proud to note that after several years of serving Iraqi Kurdistan, our medical travel and care management expertise is now available throughout Iraq.
A&K Global Health is dedicated to expanding quality healthcare to all corners of each country where we work. Contact us for a personal consultation about your medical needs.
In the photograph above: Dr. Dara Rashid Mahmood, a dynamic healthcare changemaker in Iraqi Kurdistan, serves as the KRG MOH General Director for Medical Issues and as Head of the Cancer Patient Support Fund.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health hip replacement gives 30-yr-old back his youth
We often think of osteoarthritis as an affliction of the elderly. For 30-year-old mechanical technician Mackenzie Okinyi Owiti of Nairobi, Kenya, it’s been a painful reality his whole life.
“[My condition] started back when I was young, but it wasn’t managed well, so at around age 19 it became a problem. During college I started having pain,” Mackenzie remembers. “It was realized I had osteoarthritis.” Five years later, his pain became serious. And then he had an accident – a fall in December 2015 that produced a fracture. Unable to work, Mackenzie knew it was time to seek further help.
Through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), Mackenzie got in touch with A&K Global Health. And with NHIF sponsorship, A&K Global Health facilitated Mackenzie’s travel to Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India, where we referred his case into the capable care of Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Sunil G. Kini.
“After his accident, Mackenzie found it difficult to [walk] even a few steps without pain. That’s when he decided to come to our hospital,” Dr. Sunil reported. “I did a few x-rays which indeed showed he had a fused hip…he did not have any movement at the hip. We decided to go ahead with a hip replacement surgery.”
Mackenzie is completely satisfied with his treatment, and optimistic about how this surgery impacts his life. “I believe I got the best doctor. Dr. Sunil really is hands-on, giving you the best of care, the information that you need…from the [day after] surgery, I got [out of] bed with a walker, started [bending] my legs…but now I [can really] move! I do believe Dr. Sunil gave me a good joint and a pain-free future.”
Mackenzie’s recovery was hard-earned by his doctors. “There were quite a few challenges from a surgical point of view,” Dr. Sunil recalls. “The first was…to create a new [hip] socket from [nothing]. And the second challenge was to get the [femoral] head back into the socket, because it had migrated.” Despite these, Mackenzie progressed quickly. “Immediately, the day after surgery, he started to stand and move with the help of a walker. About two weeks down the line, he’s much [more mobile] and absolutely pain-free,” Dr. Sunil announces proudly.
“A&K Global Health is a healthcare management company that assists patients,” Mackenzie describes, “toward the hospitality arrangements, toward travel to the treatment destination and the care…it’s a link for the patient to the hospital. In my case I got into the country, a new person – it’s very easy to get lost. A&K received me the best way, showed me into the best of accommodations, close to the hospital, that I can reach at any given time. I really appreciate them.”
You can hear Mackenzie’s whole story in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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After care, A&K Global Health patient has “nothing but gratitude”
What characterizes “life after A&K Global Health” for our patients? Joy. Wellness. Incredible gratitude – and, for some, a desire to speak up and spread the word of just how helpful A&K Global Health can be.
Lydia Simiyu is a senior nursing officer at Mariakani Sub County Hospital in Kilifi County, Kenya. From late 2014 to early 2016, A&K Global Health comprehensively managed her treatment for breast cancer. With sponsorship from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), A&K Global Health facilitated Lydia’s three trips to Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India for chemotherapy treatments. We also monitored her condition, coordinated her medications with her Indian and Kenyan physicians, and ensured care continuity during the months she spent at home between her trips to India for treatment.
Her treatment experience changed her life, giving her a sense of eternal gratitude and inspiring an unwavering belief in A&K Global Health’s work. So when A&K Global Health was invited on July 23rd, 2016 to make a presentation at the hospital where Lydia works, she made certain she was in the audience to help spread our message of wellness and hope among her colleagues.
At the event, Lydia presented A&K Global Health staff members with an appreciation card. Her handwritten note on it read “To the [A&K] Global Health and NHIF: May God bless you as you extend that hand of help to needy ones like me. Never get tired. Thank you so much…I have nothing to give but my gratitude.”
Lydia’s presence and vitality were a powerful testimony to the 80 hospital staff members who had gathered to learn about their NHIF medical insurance plan, including medical travel coverage, and how AKGH can help them access these benefits. “It’s always wonderful to see our former patients back at work and thriving in their daily lives,” said Reuben Kangogo, A&K Global Health Kenya Operations Director. “It’s especially gratifying to meet those who feel so strongly about their experience that they want to give back in a way, to share their story so that others will realize there is hope for them, too.”
Every day, A&K Global Health has the privilege of helping people like Lydia find their own happy health ending. What could your “life after A&K Global Health” look like? Get in touch with us, and together, we’ll find out.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health staff members gathered around our radiant former patient for a photo! From left to right are Bernard Ademba, Mombasa Operations Officer; Lydia Simiyu, our healthy former patient; Biye Maalim, Mombasa Care Consultant; and Reuben Kangogo, Kenya Operations Director.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health Expands Nationwide in Iraq
North Carolina, USA – September 7, 2016: A&K Global Health is pleased to announce the expansion of our Iraqi presence.
Click here to read this in Arabic.
On Saturday, August 27th, 2016, A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin and Albasso Company General Manager Hakar Rajab formalized our collaboration to connect individuals throughout Iraq with quality medical treatment, whether at home or overseas. Also in attendance were Albasso Company Administration Manager Mohammed Saber, A&K Global Health Iraq Country Manager Moataz Jaleel, and A&K Global Health Senior Medical Advisor Dr. Kameran Qader. This ceremony made official our partnership, which has in fact been ongoing since August 1st.
Our newest licensee is a local business based in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Albasso Company was founded in 2009 and is involved in multiple industries and activities, including travel and tourism, advertising, IT solutions, real estate, and engineering consulting. They have additional established branches in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, and have office locations “coming soon” to Baghdad, Basra, and other central and southern Iraqi cities.
Albasso Company’s vision has long been aligned with that of A&K Global Health. “Their plan was to have medical travel activities to care for and send patients abroad,” said Mr. Jaleel. “Through one of our satisfied clients, A&K Global Health got connected with the company and shared our own current activities in this area, as well as our broader vision for managing healthcare systems and serving patients.”
“Albasso Company was excited about the opportunity to become our official licensee throughout broader Iraq, and we as A&K Global Health were eager to reach more Iraqi patients in urgent need of care who reside outside of Kurdistan,” Dr. Qader added. “It was a natural next step to form a partnership.”
If you or someone you know resides in Iraq and is seeking medical advice or specialized care, A&K Global Health can help. Just get in touch with us – whatever your circumstances, we are here to support you and your unique treatment needs.
In the photograph above: Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO (left), and Hakar Rajab, Albasso Company General Manager (right) solidified Saturday’s signing ceremony with a handshake. This new partnership enables A&K Global Health to provide our life-changing and life-saving health management services beyond Iraqi Kurdistan and throughout broader Iraq.
In the photograph below: Present for the agreement signing were, from left to right, A&K Global Health Senior Medical Officer Dr. Kameran Qader; A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin; Albasso Company General Manager Hakar Rajab; A&K Global Health Iraq Country Manager Moataz Jaleel; and Albasso Company Administration Manager Mohammed Saber.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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“I’ve had an invaluable learning experience at A&K Global Health”
When Eva Bibiana Gulavi arrived at A&K Global Health Nairobi on May 23rd to begin a mid-year internship, she was a bit nervous. “I thought it was going to be very difficult for me because of the lack of medical background in my studies,” admitted the International Relations student at United States International University – Africa.
But Eva quickly discovered that the field of international healthcare management – in which A&K Global Health is a worldwide pioneer – encompasses far more than clinical care delivery. “Helping our patients obtain first-rate medical treatment suitable for their unique circumstances is a key part of our work,” says Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health Kenya National Director. “But healthcare management is so much more. It’s personal client care and customer service, it’s contract negotiation, it’s cross-cultural relations, it’s travel and legal logistics, it’s public health and policy advocacy. And to succeed in the ultimate goal of saving and improving patients’ lives requires close, continual coordination between people with expertise in these many different areas.”
As Eva became an integrated member of our Nairobi team, she observed this diversity of specialties in action, as well as the shared values that sustain and synchronize these efforts: “I appreciate A&K Global Health for modeling the importance of great teamwork in an organization…there is absolutely no isolation in the duties performed by anyone, and this plays a key role in fostering staff relations. There is a lot of solidarity among staff members…whenever there’s a situation, everyone comes through to be there for their colleague. I have also seen great professionalism at A&K Global Health. There is a lot of respect for work, and an open door policy that encourages everyone to work with transparency, honesty, integrity, accountability, and confidentiality.”
On August 16th, the final day of her internship, A&K Global Health’s Nairobi office celebrated Eva’s contributions with an appreciation ceremony and a cake. A&K Global Health CEO, Mr. Darwin, shared his thanks and remarks. “As both a thought leader and a practical trailblazer in healthcare management,” he said, “it’s our great privilege to introduce Eva, and the next generation of leaders like her, to our work.”
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health CEO, Morgan Darwin (left), and intern, Eva Bibiana Gulavi (center), listen as former A&K Global Health client, Sophia Momanyi (right) shares how our services helped her find healing. Eva’s encounter with Ms. Momanyi is just one example of how her internship with A&K Global Health exposed her to the spectrum of professional activities involved in global healthcare management.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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“I felt as if my life was over…then a friend told me about A&K Global Health”
For three years, Peris Muhache Jembe of Mombasa, Kenya suffered from severe back pain that traveled down her legs, making her unable to stand or walk at times. Only 47 years old, Peris’s condition made her feel aged and often incapable of doing her job as a lab technologist. “They could not operate on me [here in Kenya], so I felt as if my life was over. I was always on my bed, crying, not able to go to work – I was very discouraged. Then a friend told me about A&K Global Health.”
Peris’s friend had undergone surgery managed by A&K Global Health, and was so happy with her recovery that she encouraged Peris to ask for our help, too. “Biye told me all about it,” Peris said of her introduction to A&K Global Health Care Consultant Biye Maalim. “I gave her my MRI and my x-rays. Within no time she processed everything, she helped me choose the best hospital [for me]…from there, my journey started.”
Peris’s journey moved quickly: within two weeks, Biye had prepared all Peris’s travel documents and medical appointments with Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India. Biye also coordinated all financial aspects of Peris’s case with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), which paid for her travel and treatment. “By the time we got to the airport,” Peris remembers, “the A&K Global Health people were already there…the reception was fantastic!” Our Bangalore Operations Officers whisked Peris to the hospital to meet Dr. Thomas J. Kishen of Manipal’s Spine Care Centre. “He requested other tests, which were done immediately! We didn’t [waste] time.”
Peris promptly underwent decompression surgery to alleviate the pain caused by pinched nerves. “She was out of bed and walking on day two or three, out of hospital by around five to six days, and now two weeks down the line, she’s comfortably walking around…and she’s going to continue to improve the next few months,” Dr. Kishen proudly reported.
“Everything went smoothly, I recovered fully,” Peris said. “The A&K team was always there for me, they were always coming to check my condition…they were so good to me.” Peris credits her speedy healing to A&K Global Health’s professional healthcare management and continuous personal caring. Her doctor noticed our impact, too. “In fact, every time Dr. Thomas used to see me he used to be happy,” Peris recalls, “because of the improvement, and because of the way I was happy.”
Now free of the pain she thought she’d never live without, Peris also encourages others to reach out to the NHIF and A&K Global Health with their health challenges. “I would advise everybody who has a similar problem to go to them, because they’re very ready to help us come for further treatment to specialized doctors in India.”
Peris is right: we are ready to help, whatever your medical concern. Hear Peris’s full story in this short video, and contact us today to learn how we can support your unique health needs.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Patient home visits showcase A&K Global Health’s care continuity
At A&K Global Health, we support you through every step of your medical journey – including after your treatment. Jack Owuor and Lencer Misiani, Care Consultants in Kisumu, Kenya, recently visited two of our patients at home to follow up with them.
First, we visited 3½ year old Igdalia Were. Igdalia has a rare, cancerous brain tumor; when first operated on in Kenya, she lost her eyesight and mobility. Since A&K Global Health took over her care, we have ensured that Igdalia receives radiotherapy – a nonsurgical alternative that’s safer and more effective at her age – at Medanta, the Medicity in Gurgaon, India. Today, Igdalia can see with both eyes and walk with support.
“The family was delighted with our visit. We came just a few weeks before Igdalia traveled back to Medanta for review,” Mr. Owuor said. “Her parents were very grateful for the work A&K Global Health is doing to ensure their daughter regains perfect health.” Igdalia’s treatment is ongoing: she recently began chemotherapy for her tumor, and we continue to be by her family’s side.
Next, we visited Beatrice Mayienga, mother of two adult daughters and a telephone operations employee of Kisumu County Referral Hospital. During two trips to Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India, Beatrice received treatment for a cancerous tumor related to neurofibromatosis.
“She was very happy to see us and she narrated how she enjoyed her stay in India as an A&K Global Health patient,” Mr. Owuor reported. “We were happy that her face was bright and full of smiles. She can now walk with support; before she was in a wheelchair. We were also thrilled that she has resumed her professional duties at the local hospital.”
Beatrice’s healing extends beyond her stable medical reports. “She told us how she made good friends with Kenyan patients in India who were also traveling with A&K Global Health,” Mr. Owuor described. “She was able to intervene with another Kenyan patient who was diagnosed with cancer and had started isolating herself because she had decided she would die. This lady became Beatrice’s best friend…she could not believe the immense improvement Beatrice had in her own condition. Through their relationship, this woman came to believe that she too could be effectively treated and become well.”
Said Joyce Wambugu, A&K Global Health Care Director in Nairobi, “This kind of feedback reminds all of us at A&K Global Health of the tremendous impact our teamwork and dedication have on the lives of our clients and their families.”
Join our community of healthcare successes – contact us today to start the conversation. Whatever your medical needs and wherever your health journey takes you, we at A&K Global Health are with you all the way.
In the photograph above: Our young patient Igdalia Were was excited to see her friend and Care Consultant Jack Owuor again when he visited her family’s home. From left to right are her father, Pastor Eric Were; her sister, Levona; Igdalia herself; and Mr. Owuor.
In the photograph below: Our former patient Beatrice Mayienga, left, had a glowing grin to share with A&K Global Health when some of our staff, including Lencer Misiani, right, paid her a home visit.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health advocacy heats up, helps patients in west Kenya
A&K Global Health’s western Kenya offices have been busy this summer! Since May, our staff in Kisumu and Eldoret have held a series of health advocacy events, helping you understand your health insurance benefits and access the right medical services and treatment for your unique needs. Here are some of our most recent activities:
On May 19, A&K Global Health Marketing Executive/Care Consultant Lencer Misiani spoke to 40 prison officers at the Kakamega Prison during their afternoon parade. When one of the attendees learned from Lencer’s briefing that his National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) coverage would pay for his child’s kidney failure treatment, Lencer immediately began managing the case – three days later, the child began dialysis, and we are currently helping the family find a suitable donor for kidney transplant. The prison officer in charge asked Lencer to return to address a group of several hundred people on the same urgent topic: how A&K Global Health can connect you with critical, NHIF-funded care, in Kenya or overseas.
On June 8, we presented our services to 70 staff members at Kisumu County Hospital. We were able to immediately begin managing care for several attendees, including two cases of spinal problems and one case of sickle cell anemia requiring bone marrow transplant (BMT). The same day, we had the privilege of sharing our offerings with Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu for the first time. The staff was so eager to hear our message that even nurses changing shifts made a point of stopping by our talk! And the hospital nursing director, recognizing our track record of success managing complex procedures, invited us to visit the renal unit to specifically advise kidney transplant clients.
On June 22, our Eldoret team visited Kitale GK Prison to sensitize 99 attending officers to the NHIF plan that now provides comprehensive local and overseas medical coverage to them and their dependents. “The officers, who were not aware that such privileges existed for them, were thankful,” said Cornelius Rop, A&K Global Health Marketing Officer. Like many of our clients, our new patients from this engagement are pursuing our services for advanced treatments, including cancer care, BMT, and liver transplant.
On July 2, we were invited to address an audience from various parts of western Kenya and the Rift Valley at the Kenya Medical Training College’s Kisumu Campus. This meeting was organized by former students of the institution who are now employed as local healthcare professionals. Our presentation generated a lively question-and-answer session on everything from how we select our hospital partners to how we handle emergency travel for patients without passports and visas.
These are just a few examples of how A&K Global Health is spreading health policy awareness and care access throughout Kenya. If you have questions about medical treatment you need or about your insurance benefits, contact us to learn how we can help.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health Marketing Executive/Care Consultant Lencer Misiani shares with an attentive audience at Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya about our healthcare management services and how we work with the National Hospital Insurance Fund to ensure all Kenyans receive outstanding care, domestically or abroad. Her presentation to Aga Khan’s staff members on June 8, 2016 marked A&K Global Health’s first visit to the facility.
In the photograph below: Students, faculty, staff and community members at the Kenya Medical Training College’s Kisumu Campus listened with great interest to – and participated with plenty of questions for – A&K Global Health’s presentation on July 2, 2016. We were invited to the campus by former students who now serve this region of Kenya as healthcare professionals.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health holds first certified CME for Rwandan doctors
A&K Global Health is proud to announce that our services in Rwanda are growing! On April 25th, 2016, we became certified by the Rwanda Medical and Dental Council to conduct continuing medical education (CME) for local healthcare professionals. Less than a month later, we successfully presented our first CME training in Kigali with our partners from Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India.
Thirty-four Rwandan doctors attended on May 23rd, 2016, to hear Max Hospital’s visiting specialists address three topics pertinent to their local practices. These included common urological problems, especially in the elderly; recent advancements in neuro and spine surgery; and common cancers in Rwanda.
Along with our nationwide CME debut, A&K Global Health also conducted a two-day medical camp hosted by Baho International Hospital to offer individual consultations with Max’s specialists for local residents. These camps are a critical chance for us to connect you with international healthcare providers for procedures not locally available. From your first consultation through your decision to travel, treatment overseas, and post-procedure follow-up with your home doctor, A&K Global Health skillfully manages all aspects of your experience to ensure ease and peace of mind for you and your family throughout the journey.
We regularly facilitate medical camps throughout East Africa with our various hospital partners – most recently in Mombasa and Eldoret, Kakamega, and Kigali – and whenever possible, we also offer CME for local doctors in conjunction with our camps. Now, we are able to add this service to our medical camps in Rwanda. “In addition to connecting our Rwandan patients to urgent and specialty care overseas, we can now formally contribute to the professional development of Rwandan medical providers,” said Gratien Twizeyimana, A&K Global Health’s Representative and Regional Manager for Rwanda, Burundi, East Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “This kind of CME training transfers current, crucial medical knowledge to local physicians and builds the capacity that they bring to their daily work.”
Even as we continue to facilitate life-changing and life-saving care abroad for patients who require it, we are using our experience and connections within the healthcare systems of East Africa to augment their growth and advance their development. A&K Global Health is here to help you realize your healthcare goals – whether you’re a patient or a family member, a healthcare provider or a government ministry. Follow this blog to learn what we’re doing in your community!
In the photograph above: Thirty-four local doctors attended A&K Global Health’s first continuing medical education (CME) training event in Rwanda in May. With our new certification from the Rwanda Medical and Dental Council to deliver CME in Rwanda, we look forward to bringing many more professional development opportunities to local healthcare providers.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health Expands into the United Arab Emirates, Bringing Expert Healthcare Management to Gulf Region
North Carolina, USA – July 27, 2016: A&K Global Health is pleased to announce that we have launched operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Effective June 1, 2016, Arabia Holdings in Dubai, UAE became the newest licensee worldwide to join the A&K Global Health brand.
Arabia Holdings is a group of companies with diverse business activities – including medical services, education, transportation, and hospitality – spread across the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East. About two years ago, the group began assisting individuals in these markets seeking overseas medical treatment. Like A&K Global Health, Arabia Holdings also began bringing foreign specialists into the advancing health systems where they worked in order to promote quality health services, upgrade local capacity, and to facilitate skill training and knowledge transfer.
“Arabia Holdings and A&K Global Health share a common vision,” said Zabi Khan, CEO of Trans Middle East Management Consultancy, the Healthcare Division of Arabia Holdings. “Through our partner hospitals, both organizations eliminate uncertainty in the process of receiving quality, safe and affordable overseas medical treatment. Both aim to provide a one-stop solution to health challenges faced by people in their home countries by bridging access to internationally trained and accredited physicians and facilities around the world. The new partnership with A&K Global Health brings a more comprehensive management approach to Arabia Holdings’ healthcare work, allowing us to most effectively pursue our mutual goals together.”
Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO, agrees. “A&K Global Health is excited to bring our industry-leading health management and concierge services to the Emirates,” Mr. Darwin said. “Arabia Holdings’ four decades of work across various sectors of the UAE market, combined with A&K Global Health’s unique expertise in the full spectrum of local to global health management activities, makes our partnership in the UAE timely – our association can help support the Ministry of Health as it seeks to improve healthcare quality, strengthen delivery capacity, and streamline patient management, in particular by developing the city of Dubai to better serve Emiratis and to attract regional and international medical travelers.”
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health and Arabia Holdings leaders celebrate their newly signed partnership agreement. From left to right are Huma Sethi, Arabia Holdings Healthcare Division Senior Manager; F. Rawoof Ali, Arabia Holdings Executive Director; P.S.M. Habibulla, Arabia Holdings Vice Chairman & Managing Director; Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO; Zabi Khan, Arabia Holdings Healthcare Division CEO; and Sridhar Venkatakrishnan, A&K Global Health Business Development Consultant.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health-managed surgery saves teen from crippling tumor
After several months of unusual weakness and neck stiffness, Mary Orero’s 17-year-old son Edward began experiencing progressive difficulty walking and talking. An MRI at the family’s local hospital in Kisumu, Kenya revealed that a tumor in Edward’s neck was compressing his spine. The recommendation was urgent neurosurgery outside the country – a daunting prospect for Edward’s parents.
“We had never been to India, and together with my husband, we were wondering how we would make ends meet, find the hospital,” Mary recalls, “…but Eucabeth gave us confidence.” “Sister” Eucabeth, as Mary now calls her, was the Care Consultant who welcomed the family when they were referred by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to A&K Global Health, the NHIF’s comprehensive international medical care manager.
Eucabeth handled all of Mary’s concerns, from coordinating with the NHIF to ensure that Edward’s treatment costs were fully covered to referring Edward’s case to the neurosurgery department at BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, India. She arranged all medical appointments, hotel reservations, travel documents, and air and ground transportation for Edward and Mary, who traveled with Edward as his attendant.
The same day Mary and Edward’s plane landed arrived in Bangalore, A&K Global Health’s Operations Officers took them to meet Edward’s neurosurgeon. The following morning Edward successfully underwent surgery. Within three weeks of surgery, Edward had fully regained his mobility and speech.
“When Eddie was in the ICU, the A&K team kept on calling me, keeping me busy, so that I might not be thinking about him,” Mary smiles. “I was always comfortable because I had my family – A&K Global Health. They really did a lot [for] me while I was in India. I [felt like] all my family was there, because they were [always] with me…anything [needed], if medicine, if advice, they would give [it]! Please, my colleagues…go out, Google about A&K, get in touch when you have any medical issue, they’ll direct you.”
“I’ve stayed in India without any stress because of A&K Global [Health],” Mary asserts. “When you get to India, don’t be scared! The people there, the A&K team, [is] very experienced, very caring, very loving, very – very homely. You feel you are at home. May God bless A&K…it is a real thing, and it has helped me. It will help you.”
Meet Mary and Edward and hear their story in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health Quest for Medical Travel Excellence now certified by Temos
This April, A&K Global Health became the first U.S.-based healthcare manager to earn Temos certification for our medical travel services. “We are very honored to be associated with Temos and I am proud that A&K Global Health will be a Temos partner [going forward],” said Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO.
Temos stands for Trust, effective medicine, and optimized services. It is a leading, independent organization in Germany with offices in many other countries, including Cyprus, Greece, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Oman, the Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Temos supports medical facilities like hospitals, clinics, dental practices, and rehabilitation centers worldwide in their efforts to improve quality. At the same time, Temos helps patients distinguish the most reliable, best quality healthcare options around the globe through its recognized and trusted certifications.
“When you see the Temos seal of approval on an organization, you can be absolutely confident that any service they provide to you will be of the utmost medical and experiential quality,” explained Mr. Darwin. “That is the peace of mind our current clients know they have when they allow A&K Global Health to manage their healthcare needs. And our new Temos certification will help give many new clients the same assurance that, with A&K Global Health, they are in the best of hands.”
Since 2012, A&K Global Health has helped over 1600 patients from ten countries across East African and the Middle East to identify, access, and benefit from quality healthcare at the right national, regional, or international destination for their individual condition and unique needs. From our first patient to those in our care right now, we have been fully dedicated to providing best quality medical, financial, and experiential outcomes for each client we serve. As Temos launched a quality program for medical travel coordinators in 2015, A&K Global Health was eager to add this certification to our standing as an industry leader.
“It is a great pleasure to welcome A&K Global Health as the first medical travel coordinator from the United States as [a] Temos partner. Congratulations!” said Dr. Claudia Mika, Founder and CEO of Temos International. “It has been a pleasure to understand how A&K Global Health is serving and supporting patients and [their] relatives worldwide.”
The Temos mission to optimize international medical care for travelers and expatriates is naturally aligned with A&K Global Health’s values and our vision for facilitating universal access to quality, affordable, transparent, and comprehensive health management. We are proud to be recognized by Temos for our exceptional commitment to quality in all we do, and we look forward to a productive partnership!
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Healthcare & continuing medical education events reach over 320
In May, A&K Global Health conducted a series of healthcare awareness and medical screening events across Kenya, in conjunction with local hospitals and visiting specialists from two of our Indian hospital partners. These events connected patients to personal, advanced care consultations, and educated them on their National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) benefits for both local doctors and clinics as well as international medical treatment. A&K Global Health’s advocacy events also strengthened Kenyan healthcare through continuing medical education (CME) and professional exchange between Indian specialists and their Kenyan counterparts.
On May 5th, A&K Global Health’s Mombasa staff addressed Kilifi County hospital heads regarding the new, comprehensive benefits all NHIF members now enjoy, including medical travel coverage. “The 68 participants included our former patients, who were happy to learn of the partnership between A&K Global Health and the NHIF that has now made advanced medical treatment accessible to them,” said Bernard Ademba, a Mombasa Operations Officer. “One of our former beneficiaries also applauded A&K Global Health for the treatment of her daughter, who is now fully recovered.”
Our Mombasa team and the visiting Indian specialists next traveled to Mombasa County, where Pandya Memorial Hospital hosted a medical consultation camp on May 6th and 7th featuring orthopedist Dr. Pradeep Bhosale of Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai and cardiologist Dr. Amit Kumar Malik of BLK Hospital in New Delhi. The doctors advised 62 new and returning patients seeking treatment options for joint and heart conditions. Drs. Bhosale and Malik also took time in Mombasa to share their expertise with the medical community through a CME roundtable for six local physicians on current trends in advanced surgeries.
Following these successful events in eastern Kenya, Drs. Malik and Bhosale traveled to A&K Global Health’s Eldoret office for two days of events in western Kenya. On May 9th and 10th, Reale Hospital hosted the Nanavati, BLK and A&K Global Health team as we conducted a medical camp for 241 orthopedic and cardiology patients. This overwhelming turnout included former A&K Global Health patients whose earlier, successful travel and treatment encouraged them to again take advantage of locally offered, specialty medical consultations to continue pursuing their optimal health.
The week’s travels concluded with a second physicians’ roundtable to familiarize Eldoret doctors with opportunities and best practices for referring patients to India for specialty care, including cutting-edge cardiothoracic and orthopedic surgeries. The 12 local doctors present learned about current surgical advances, and were also keen to access short observership programs in conjunction with BLK Hospital. “This initiative was well received by the BLK team, and A&K Global Health shall coordinate such programs in the coming months,” affirmed Reuben Kangogo, A&K Global Health’s Kenya Operations Director.
In the photograph above: Reuben Kangogo, A&K Global Health’s Kenya Operations Director, addresses Kilifi County hospital heads in a health policy awareness and care advocacy session, explaining how new NHIF coverage now extends to A&K Global Health’s comprehensive healthcare management and medical travel services that can help their patients heal.
Patients in Eldoret stay comfortable in the shade while they wait for personal consultations with visiting cardiology and orthopedic specialists during the recent A&K Global Health-coordinated medical camp.
Dr. Amit Kumar Malik, Senior Cardiologist with BLK Hospital in New Delhi, India, consults with two of the 21 cardiology patients who attended A&K Global Health’s recent Mombasa medical camp at Pandya Memorial Hospital. Combined, the A&K Global Health-coordinated medical camps in Mombasa and Eldoret provided specialty care consultations to over 300 patients.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you
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A&K Global Health Showcases Opportunities for Healthcare Management Investment and Collaboration in Kenya during State Visit to Belgium
North Carolina, USA – June 29, 2016: Two weeks ago, A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director, Stephen Masinde, was honored to travel to Belgium with the President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, as part of an invited business development delegation.
Mr. Masinde was one of nine business leaders selected nationwide to represent their organizations and the nation of Kenya during a five-day state visit to Brussels focused on balancing the trade deficit between the two countries, following a 2015 decline in Kenyan exports to Belgium.
Kenya and Belgium have a strong history as trading partners, and despite last year’s drop in its own exports, Kenya – the largest economy in the East African Community (EAC) – remains a powerful market for Belgian exports. Medicinal and pharmaceutical products top the list, with annual Kenyan imports from Belgium in this category alone valued at $35.87 million USD. This summit sought to correct the trade imbalance by facilitating increased Belgian investment in Kenya.
“This is a real honor for Mr. Masinde and for A&K Global Health,” said Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health’s Chief Executive Officer, “to be invited by President Kenyatta to share the story of what A&K Global Health is doing to improve the health of Kenyans, to advance the healthcare system in Kenya, and to further develop Kenya as a medical travel destination within East Africa, as well as to present the compelling business opportunities inherent in this work.”
The conference was coordinated by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), a not-for-profit, autonomous, private sector institution established in 1965 after the amalgamation of three regionally-focused Kenyan Chambers of Commerce – Asian, African, and European – to protect and develop the interests of the business community in a more integrated and global fashion. KNCCI is an affiliate member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the East African Business Council (EABC), among others. The KNCCI advocates for the creation of a favorable commercial, trade and investment environment that supports enterprise expansion; its membership comprises organizations of all sizes, from micro-enterprises to medium and large corporations, across all economic sectors.
Mr. Masinde participated in four major forums during the conference. The first of these, which was graced by the presence of His Excellency the President of Kenya as well as by the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Trade, focused on determining areas for mutual business cooperation. Healthcare management emerged as a promising arena for collaboration: drawing on Belgium’s success building robust public health facilities to strengthen and modernize Kenya’s overcrowded, underequipped public hospitals can help address the intense demand for specialty care, as well as stem the upward pressure on prices for privately-obtained advanced procedures. In the second forum, dedicated to investment, Mr. Masinde along with the Kenyan Minister of Finance engaged strong Belgian interest in building a referral hospital in Nairobi and equipping it with advanced medical technology; a follow-up meeting on this project is set to take place onsite in Kenya. A third forum was devoted to visiting Belgian hospitals and supply production facilities to assess what best practices can be implemented in Kenya to reduce the high cost of medical supplies. And the fourth forum brought together investors and members of the Kenyan diaspora in Europe, resulting in the generous forthcoming donation of several pieces of advanced medical equipment to enhance cancer treatment capabilities in Kenya.
Serving as a member of the presidential delegation “was a transformative experience,” said Mr. Masinde, “allowing A&K Global Health to form new international partnerships and collaborations with strong global brands.” Immediately following the state visit, Kenya’s Principal Secretary of Health seized the opportunity to implore all Kenyans to join the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) – Kenya’s universal health insurance program for complete medical coverage, especially chronic disease treatment – whose membership benefits now include medical travel managed by A&K Global Health. “Through the Principal Secretary’s appeal and the follow-up actions established during these meetings, A&K Global Health’s engagement in this state visit is generating expanded opportunities for us to share and apply our expertise in the complex clinical, financial, and technological aspects of comprehensive healthcare management.”
In the photograph above: Representatives of Kenya’s private sector alliance pose together just following a meeting with their Belgian counterparts during the recent Kenyan state visit to Brussels. From right to left are Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director; Dr. Swarup Ranjan Mishra, Founder and Chairman of the Mediheal Group of Hospitals; Richard Ngatia, Managing Director of Megascope Health, Ltd.; Joseph Gesora, Managing Director of Duke’s International Investments, Ltd.; and Winnie Mwai, Director, Piccalilly International, Ltd.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health addresses national gathering of Kenyan nurses
Last month, A&K Global Health had the honor of addressing the National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNA-K) during its culminating celebration for International Nurses Week. On May 12th, 2016, our National Director Mr. Stephen Masinde gave remarks to an audience of over 300 nurses and healthcare professionals, assembled from all 47 counties across Kenya at the Mnarani Beach Club in Kilifi County.
Established in 1968, the NNA-K is a professional association representing all cadres of nurses in Kenya drawn from practice settings, educational institutions, and research backgrounds. The association exists to promote excellence in nursing and midwifery – critical health system functions that are readily aligned with A&K Global Health’s dedication to improving the quality, availability, and procedural diversity of healthcare in Kenya, as well as to showcasing outstanding and advancing Kenyan health providers to support the country’s continued development as a regional medical travel destination.
This year’s International Nurses Week events kicked off on May 5th in Kisii County and concluded with this final session in Kilifi County to which A&K Global Health was specially invited. The theme for this year’s week was Nurses as a Force for Change: Improving Health Systems’ Resilience.
Mr. Masinde echoed this focus in his comments, introducing A&K Global Health to the audience and explaining how our expertise in comprehensive healthcare management streamlines healthcare delivery for service providers, optimizes health objectives and financing for government ministries and medical organizations, and enhances healthcare access, affordability, and quality for patients. “In our experience managing care for over 1,600 patients around the world to date, we as A&K Global Health have repeatedly witnessed the crucial role that nurses play not just in our patients’ healing, but also in their overall medical experience,” Mr. Bernard Ademba, an A&K Global Health Operations Officer in Mombasa, noted in an interview following Mr. Masinde’s address. “Nurses truly are the backbone of a resilient health system, and as such it was Mr. Masinde’s great privilege to be invited to this gathering of Kenya’s talented, committed nurses and their associates to acknowledge their achievements.”
In his presentation, Mr. Masinde also shared one specific and current way in which A&K Global Health serves as a resource and partner to Kenyan nurses: through our new contract with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to manage medical travel benefits for its members nationwide. This exciting news was in fact already familiar information to some in the audience, as several of our satisfied clients were among the event’s attendees! These individuals personally attested to A&K Global Health’s life-changing impact on their health and well-being through our superior medical travel services and expert healthcare management. “By creating awareness among the care delivery community that NHIF coverage can help Kenyans access essential services – even outside the country, through A&K Global Health – we are able to empower these professionals with one more avenue for providing the best care to their patients and the best service to their employing institutions,” Mr. Ademba explained.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director Stephen Masinde addresses members of the National Nurses Association, and other Kenyan healthcare professionals in attendance, at the final session of the organization’s annual International Nurses Week celebration in May.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Kidney transplant offers nun life anew: Sister Kankindi‘s Story
Sister Marie Beatrice Kankindi, a nun in the congregation of Benebikira in Rwanda, first began experiencing weakness in August 2014. On October 11th, having felt run down for two months, she was admitted to King Faisal Hospital in Kigali. Clinical investigations determined that her persistent fatigue was the result of kidney failure. “My kidneys were no longer working and [the] only solution was transplant. I needed a kidney donor…it was not easy for me,” Sister Kankindi recalls.
A fellow sister in the Benebikira order was willing to donate a healthy kidney. Once doctors in Kigali confirmed that she was an appropriate donor match for Sister Kankindi, they sought a hospital capable of performing the complex nephrectomy and transplant surgeries. This was a lengthy process. Finally, in February 2015, they met and engaged Gratien Twizeyimana, A&K Global Health’s Representative and Regional Manager for Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “My superiors were doing all the running around to help me,” Sister Kankindi recounts. “They met Mr. Gratien from A&K Global Health. He helped them with all the necessary documents and to locate the hospital for surgery.” Within the same month, Mr. Twizeyimana facilitated the transfer of Sister Kankindi’s complicated case – including all medical records for her and her donor, all necessary travel visas, and all required legal documentation specific to a transplant – to Artemis Health Institute in Gurgaon, India.
“What impressed me about A&K Global Health was that their people put all their heart in their work,” says Sister Kankindi. “While we were still in Rwanda, they were coordinating with us. They scheduled the hospital and the appointments with the doctor. They even booked a hotel for us. When we reached [the] Delhi airport, we found a person from A&K Global Health waiting for us. We received a warm welcome and were taken to the guesthouse…we found everything ready for us.”
Before the end of February 2015, Sister Kankindi and her donor began regular pre-surgery consults at Artemis Health Institute with Dr. Manju Aggarwal, Director and Head, Department of Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation. “A&K Global Health arranged for a car to take us from the guesthouse to Artemis Hospital every day. At the hospital she [Dr. Manju] started investigations and administering tests to [my donor and me.] [She] wanted to make sure we were ready for the operation.”
Thanks to such thorough and meticulous preoperative preparation, Sister Kankindi experienced a rapid and successful surgical process and a prompt, smooth transition to postoperative care. She spent just nine days in the hospital as an inpatient: “On the eighth day after the operation, I was able to walk and attend to my daily activities. I was discharged from the hospital.”
Sister Kankindi stayed in Dr. Manju’s watchful outpatient care for six additional weeks as she fully recuperated from the surgery. “I still [went] to the hospital regularly,” Sister Kankindi remembers, for evaluations to ensure that her body showed no sign of rejecting the new kidney. “The results were fine. [They] meant that the kidney was functioning well.”
“This was possible because of the efforts of A&K Global Health,” Sister Kankindi emphasizes. “I request [of] everyone watching this video, if you have a health problem, please get in touch with your doctor. They will help you. Even if you need to go abroad for treatment, A&K Global Health is there to help you. They will guide you.”
International medical travel is indeed a daunting prospect for many – but for patients with access to A&K Global Health, it need not be. While the advance clinical, legal and logistical arrangements required for live organ transplant are complex, our experience to date facilitating 231 bone marrow transplants, 109 kidney transplants and 15 liver transplants (in addition to 216 oncological procedures, 80 cardiology procedures, and 124 neurosurgeries) evidences our strong capability for managing such specialized procedures.
“I thank everyone who has continued in making my life better and made this surgery successful. God bless you all!”
You can hear Sister Kankindi share her full story in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journeys. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health enhances patient care with advocacy for attendants
When you’re sick, who do you turn to for assistance and caretaking? Chances are it’s a family member or friend. Whether suffering from a standard case of the flu or a chronic condition or debilitating injury, relatives and other close relationships are critical sources of support for all of us when we face health challenges.
The role of these trusted companions is perhaps even more essential during medical travel. Not only are patients who seek care outside their home region or country managing the stress of their healthcare needs; they are also doing so within a completely new context, and oftentimes a new culture. These additionally demanding circumstances make the support of a loved one more important than ever. That’s why A&K Global Health considers caring for attendants a form of caring for our patients. It’s also why we’ve advocated relentlessly for the recognition of their impact on our patients’ health outcomes.
“Hi, A&K Global India,” an attendant recently wrote to us through a Facebook message. “My name is Maureen [and I’m the] attendant who accompanied Damaris Bitengo to Delhi’s Fortis [Escorts] Hospital for treatment. I would like to thank you so much for the receptive and warm welcome you gave us right from the airport to the hospital. The attention you gave us was marvelous…I commend it, and recommend that you do it more and more! Even as we are still awaiting discharge [from the hospital], we want to thank you so much for everything.”
Damaris is Maureen’s mother. With financial sponsorship from Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and A&K Global Health’s expert management of all aspects of her travel and medical treatment, Damaris was able to receive a hip replacement surgery in New Delhi. And with her daughter by her side to encourage and support her each step of the way, Damaris was able to make a complete and speedy recovery.
“This testimony is an example of how profoundly our thorough clinical and genuine interpersonal care affects not only our patients, but their accompanying family members, too,” says Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health’s Chief Executive Officer. “It also underscores the importance of our advocacy for attendants to receive insurance coverage for travel expenses just like patients do, because we know on a human level how essential their presence is to accelerating the healing of their loved one.”
A&K Global Health routinely shares stories like Damaris’s and Maureen’s with funding organizations in all countries where we work to help administrators appreciate the role of attendants in optimizing healthcare outcomes. After three years of tracking and then relaying such patient experiences to Kenyan officials, in 2015 the NHIF had sufficient evidence to justify expanding benefits to fully support the travel and daily living expenses of caretakers, parents of child patients, and donors in transplant cases, in addition to designated patients themselves – a boon for Kenyan patients’ health, and a compelling example to other advancing national health systems of the power of comprehensive care. We are proud to partner with organizations like the NHIF which recognize and value the sacred relationship between patients and their closest caregivers. And we at A&K Global Health eagerly anticipate enabling many more such happy health endings for our patients by supporting their attendants, too.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health patient Damaris Aluoch Bitengo (center) walks again after a replacement surgery to her right hip at Fortis Escorts Hospital in New Delhi, India. Her full recovery has been facilitated by A&K Global Health, including our Operations Officer Sushant Sharma (right), and by the presence of her daughter Maureen Kemunto Bitengo (left) throughout her international treatment experience.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for their needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journeys. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health spreads NHIF policy awareness among public leaders
In late April, a number of county and national government departments held their annual conferences at the Mombasa Beach Hotel. Bernard Ademba, an Operations Officer in A&K Global Health’s Mombasa office, was invited to address a series of these meetings of civil and disciplined service leaders regarding their new healthcare coverage for medical travel through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
“We [as A&K Global Health] were invited to share with the (NHIF) members who we are as a company, how we’re working with the NHIF to coordinate patient care both inside and outside Kenya, and how we manage patients throughout their health journey, as well as our patients’ success stories,” said Mr. Ademba, “so that if any need arises for the members or their dependents, they know what their coverage entitles them to and how to access their benefits for medical travel.”
Kenya’s national and county governments collectively employ nearly 200,000 individuals. The disciplined service counts an additional 35,000-plus among its ranks. In March, A&K Global Health signed a contract with the NHIF to facilitate and manage this entire workforce’s medical travel needs. Yet many NHIF beneficiaries remain unaware that their insurance coverage now extends to healthcare provision abroad, granting them – as well as their dependents, travel companions and, when applicable, organ donors – sponsored access to specialized and advanced procedures not yet available domestically.
Of the more than 250 leaders who attended Mr. Ademba’s health awareness and patient advocacy presentations, approximately 105 were politically elected leaders representing citizens as Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), while the rest were senior officials of institutions from both national and county levels of government. Specific audiences included the Taita Taveta and Makueni County Assemblies, the Teachers Service Commission, the Office of Public Prosecution, the National Police Service, and the Ministry of Health.
Across all these government divisions, feedback was common: attendees welcomed A&K Global Health’s patient advocacy and insurance policy awareness efforts, and pledged to pass this information to their colleagues. Organizations whose staff members had already utilized A&K Global Health services through the NHIF to travel abroad for medical treatment acknowledged the expert assistance we provided. And some MCAs expressed their desire for further A&K Global Health support to public health awareness, education and advocacy campaigns, to improve the health of Kenyan citizens as well as to optimize the use of local and regional healthcare systems.
“These continuous health education and care management awareness forums encourage patients to make use of the healthcare benefits available to them, creating value for all participants in the health system,” Mr. Ademba explained. “Patients get care they need but may not have known they could access; Kenyan doctors oversee their patients being healed, and sustain this healing over the long-term; the NHIF meets its mandate to effectively service the healthcare needs of its members; and Kenya’s overall health system benefits from the efficiencies introduced by moving patients who can’t receive care domestically, allowing those who can be treated in Kenya to become the sole focus of our healthcare providers.” Kenya’s health institutions also gain collaborative relationships with foreign medical facilities that further contribute to developing Kenya’s own inbound and intrabound medical travel offerings.
Throughout Kenya as well as the other countries where we operate, A&K Global Health plans further health awareness and care advocacy events akin to April’s presentations in Mombasa. You can follow our worldwide efforts to inform and empower patients and support health institution success right here on the A&K Global Health blog.
In the photograph above: On April 22, 2016, A&K Global Health Mombasa Operations Officer Bernard Ademba took the NHIF’s message directly to the beneficiary, addressing officers from the Kisauni County Administration Police Service and educating them on the new medical travel benefits of their NHIF insurance coverage. “We engaged 30 officers during their weekly parade, sensitizing them to the partnership between NHIF and A&K Global Health and to the medical treatment benefits to which they and their families are entitled. Since most officers were not aware of these benefits, they were happy to learn of the services available to them,” said Mr. Ademba.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health-facilitated course brings Kurdish doctors to India
On April 21st, six Kurdish healthcare professionals began a 10-day intensive medical specialty training facilitated by A&K Global Health at BLK Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India.
Two physicians, two physicists, and two technicians from the Zhianawa Cancer Center, a public tertiary academic radiation oncology center in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq, participated in the training. The delegation’s travel and training were sponsored by the Kurdistan Society for Cancer Patient Support, a nongovernmental organization. In addition to facilitating this training opportunity through our strong partnership with BLK, A&K Global Health also managed all travel and logistics for the attending healthcare professionals, providing them with our five-star standard of service throughout their stay in New Delhi.
This immersive training focused on Total Body Irradiation (TBI), a form of radiotherapy used to prepare patients for stem cell or bone marrow transplantation (BMT). TBI is important prior to such transplant procedures for two reasons: first, it can destroy cancer cells that are hard to reach with chemotherapy; second, it helps reduce the response of the immune system. This second effect of TBI is especially crucial if the healthy stem cells or bone marrow are being provided by a donor, as the body’s natural defenses must be temporarily suppressed in order for patients to accept and integrate the transplanted material.
Kurdistan suffers from a high incidence of blood disease among its residents, including malignant blood disease (MBD) and thalassemia, and the region’s developing healthcare system does not yet support the BMT procedures required to cure these conditions. While A&K Global Health ably guides referred Kurdish patients abroad for such specialty treatments, they must arrive appropriately prepared to undergo these complex interventions. A nuanced understanding of blood disease diagnosis, treatment and management among Kurdish healthcare professionals is therefore essential to initiating timely and clinically appropriate care for their patients.
This TBI training intensive was made possible by the relationship A&K Global Health has built and nurtured between BLK and Kurdistan’s healthcare system, patients and doctors alike. Because we have referred many Kurdish patients to BLK for BMT, BLK’s staff deeply appreciates our interest in developing this clinical expertise within Kurdistan. Dr. Dharma Choudhary, Senior Consultant and Director of the BLK Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant, even visited Hiwa Hospital in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq last year to learn firsthand the kind of assistance and training that Hiwa and its physicians require to progress toward performing BMT in Kurdistan, as well as to demonstrate his personal readiness to assist Hiwa’s budding BMT Department.
Dr. Dharma and his BLK colleagues’ commitment to continuing medical education for their Kurdish counterparts was exemplified through this training opportunity, which has advanced the professional development of Kurdish healthcare providers while bolstering the collaboration among A&K Global Health, Kurdistan’s healthcare institutions and Ministry of Health, and our Indian partners focused on treating and curing blood disease. Significantly, it has also laid early groundwork for a major leap forward within the Kurdish healthcare system. “This training on TBI is one of the prerequisites for Kurdish care entities to offer BMT in Sulaymaniyah,” explains Hozan Faraidoon, Sales Management Center Office Manager for A&K Global Health in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq. “Through this training, we as A&K Global Health are supporting the ultimate establishment of the first BMT Center in Kurdistan, and we are achieving one of our core goals: supporting the improvement of local hospitals to meet local patient requirements, and eventually developing them to the point that patients from other countries travel to get treatment here in Kurdistan.”
A&K Global Health’s objective is to improve access to quality, affordable healthcare everywhere, and to facilitate a transparent experience for all health system stakeholders. In many areas where we work, specialty medical expertise requires travel beyond a patient’s home country borders: whenever this is the case, we are there to manage all facets of our patients’ health journeys seamlessly. But at every turn, we seek to reinvest our healthcare management experience into the advancement of the local, regional and national healthcare systems from which we currently refer patients abroad. We are honored to have facilitated just this sort of opportunity for clinical training and open professional exchange between oncology care providers from Kurdistan’s Zhianawa Cancer Center and New Delhi’s BLK Hospital. We look forward with enthusiasm to the continuing evolution of these partnerships and to their positive impact on the health outcomes of individuals from Kurdistan, Iraq and beyond.
In the photograph above: The six Kurdish healthcare professionals facilitated by A&K Global Health to undergo training at BLK Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India pose with their instructional team.
In the photograph below: Dr. Shwan Ali Mohammed, one of the Kurdish trainees, proudly displays his certificate of training completion outside the department of Radiation Oncology at BLK’s Cancer Centre.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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For 11th birthday, A&K Global Health patient gets chance of walking
A&K Global Health recently celebrated an extra-special birthday with one of our patients. Lynn Nkatha of Mombasa, Kenya turned 11 years old last month while staying at Narayana Multispecialty Hospital in Bangalore, India. Sponsored by Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and facilitated by A&K Global Health, Lynn and her mother, Carolyne Bundi, traveled here for Lynn to undergo a series of advanced orthopedic surgeries and physical therapies.
Lynn was born a healthy baby, but suffered acute bacterial meningitis at 10 months old, the complications of which left her with cerebral palsy. With anti-seizure medications and astute care from her pediatric neurologists in Kenya, Lynn’s seizures eventually subsided, but her lower body remained restricted: bilateral contractures of her knee and ankle joints confined Lynn to a wheelchair. Nevertheless, her family and physicians continued to believe she could progress. Years of dedicated physiotherapy and occupational therapy have indeed improved her social, motor, and cognitive functions; Lynn is independent in many activities of daily living, and even attends a special school. But her doctors felt she would be capable of more, if only her mobility could be restored.
Through the NHIF, Lynn’s doctors referred her to A&K Global Health, strongly recommending expert orthopedic surgery and physical rehabilitation unavailable within Kenya. Our Care Consultants in Mombasa quickly liaised with A&K Global Health’s partner hospitals to find the best fit for transferring Lynn’s case. Once Carolyne settled on Narayana Hospital in Bangalore, India, our Care Consultants readied her and her child for travel.
Mother and daughter arrived safely in Bangalore on April 8th, 2016 and were received by A&K Global Health Operations Officers, who took them directly to Narayana Hospital for admission.
There they met with Dr. Rajendra Reddy, Orthopedic Surgeon and Pediatric Orthopedist at Narayana, who began pre-surgical investigations straightaway. Over the next two weeks Lynn underwent multiple surgeries to her knees and ankles, with each procedure followed by physiotherapy twice a day during her recovery.
Lynn’s intensive treatment regimen received a lighthearted interruption on April 25th when the A&K Global Health Operations Officers managing her case surprised her in her hospital room by showing up to celebrate her 11th birthday. She beamed with pleasure as she tasted her birthday cake, in spite of the pain medications and challenging physiotherapy that were also part of her special day. “We made [Lynn] laugh today,” said Rolwin Mathias, A&K Global Health’s Bangalore Operations Manager. “As per her doctor, she is improving. If she starts walking…I personally feel it will be a miracle for her family. I hope that she will recover completely and walk without anyone’s support.”
Dr. Reddy has noted Lynn’s progress. Just before her birthday, he announced that hip replacement – an additional surgery Lynn was initially thought to require – was no longer necessary, and estimated that Lynn has a 50% chance of walking once her full treatment is complete. The most recent of her carefully sequenced treatments involved the application of plaster “inhibiting casts” to her lower legs and feet to immobilize her deformed joints in the proper position. The weekend before last, Lynn was discharged from Narayana with this report from Dr. Reddy: “Miss Lynn is walking independently on parallel bars and with assistance in a walker.” Her mother’s discharge summary? “A&K Global Health has given new life to my daughter.” Lynn will spend the next two months at home in Mombasa, allowing her casts to complete the work that her surgeries in Bangalore initiated, while receiving continual care management through A&K Global Health. And this summer, we will coordinate Lynn and Carolyne’s return to Bangalore for Lynn to have her casts removed and continue physiotherapy with Dr. Reddy.
Lynn’s 12th year of life holds great promise. As she forges ahead on her health journey, we’ll be supporting her every step of the way. We’ll also keep readers updated on her progress here on the A&K Global Health blog!
In the photograph above: Cheered on by her mother, Carolyne Bundi, 11-year-old A&K Global Health patient Lynn Nkatha takes the first steps of her life assisted by a walker. Lynn traveled from Mombasa, Kenya and has spent the past month at Narayana Multispecialty Hospital in Bangalore, India undergoing multiple orthopedic surgeries and physiotherapies to help her regain mobility in her lower body lost in her infancy to cerebral palsy.
In the photograph below: From left to right, Narayana Hospital staff, Lynn’s mother Carolyne Bundi, Lynn, and A&K Global Health team members join in celebrating Lynn’s auspicious 11th birthday, which passed during her hospital stay in Bangalore.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health’s quality in medical travel facilitation is recognized with international certification
North Carolina, USA – May 11, 2016: Last week, A&K Global Health became the first U.S.-based medical travel facilitator to earn Temos certification.
Temos stands for Trust, effective medicine, and optimized services. It is a neutral and independent certification body headquartered in Germany with regional representation in many other countries, including China, Colombia, Cyprus, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Oman, the Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Its mission is to optimize medical care for travelers and expatriates worldwide – a goal naturally aligned with A&K Global Health’s values, and with our vision for facilitating universal access to quality, affordable, transparent and comprehensive health management.
“It is a great pleasure to welcome A&K Global Health as the first medical travel coordinator from the United States as [a] Temos-certified partner. Congratulations!” said Dr. Claudia Mika, Founder and CEO of Temos International, in announcing A&K Global Health’s successful completion of the certification process. “It has been a pleasure to go through [your] documents, website and questionnaire and to understand how A&K Global Health is serving and supporting patients and [their] relatives worldwide.”
Temos supports medical facilities like hospitals, clinics, dental practices, and rehabilitation centers worldwide in their continuous efforts toward quality improvement. Since 2010, Temos has certified more than 50 medical facilities globally. In December 2015, Temos launched a quality program for medical travel coordinators as well. This unique opportunity provides certification for companies that, like A&K Global Health, facilitate clinical, logistical and financial services for patients traveling outside their home country to receive accredited medical services abroad.
In accordance with Temos’s trusted name and reputation for quality, the process for certification is stringent. Candidate companies like A&K Global Health first complete a self-evaluation questionnaire and submit a detailed package of documentation, including policy letters, contracts, and client feedback, that together reflect the candidate company’s experience and success in the field of medical travel. Next, a Temos team of internationally-experienced medical doctors and quality management experts conducts a thorough review of these records to ensure that all services provided by the candidate company meet or exceed Temos’s uncompromising quality standards.
Medical travel facilitators who successfully complete this process obtain the Temos Certificate, the Seal of Quality indicating optimized medical travel services for international patients. A&K Global Health is proud to announce that we not only satisfied all requirements for certification, but also received a near-perfect score in Temos’s rigorous assessment. We now join other Temos-certified organizations in their international directory, a prestigious online index.
“We are very honored to be associated with Temos and I am proud that A&K Global Health will be a Temos partner at the IMTJ Medical Travel Summit this [month],” said Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health CEO.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health Care Consultants personify healthcare management
Meet A&K Global Health’s Care Consultants, the quintessential healthcare managers. These individuals oversee our patients’ complete care life cycle. From the medical camp or physician referral that initially connects an individual with A&K Global Health, Care Consultants are a constant guide as our patients undergo diagnostic tests, select the right international hospital, complete important pre-travel medical actions prescribed by the foreign treating specialist, obtain visas and book all flights and accommodations.
Beyond their direct support to our patients, another critical component of our Care Consultants’ role is their work with patients’ insurance and primary care physicians to ensure a smooth transition from local to international care and back again. It is essential to patients’ confidence and emotional well being during the stresses of travel for significant procedures that both medical and financial coordination of their case be handled early, checked on frequently, and continuously managed throughout their health journey.
This is accomplished through Care Consultants’ continuous contact with their counterparts, Operations Officers, while patients travel. These two key positions within A&K Global Health are the buttresses of seamless healthcare management. Because our patients have personal advocates in their home countries as well as in their treatment countries, we are able to continually track how they are doing, making any necessary adjustments to the patient’s international treatment status, hospital bill, travel arrangements or post-procedure care plan in real time. And when our patients return home, our Care Consultants welcome them with competent, compassionate follow-up care management and support their reintegration into their home health system.
“It gives me great satisfaction knowing that a client is progressing well in treatment while away from me,” says Linner Soy, an A&K Global Health Care Consultant based in Eldoret, Kenya. “Right up until we meet again, A&K Global Health’s holistic approach to our patients’ care ensures that I am kept current on their status…in turn, I’m able to coordinate optimal follow-up care for their specific circumstances when they return. A&K Global Health is a unique organization in this way, able to infuse our macro-level expertise in health systems management into the individual customized interventions that we tailor to each patient’s needs.”
Joyce Wambugu, a Care Consultant in Nairobi, Kenya, shares that she finds motivation not only in the healing work that A&K Global Health does but also in our values – how we do our work. “A&K Global Health is transparent in all its dealing and seeks to always be on the client’s side. Not many companies that do what we do go to the trouble of digging deeply into a client’s history so that the treating doctor can give absolutely the most accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendation possible. And in the case that it’s not the best clinical choice for a client to travel, we advise our clients accordingly, rather than making it a goal to have the client travel. The goal is always the client’s optimized health, not the number of bookings or procedures. This again is integrity.”
Of course, A&K Global Health’s work itself is also incredibly powerful. “The times I meet clients who we have assisted and who are now able to walk, whereas previously they were not able to; hear once again, when they were deaf before; go about their normal life once again, say after a kidney transplant; a client who had a few days to live who’s got a new life ahead of them now…” Joyce shakes her head, as if amazed anew to remember just how many people her work as a Care Consultant has touched. “When I see the joyful tears of clients as they tell me how their lives have changed, it’s motivating and inspiring. It encourages me to keep doing the same for many more.”
A&K Global Health Care Consultants currently work with our patients from our offices throughout Kenya, Iraqi Kurdistan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Rwanda and South Sudan. Wondering when A&K Global Health Care Consultants may be coming to a city near you? Follow us here on the A&K Global Health Blog for all the latest news on our patient impact, our healthcare management advocacy and our expanding geographic footprint.
In the photograph above: Nairobi Care Consultant Joyce Wambugu assists an A&K Global Health patient in considering her options for medical treatment and travel.
In the photograph below: Eldoret Care Consultant Linner Soy checks in with an A&K Global Health patient by phone.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health enables multiple myeloma cure: Abdaljabar’s Story
Abdaljabar Majeed Ahmed is an optimist. Few individuals would describe a diagnosis of multiple myeloma as inspiring, but with hindsight, Abdaljabar considers this information to have been his first step on what became a miraculous recovery journey. “I visited many doctors in Kurdistan, [Iraq],” his home, Abdaljabar recalls, “but no one was able to identify my actual condition…except one. He diagnosed my condition and gave me hope.” Abdaljabar’s doctor told him that his only chance for a cure would be to undergo a bone marrow transplant (BMT), a highly advanced procedure accompanied by an intricate and long-term treatment regimen – care that he would have to travel outside his country to receive.
Abdaljabar didn’t shirk. “After that my doctor sent my medical file to A&K Global Health,” he said. With the sponsorship of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), A&K Global Health arranged for Abdaljabar’s case to be rapidly transferred to BLK Hospital in New Delhi, India, and for he and his wife to travel to New Delhi from Erbil, Kurdistan.
A&K Global Health received the couple at the airport in New Delhi, orienting them to their new city away from home and settling them into their hotel. The very next morning, A&K Global Health Operations Officers took Abdaljabar to the hospital to begin the initial investigations required prior to treatment – about 15 days in all. Abdaljabar recounts his treatment timeline with precision: “On February 26th, I got admitted for the bone marrow transplant process and started chemotherapy.”
Dr. Dharma Choudhary, Abdaljabar’s doctor and Senior Consultant and Director of the BLK Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant, is enthusiastic when he explains the progression of Abdaljabar’s carefully sequenced treatments. “Today I’m very happy to narrate the successful story of Mr. Abdaljabar Majeed [Ahmed], who came to us with a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. He got some chemotherapy in Erbil back home, and he achieved good control of the disease. He was evaluated here for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT): a stem cell transplantation where his [own] healthy stem cells are collected and [then] infused after intensive chemotherapy, which kills his marrow completely, meaning any residual disease is eradicated.” This aggressive approach to stymying the cancer is a necessary precursor to successful bone marrow transplant, but it is also exceedingly difficult on the patient. Fortunately, Dr. Dharma smiles, “Mr. Abdal tolerated this treatment very well…even as he looks very frail, he tolerated chemotherapy very well, he tolerated the transplant course very well, and he recovered with minimum problems.”
“After 24 days in the BMT ward, I got discharged from the hospital without any complications,” Abdaljabar proudly affirms, following which he was monitored weekly through the outpatient department. In spite of the remarkable success of his inpatient treatment, Abdaljabar’s outpatient recovery was not without its challenging moments. “Thanks to A&K Global [Health] Operations Officers – they were helping me in all aspects,” Abdaljabar remembers. “One day while I was recovering after the hospital, I got sick around 3:00 a.m., and Operations Officers came and took me to the hospital. Thanks to A&K Global Health for taking good care of me.”
With the support of A&K Global Health, his caregiver and the BLK BMT team, Abdaljabar steadily grew stronger, and he received the news he had dreamt of: “[The] doctors told me that my disease is in control and [my] bone marrow is 95%-100% functional. I can go back home.”
“One thing worth my sharing,” Dr. Dharma acknowledges in celebrating Abdaljabar’s new lease on life, is that “this gentleman would not have been possible if [not for] a medical facilitation company named A&K Global Health, who picked him up from Erbil, found him to be a suitable candidate to undergo ASCT, brought him to BLK, and got him completely cured.” A&K Global Health’s expert management of Abdaljabar’s case made it possible for him to be identified as a candidate for BMT. Without A&K Global Health synchronizing the parallel processes of facilitating lengthy travel and accommodations for the patient and caregiver, liaising between Abdaljabar’s home physician and his treatment specialists, and settling financial arrangements between the KRG and BLK Hospital, he would never have received proper, timely treatment – much less have been fully cured. Today, Abdaljabar has achieved both.
“The full cycle is going back now to Iraq,” Dr. Dharma says of Abdaljabar’s departure from New Delhi. “He will be looked after by his local physician back home in Erbil, and…he will be in [constant] touch, through A&K Global Health, with the BLK BMT team for all possible future events regarding myeloma.”
Dr. Dharma concludes: “Thank you A&K Global Health, for giving an opportunity to treat one more patient, to cure one more life, to save one more life. Thank you so much.” Abdaljabar’s clinical path is long and complex, but A&K Global Health’s collective impact is composed of our tireless dedication to individuals just like Abdaljabar…and we’ll be there for him to ensure his remission is well managed and maintained.
You can hear Abdaljabar, his wife Runak and Dr. Dharma relay their experiences in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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New contract between NHIF, A&K Global Health delivers comprehensive healthcare management benefits to all Kenyan citizens
Nairobi, Kenya – April 20, 2016: A&K Global Health is proud to announce that it has signed a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to provide comprehensive healthcare management and medical travel facilitation services to all NHIF members. The early weeks of implementing this SLA, which was formally signed in Nairobi on March 14, 2016, have already demonstrated tremendous impact on the access and affordability of quality healthcare for Kenyan citizens.
“The terms of reference were quite clear,” Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director, said of the NHIF’s requirements. “The NHIF was looking for a company with strong hospital relationships in Kenya, India, and other countries abroad; transparent, well-established fiscal operations in each location; and the ability to deliver the best holistic support to patients.” Such holistic support spans the healthcare life cycle, from ensuring the best hospitals and the optimal matching of individual cases to service providers to delivering the highest quality medical treatments and technology and professionally synchronizing patients’ reintegration into the Kenyan healthcare system upon return. The NHIF was also seeking improved controls over financing medical treatment abroad, including cost savings on patient accommodations, airfare, and medical bills. Though the award process was highly competitive, A&K Global Health’s network and expertise emerged as the best fit for the multi-year contract.
“A&K Global Health has experience in all these areas,” Mr. Masinde noted. “We’ve solved patients’ problems from and in multiple countries, we have financial muscle, good relationships with hospitals, and solid experience guiding patients correctly to the right hospital and treatment for their unique situation. And our network of doctors locally in Kenya enables us to support patients with excellent medical follow-up when they come home.” Further, A&K Global Health offered the NHIF a strong contingent of medical personnel among its employees. This will prevent sensitive patient medical records from being handled by non-medical staff unable to assess the clinical implications of medical record content – another level of assurance that ours was the team capable of providing NHIF clients with the most timely, medically appropriate and logistically sound guidance and support.
This SLA has been years in the making. Kenyans have been traveling abroad for medical treatment, and to India in particular, in increasing numbers over the past decade. Four simple qualities drive this phenomenon: in Kenya, improved routine healthcare monitoring and diagnostic capabilities are helping more patients identify medical conditions and pursue timely interventions. And India is an attractive place for Kenyans to seek treatment, given the lower cost of care, availability of specialists and advanced medical technology, and access to certain highly sophisticated procedures like bone marrow transplants that simply aren’t yet performed within Kenya’s rapidly progressing healthcare system.
“About three years ago, A&K Global Health discovered that because of these gaps in domestically available care, the NHIF was paying for patients to receive treatment abroad…but without an organized process,” Mr. Masinde explains. “Patients would travel, return with their bill, and the NHIF would refund the entire amount.” Two major problems with these practices soon surfaced. First, patients were solely responsible for arranging everything from travel, accommodations and visas to medical referrals and follow-up care coordination. In many cases, the benefits of a complex treatment received overseas were compromised or altogether erased by the absence of professional oversight of the patient’s entire experience. Additionally, some hospitals took advantage of the NHIF’s lack of presence at the point of service delivery and began inflating NHIF patients’ bills. Costs soared, while long-term clinical outcomes remained mixed, despite the improved quality of the individual interventions received overseas.
In the years since, A&K Global Health’s tireless healthcare advocacy on behalf of Kenyans has grown our partnership with the NHIF. Our first Memorandum of Understanding with the NHIF engaged us to manage international medical care for NHIF clients – at this time, limited to Kenyan civil servants – but did not change the NHIF’s reimbursement policy. Hospitals were still paid directly and retroactively, and patients had to fund their own airfare, food, accommodations and all other expenses not strictly medical. “In the second year of our relationship with the NHIF, we advocated for the coverage of these expenses, as they were essential to the process of receiving care abroad and their cost was prohibitive to many patients,” Mr. Masinde said. Our efforts were aligned with the NHIF’s vision: the NHIF passed a new budget and began paying for airfare, food and accommodations, though only for the designated patient. Family caregivers, travel companions, parents of child patients and donors for transplant procedures were still completely unfunded, again preventing many critically necessary medical interventions solely on the basis of cost.
Finally, with A&K Global Health’s sharing of patient experiences and the challenges of medical travel, the NHIF in 2015 expanded its benefits to fully support the costs of caretakers, parents, donors, and patients across all travel expense categories. And in early 2016, the NHIF extended its new medical travel benefits to the general public: as of February 1, 2016, all NHIF card-carrying members are eligible to access these generous benefits, including A&K Global Health services.
“This is a huge healthcare management success story,” Mr. Masinde declared enthusiastically. “A&K Global Health makes patient advocacy and logistics problem-solving available in a one-stop shop, and this agreement makes the quality care and comprehensive health management that we offer accessible to many more Kenyans.” Already, the impact on individuals is clear and compelling: before the agreement took effect, A&K Global Health on average prepared 25 Kenyan patients per month for international travel and treatment. In just the first few weeks since the SLA signing, that number more than doubled, increasing the life-saving care available to Kenyan citizens. And with these amplified patient volumes, A&K Global Health is able to effectively negotiate with vendors as the NHIF’s procuring agent of bulk airfares, hotel stays and hospital procedures while ensuring the highest medical quality and oversight, thereby delivering the cost savings and controls the NHIF requires in order to sustain the provision of these health benefits to all Kenyans into the future.
A&K Global Health is excited to support the strategic vision of the NHIF and to serve the Kenyan people. We are committed to Kenya’s Vision 2030, and as we work with the public and private Kenyan healthcare systems to identify quality national treatments – cardiac and renal surgeries being the priority procedures – we will manage patients to receive such care domestically. A&K Global Health is likewise dedicated to showcasing Kenya as a healthcare destination for East Africans and as a model for other countries seeking to deliver quality and affordable healthcare to their populations.
In the photograph above: Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director, adds his signature to the company’s new Service Level Agreement with the National Hospital Insurance Fund.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health celebrates Easter with our patients in hospital
Have you ever spent a holiday far from home, family, and the traditions you cherish? If so, you’ll relate to a common experience for our patients. Because critical medical interventions, or simply the driving prospect of renewed health and vitality, tend to trump holiday plans, A&K Global Health clients often find themselves spending celebratory occasions of significance to them in hospital – and in a foreign country.
A core value to which A&K Global Health is dedicated is compassionate, customized care. Our team in Bangalore, India recently had the opportunity to demonstrate this value in action by celebrating Easter – a major Kenyan holiday – with all our Kenyan patients currently in Bangalore for medical treatment or post-procedure recovery.
A&K Global Health’s Bangalore Operations Officers went to every patient’s hospital room or guesthouse to personally wish them a happy Easter. To each client, they delivered an offering of Easter buns, a cake, and a greeting card from the company. All of our patients warmly received these gestures of hospitality and support.
Rolwin Mathias, A&K Global Health’s Bangalore Operations Manager, was one of our team members who took part in visiting clients and delivering these gifts. “Our patients told me that they had never seen any company taking care of them like this. They said these types of initiatives boost their spirits and help them in recovery, and thanked us for making them feel so at home.”
As a Christian holiday less widely observed in India than in Kenya, Easter’s importance to traveling patients could easily be overlooked. But as part of A&K Global Health’s deep and genuine personal care for each patient whose life we touch, as well as our commitment to exemplary customer service, we intentionally seek out ways to make our patients feel fully supported, understood and valued, and completely at ease while they pursue improved health.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health patients happily present the Easter gifts they received from A&K Global Health.
In the photograph below: the greeting card, cake and Easter buns that A&K Global Health Bangalore team members delivered to each of our patients observing the Easter holiday while traveling for healthcare.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health CEO brings insight and experience to global healthcare forum in Miami
North Carolina, USA – April 6, 2016: On March 21, 2016, the Center for Health Sector Management and Policy at the University of Miami School of Business Administration welcomed A&K Global Health Chief Executive Officer Morgan Darwin as a panelist at its annual conference. Invited to speak as a thought leader in the emerging field of global healthcare management, Mr. Darwin addressed more than 700 attendees from across the healthcare industry during a session focused on “Facilitating Medical Tourism.”
This year’s meeting, The Business of Healthcare: Going Global, is the fifth in the Center’s series of premier healthcare industry impact conferences. The daylong, sold-out event featured a keynote lecture followed by multiple panels covering different aspects of the globalization of healthcare, as the industry landscape is increasingly influenced by multinational healthcare service providers, global biomedical and biotechnology firms, multi-country joint ventures, international medical tourism, and advances in medical as well as communications technology.
Mr. Darwin’s platform as a panelist was an exciting opportunity for A&K Global Health to share the lessons and historical perspective gained from our pioneering experience in the field of domestic and international medical travel – as well as to explain to an industry audience our vision for the future of global healthcare management.
In his introduction, Mr. Darwin described the evolution of A&K Global Health’s core services and corporate identity from medical travel facilitator to global healthcare manager. A&K Global Health was founded in 2011 on the idea of increasing the accessibility of quality healthcare for an estimated five billion people worldwide living without it: “How can we create a [sustainable] company that’s focused on improving access to healthcare while delivering a transparent treatment process?” In the company’s infancy, Mr. Darwin recounted, “We thought the key to achieving this was tireless advocacy on behalf of the patient, being with the patient every step of the way.” It’s true that our dedication to superior service for each individual and to infallible integrity in all our business dealings have become hallmarks of A&K Global Health. But we quickly learned they weren’t enough.
“We came to understand that what individuals lacking access to healthcare actually meant was that many countries around the world were lacking the national resources or requirements to fulfill the medical needs of their citizens.” This realization revolutionized A&K Global Health’s approach to connecting patients with quality treatment and a transparent care process. “We expanded what we do to encompass the full range of supply chain management and fourth party logistics that, along with medical travel facilitation, make up the comprehensive package of healthcare management,” Mr. Darwin said, explaining why today A&K Global Health primarily delivers services to patients as a contracted agent of their national or regional governments.
The audience was enthusiastic with questions about A&K Global Health’s experience. Mr. Darwin fielded an especially insightful inquiry regarding continuity of care, which in the context of medical travel refers to reintegration of the patient into their home country’s healthcare system following treatment abroad. “We stay involved in the patient’s continued healing for up to a year or year and a half to ensure they’re integrated into competent, continuing healthcare,” Mr. Darwin shared, affirming A&K Global Health’s commitment to long-term patient monitoring and follow-up.
“The transfer of knowledge from the treating institution to the local physician is critically important. Whether that’s the treating physician actually coming and holding workshops in the patient’s home country or region, educating local doctors on how to perform follow-up care, or whether it’s sending young doctors to work under the supervision of that specialist in the treatment country – the result of A&K Global Health’s work with each of these health system stakeholders is the guarantee that when the patient travels home, there is an established chain of custody to ensure good communication between the local and the international physicians, as well as a common understanding of how that patient will continue to be managed and cared for.” Beyond dramatically improving clinical and experiential outcomes for patients, “providing end-to-end healthcare management really incentivizes the improvement of healthcare locally,” Mr. Darwin noted.
This was not the first time that leaders from A&K Global Health have been featured as industry trailblazers at an international healthcare forum. Nor will it be the last: next month, Mr. Darwin takes A&K Global Health’s expertise in and vision for global healthcare management to Madrid, Spain, where he will address the International Medical Travel Journal’s (IMTJ) Medical Travel Summit 2016.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin shares his company’s global healthcare management experience, vision and passion with attendees of the University of Miami School of Business Administration Center for Health Sector Management and Policy’s annual conference, The Business of Healthcare: Going Global.
In the photograph below: Participating with Mr. Darwin on the “Facilitating Medical Tourism” panel were, from left to right, moderator Eduardo de Marchena, MD, Associate Dean for International Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; panelist Anne Burdick, MD, Associate Dean for TeleHealth and Clinical Outreach at the University of Miami Health System and Leprosy Program Director and Professor of Dermatology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; and panelist Marc Harrison, MD, Chief of International Business Development for the Cleveland Clinic.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Meet an A&K Global Health partner: BLK Super Specialty Hospital
As an international healthcare manager, A&K Global Health’s core function is enabling our patients’ access to – and optimally synchronizing their interactions with – the numerous individuals and institutions that play key roles in their health lifecycle. These range from general practitioners to specialty providers, airlines to guesthouses, family caregivers to federal visa issuers, insurance funds to hospitals. This post is the first in a series on this blog to introduce our readers to one category of stakeholders within the broad health ecosystem that we orchestrate: our hospital partners. Today, our spotlight is on BLK Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India.
BLK Super Specialty Hospital, named for its 1930 founder Dr. B. L. Kapur, is one of the largest tertiary care private hospitals in India. The hospital’s vision is “to create a patient-centric, tertiary healthcare organization focused on non-intrusive quality care utilizing leading edge technology with a human touch,” a goal closely aligned with A&K Global Health’s values. Perhaps BLK’s greatest strength as a partner facility is their combination of deep clinical expertise and a wide variety of treatments: with 10 centers of excellence and 29 specialty areas offered, BLK is home to medical experts in all major fields.
A&K Global Health first reached out to BLK in 2013 in the process of expanding our hospital network. Initially attracted by BLK’s Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, we were also impressed by their robust Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant. A&K Global Health was already well established in Kurdistan, Iraq, where many of our patients were seeking treatment for thalassemia and other blood diseases – conditions that often require complex procedural interventions like bone marrow transplants, in addition to intricate and long-term treatment regimens and comprehensive care management.
We began sending patients to BLK in the same year. Since that time, A&K Global Health’s work with BLK has lead to the healing of many individuals. And our partnership has also contributed to the growth and refinement of BLK’s care offerings, by providing a steady stream of patient referrals representing a diversity of diseases and hailing from around the world.
Here’s what our patients are saying about their experience with BLK Super Specialty Hospital and A&K Global Health:
“I am very much satisfied with the doctors, [nurses], translators and A&K Global Health. I will recommend A&K Global Health to my friends and family back home.”
“A&K Global Health has been very supportive from Kenya to India. A special thanks goes to the doctors who treated us…everyone was very professional and we are happy with treatment and all of the handling.”
“[BLK], keep up the good spirit towards the foreign patients! A&K Global Health, [you have] wonderful personnel.”
“My experience with A&K Global Health was very good. The staff back home was professional and knowledgeable. [BLK Hospital] was clean and the doctor explained everything well.”
“Thanks to A&K Global Health for helping me throughout my medical journey…thanks to [the] hospital staff who helped me and everyone who stood with me in my difficult time.”
“I felt at home. I am very satisfied with my overall experience.”
“I am very thankful.”
“My appreciation goes to the A&K Global Health and BLK personnel who took care of me for a job well done.”
“I look forward to working with you again.”
And we feel similarly. What makes BLK a great partner is their commitment to continually growing in expertise, technology and service as a healthcare provider, and their able accommodation of our patients’ wide array of medical needs. A&K Global Health looks forward to working together with BLK Super Specialty Hospital to serve and heal patients for many years to come.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health makes patient birthdays special, even in hospital
No one hopes to spend a birthday in the hospital. But for many A&K Global Health patients, the necessity of treatment overrides such preferences, and they find themselves far from family, friends and the comforts of home on their special day. Because of this, we’ve developed a tradition of celebrating life with our patients no matter where they find themselves on their birthday. Last month brought two particularly memorable “hospital parties.”
On February 2, 2016, Margaret Kanyua Nathaniel of Kenya marked her 50th birthday at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India, where she was recovering from a bilateral knee replacement. Margaret already considered the gift of her successful surgery to be enough – and walking independently and pain-free after more than 15 years of suffering was indeed a blessing worth celebrating! Nonetheless, A&K Global Health wanted to ensure that Margaret’s momentous semicentennial was honored in its own right. Our Bangalore Operations Officers did so by arranging a special cake and surprising her in her hospital room. Our other A&K Global Health patients currently staying at Manipal Hospital also joined in the festivities.
Afterward, Margaret shared with our Bangalore team that this birthday was very meaningful to her because she had reached the 50-year milestone of life. She thanked A&K Global Health for remembering her birthday, and for celebrating with her while she was away from her family. Margaret even noted that, for the rest of her years, she would never forget this “special birthday.”
Another unique celebration took place just a few weeks later. On February 19, 2016, Anne Gakii Murungi welcomed her 38th birthday, as well as a distinctive guest of honor at the hospital party that A&K Global Health threw for her…our Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Darwin! Anne, likewise from Kenya and being treated at Manipal Hospital, was doubly surprised on her birthday to encounter not just a beautiful cake presented by her Operations Officers and fellow A&K Global Health patients at Manipal, but also a one-on-one opportunity to share her healthcare management experience with Mr. Darwin and with our Director of Treatment Management in Bangalore, Ms. Saraladevi Gangadhara. That evening, Anne sent a special message of thanks to the A&K Global Health Bangalore team for arranging the celebration, a welcome chance for some relaxation and revelry in the midst of her treatment for breast cancer.
The common thread between these and all our hospital celebrations with patients – be they for birthdays, local or home country holidays, recoveries, or sometimes a combination of occasions – is that A&K Global Health considers each of our clients a member of our family. When we serve them, we provide not only our highest standard of professional health management. We also offer our personal empathy and authentic caring. This deliberate attention to the forging bonds with our patients as they confront their health challenges is a hallmark of A&K Global Health’s service, and we look forward each day to finding the interpersonal moments that transform successful medical outcomes into overall positive patient experiences.
In the photograph above: The cake presented by A&K Global Health to our patient Margaret Kanyua Nathaniel glows brightly with candles as she and the A&K Global Health team celebrate her 50th birthday at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Adept health management brings cure to complex cancer: Samuel’s Story
“If somebody tells you [that] you have cancer, you think it’s the end of you.” Samuel Kimutai Kitum, a middle-aged civil servant from Eldoret, Kenya, remembers exactly how he felt when he received a diagnosis of thyroid cancer – as if his whole body and spirit just shut down. But Samuel’s experience in the months following this terrifying moment tells a story of hope. With excellent, timely medical treatment and rigorous healthcare management, he learned that even cancer is no death sentence.
A swollen neck prompted Samuel’s first visit to his local doctor. When a cyst was discovered, he underwent an operation in Kenya to take samples for biopsy. The results were malignant: Samuel had thyroid cancer. In seeking treatment guidance from Kenyan hospitals, he learned that India was the best place for him to undergo treatment for this particular type of cancer. And as a civil servant, the expense of his international medical journey was eligible for coverage by Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) – a critical benefit now available to all NHIF members.
The NHIF introduced Samuel to A&K Global Health, and our Care Consultants immediately began coordinating the diverse aspects of his journey, from his visa, travel and accommodations to his treatments, appointments and financial arrangements with his insurance. Samuel recalls A&K Global Health’s support to him during such a difficult personal time with great appreciation: “They are good friends, they are good people – they are good family,” he says. And the same family that helped Samuel prepare in Kenya received him in Bangalore, easing what could otherwise have been a difficult transition to a new country and culture amid distressing health challenges. Our Operations Officers met Samuel at the airport and settled him into his guesthouse straightaway. First thing the next morning, they returned to take him to BGS Global Hospital, where he was to be treated.
A&K Global Health had carefully selected BGS Global Hospital for Samuel, whose cancer was exceptionally dangerous to treat through surgery. Dr. Mukunda N.K., Consultant Surgical Oncologist and head of Samuel’s care team, acknowledges the sophistication necessary to care for his condition. “Any papillary carcinoma [cancerous cyst] of the thyroid four centimeters long requires a total thyroidectomy…and a cancer surgery in the area of the thyroid is always problematic for surgical approach.” This is due in part to the thyroid’s proximity to the parathyroid glands, which carefully regular calcium – the element that enables the functioning of many other systems in our bodies – and which are at risk during a dramatic surgery like a thyroidectomy.
Despite these challenging circumstances, Dr. Mukunda and his team were able to neatly remove both of Samuel’s thyroid lobes while preserving the delicate glandular structure surrounding his thyroid area. “Postoperatively he did very well, his voice was well preserved, and he did not even have any symptoms of hypocalcaemia,” says Dr. Mukunda, referencing the clinical indication that the surgery had not damaged Samuel’s parathyroid glands. Says Samuel, with gratitude emanating from his healthy voice: “I was healed.”
“Thank you very much, NHIF Kenya. Thank you for what you did…[the] steps you have taken are very important to the lives of workers in Kenya,” Samuel declares, recognizing the profound impact that comprehensive healthcare insurance played in granting him access to the overseas care that could cure his cancer. And to A&K Global Health, Samuel likewise offers his genuine thanks: “I am [unable to forget] about A&K Global Health…they are very good people, they are generous…and they are a team! I thank you especially for celebrating with me my cure, taking care of me, traveling, accommodation – you have come always to [ask] me what’s the problem I have – and you are the people to take care of me. Thank you very much.”
“I am free from cancer. I am now a happy man.” This amazing truth is plainly evidenced by the radiant smile that stays on Samuel’s face throughout this short video. Hear him tell his story:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Employee longevity pays tribute to A&K Global Health’s values
Integrity, transparency, service, trust. At A&K Global Health, each of these values is inherent in our work to expand healthcare access, increase treatment quality and advance care management around the world. But we don’t only apply these values to serving our clients. These same principles, deeply embedded in our internal structure, guide our selection of and interaction with each member of our partner network as well as our team. And our employees themselves point to these qualities as the reason they love being a part of this organization.
The story of Jasmeet Singh Chatrath, one of our longest-serving staff, illustrates these values in action. Jasmeet was first introduced to A&K Global Health when the company was still a young startup with a brand new executive leadership team. Employed at that time by a hospital which our then Chief Executive Officer Mark Erwin (now former CEO) and then Chief Operations Officer Morgan Darwin (now current CEO) were visiting, Jasmeet was assigned to give them a tour of the facility.
“While showing them around, I was asking about A&K Global Health,” Jasmeet remembers, “because it was still in its initial stages, and I saw a lot of opportunity in the company.” Jasmeet was inspired by Mark and Morgan’s personable interest in individuals, their passion for revolutionizing healthcare management, and the opportunity to talk directly with them – the company’s top executives – about his ideas and questions. Shortly thereafter, he approached A&K Global Health about employment and was hired.
Over the nearly four years since Jasmeet joined us, our organization has experienced transformative growth. Jasmeet’s role within A&K Global Health has followed a parallel trajectory. Through his enthusiasm for hard work and dedication to our patients, the man who started as only our fourth employee in India has now become our Operations Manager for the whole northern part of the country. Jasmeet acknowledges that the space created by A&K Global Health leaders for him to creatively thrive in his position was essential to the dynamic expansion of the company, as well as key to his personal development.
“The best thing about working for A&K Global Health is the freedom to make a decision on my own. My superiors have complete faith and trust in me and in my decisions, which gives me the greatest sense of responsibility toward my job,” Jasmeet shares. “I am currently handling a team of seven people in Delhi, including three Assistant Managers, three Operations Officers and a Kurdish translator. I manage these employees’ shift scheduling, professional duties and patient engagements. Additionally, I regularly visit the more than 12 hospitals in Delhi where A&K Global Health refers patients to meet and assist them…listening to their queries, providing support at their medical consultations, admissions and discharges, and recording all these interactions in our company’s custom-innovated, cloud-based healthcare management portal.” Each of Jasmeet’s activities helps enable the seamless continuity of care and exceptionally high customer service standards for which A&K Global Health is known. And taken together, they collectively advance the professionalism of healthcare management as a field that is saving and changing lives globally each day.
Jasmeet’s passion for this kind of human impact extends beyond A&K Global Health. “Apart from my job, which is my topmost priority, I have a keen interest in helping people suffering under disadvantaged financial conditions. My dream is to open a nongovernmental organization (NGO) benefitting blind children, covering their education and providing them with the maximum level of support that I can.” As a company founded by individuals with big ideas and the resolve to see them realized, A&K Global Health is proud to count among our team many members with similar goals and tenacity.
Of his time with A&K Global Health to date, Jasmeet says, “It has been a wonderful experience. I have learned so much from this organization. Every day is a new learning experience, a chance to meet new challenges…it feels really great when your works get appreciated, which is the most professional thing about A&K Global Health.”
Want to get involved? Contact us today to learn how you, your family, your organization or your government can collaborate with A&K Global Health to empower all people – our patients, our employees, our partners and others – to achieve the health, wellbeing and personal fulfillment every human being deserves.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Urgent, expert health management saves infant strangled by rare cyst
At 3½ months old, Linet Wanjala’s son, Gift Wafula, suddenly began to have acute difficulty breathing. Linet rushed baby Gift to the intensive care unit (ICU) at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, where he spent seven harrowing days on mechanical ventilation. He was treated for pneumonia and stepped down to normal hospital care for 10 additional days, but when they returned home, Linet noticed that Gift continued to wheeze. Still, she prayed the worst was over.
Her hopes were short-lived. Only 22 days after Gift’s discharge, he was readmitted in severe respiratory distress. This time, a CT scan revealed the cause of his suffocating symptoms: a 3-4 centimeter cyst was exerting pressure on one of his two airways. “This condition requires immediate relief,” Gift’s physician, Dr. Kenneth Githitu, stated in an urgent memo to Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). “Local experts recommend this cardiothoracic operation to be undertaken outside the country due to its complexity.” With NHIF support, A&K Global Health immediately set in motion a surgical referral to Apollo Hospital and prepared Linet and Gift to travel to New Delhi, India.
Mother and son arrived in New Delhi two days before Gift turned five months old. A&K Global Health staff received them at the airport and, as Linet gratefully remembered, “took us to the hospital and ensured that we were immediately admitted. The next morning, the surgery was done. Within no time, [Gift] was relieved from the pain.”
Linet’s recounting makes the process sound almost simple, and for her and her baby, it was. That’s because A&K Global Health was there supporting her, harnessing our deep experience and unmatched expertise in healthcare management to ensure that Gift received vital treatment – and quickly. Without our professional, first-rate facilitation of his case, Gift could have suffered brain damage from a chronically insufficient oxygen intake over time, or worse. Dr. Muthu Jotji, Gift’s doctor and Apollo Hospital’s Senior Consultant Pediatric Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon, acknowledged these sobering facts in an interview two weeks after Gift’s operation.
“[Gift] was transferred from Kenya in quite serious condition, with very severe breathing difficulty for many months. Because we already had the diagnosis from Kenya through A&K Global Health, we promptly did a repeat contrasting CT/angiogram, which confirmed that there was a rare tumor arising from the right main windpipe.” With this confirmation, Dr. Jotji and his team wasted no time scheduling immediate surgery: “I think it was on a Sunday, even,” Dr. Jotji recalled. Post-operation, “to my surprise, [Gift] came off the ventilator very quickly. He came off, started feeding, and – you see him now,” Dr. Jotji gestured to the healthy little boy grinning in delight as several A&K Global Health staff members, like new aunts and uncles to him, entertained him with a plush teddy bear they had given him. “He’s a very well and happy child.”
Linet also recognized the strong bonds that sprung up during the trying, and transformative, preceding weeks. “I would like to give thanks to the family of A&K Global Health, because with them, they took complete care of us.” And she had another specific message to share: “I would like to tell mothers out there who think that everything has come to an end, when you are advised by the doctor to take your baby to an overseas hospital or to be referred to another hospital for treatment and management of the baby…don’t give up. There are so many friends out there, friends like A&K Global Health!”
Indeed, it’s the combination of our expert professionalism in healthcare management and our genuine personal dedication to our patients and their families that make A&K Global Health one of a kind. And both qualities are saving lives like little Gift’s, and forever changing lives like Linet’s, every day.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health staff members surround Kenyan mother Linet Wanjala and her son, Gift Wafula, as they celebrate his recovery from emergency surgery in India which A&K Global Health facilitated to removed a rare, life-threatening bronchogenic cyst.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health surveys reveal uncommonly high client satisfaction
At A&K Global Health, we love to share the smiling faces and grateful voices of our clients describing their successful healthcare experiences. But have you ever wondered how we keep all these patients so well satisfied as we manage their often long, complex treatment journeys?
The answer is straightforward: A&K Global Health’s extraordinarily dedicated and consistent customer service. Just as a surgeon tracks a patient’s vital signs while operating, we keep a “finger” on our patients’ “pulse” with regard to all aspects of their journey – medical, financial, logistical and experiential – throughout the course of their engagement with us. This means tracking the many diverse components of our clients’ experiences, both those that are directly and indirectly managed by A&K Global Health. And we do this through mobile SMS, a method that allows our patients to quickly, conveniently share their frank feedback with us in real time.
The following six questions are texted to A&K Global Health patients as they progress through the different stages of travel and treatment. For example, the first question is sent after a client has arrived at their hotel or hospital accommodation, and the fifth question is sent once medical procedures are complete. A simple numerical response scale is used for each question is: 1=Very Satisfied, 2=Satisfied, 3=Dissatisfied, 4=Very Dissatisfied, and 5=I do not want to participate in this survey. All we ask our patients to do is text back the number that corresponds with their experience for each question.
- How safe and welcome did you feel with the reception of our A&K Global Health team when you arrived in India?
- How satisfied are you with the explanation of the travel process and what to expect at your treatment site?
- How satisfied are you with the accommodations?
- How satisfied are you with the customer service of our A&K Global Health hospitality team?
- How satisfied are you with the care you received from your physician and medical team?
- How satisfied are you with the entire A&K Global Health experience?
We regularly receive high marks in all categories, a testimony to our exceptional airline and travel logistics partners, our outstanding hospital network and our handpicked, hospitable international accommodations. Since initiating these surveys in July 2014, we have received fully 93.7% positive feedback across these six questions – that is, our clients reported being “very satisfied” or “satisfied” in all categories 93.7% of the time. For questions 1, 2, 4 and 6, which exclusively address A&K Global Health performance rather than a combination of our service with that of our partners, we receive even higher ratings from our patients: 94.1% positive responses. And in 10 out of the 20 months over which we have administered these surveys, our clients reported 100% satisfaction with all A&K Global Health-managed elements of their experience. These figures indicate that even if a patient is disappointed by a flight delay, a care provider’s service or a hotel’s amenities, they consistently consider the A&K Global Health-controlled aspects of their journey as the bright spots.
This true story provides an especially memorable example of why A&K Global Health earns such high patient praise. While staying in India to receive a series of medical treatments, one of our clients responded to an SMS survey question late at night with a 4 (“very dissatisfied”). Minutes later, this patient received a knock on his door. He was shocked to discover an A&K Global Health Operations Officer on the other side, eager to immediately and personally solve whatever problem our patient was experiencing – even at the very late hour! Our stunned patient admitted that, in fact, he had simply decided to send a negative response to see whether anyone noticed or cared. With renewed assurance that A&K Global Health not only cared about but highly prioritized his comfort at all times, he and his Operations Officer shared a laugh – and our Operations Officer headed home and back to bed.
Measuring these results to continually improve our service demonstrates A&K Global Health’s devotion to an uncommon quality of client care. And sharing our patients’ feedback with the world on this blog shows the high value we place on transparency in healthcare management. We believe that the greatest potential for positive change, in our organization as well as in the healthcare industry, exists where achievements and challenges alike are openly acknowledged and constructively addressed. That’s a commitment our patients, our partners and all who follow our international activities can count on us to continue to uphold.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Nairobi employee shines as “A&K Global Health’s face to our clients”
At the conclusion of a groundbreaking year for A&K Global Health, our Kenya team honored the significant contributions of one individual, Moses Kibazo, by naming him Employee of the Year 2015. During his recent visit to Nairobi, A&K Global Health Chief Executive Officer Morgan Darwin presented a certificate of recognition to Moses to commemorate his selection for this award.
As an Operations Officer, Moses’s responsibilities are many, varied, and essential to ensuring the delivery of A&K Global Health’s signature service: high quality, compassionate, customized and comprehensively managed care for each of our patients. Moses primarily works with our incoming clients – patients arriving to Nairobi from other parts of Kenya, as well as from neighboring countries, to receive medical treatment.
Before our clients even leave home, they know Moses well, as he works with them to schedule all medical appointments and procedures and to arrange accommodations for any attendants accompanying the patient, as well as for the patient when not in hospital. Upon arrival in Nairobi, Moses is prepared, personally receiving our patients at the A&K Global Health office, welcoming them with mobile SIM cards and answering any questions. Throughout their stay in Nairobi, Moses regularly visits patients and attendants in the hospital and after discharge to ensure their comfort, peace of mind and seamless care management. As Reuben Kangogo, A&K Global Health Kenya Operations Director, sums it up: “He is simply the best!”
Moses’s outstanding dedication to serving our patients is emblematic of A&K Global Health’s values. He and his fellow Operations Officers play a powerful, personal role in shaping our patients’ experience: they are the ones who continuously make sure everything is going smoothly for our clients, handling any concern and managing every detail, no matter how big or small. “Moses and his colleagues are the face of A&K Global Health to each individual we serve,” says Mr. Darwin. “It’s their support to our patients at every twist and turn in their health journey that earns A&K Global Health such consistently high customer service ratings from our clients.”
And Kenyan Operations Officers in particular are going to be important to A&K Global Health’s work in the coming months. As A&K Global Health intensifies its collaboration with the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) to increase inbound and intrabound medical travel to Kenya, Moses and his colleagues will be busy facilitating fellow Kenyans as well as increasing numbers of East African patients as they travel throughout Kenya to receive care unavailable in their own localities. “It’s really important to honor his example and contributions at this particular time,” Mr. Darwin affirms, “because I believe that this year, A&K Global Health Operations Officers like Moses are going to touch more patients’ lives than ever before.”
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin shakes hands with Moses Kibazo, A&K Global Health Operations Officer and Employee of the Year 2015, and presents him with a certificate of recognition. On the right, A&K Global Health Kenya National Director Stephen Masinde joins Mr. Darwin in celebrating Moses’s work.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health patient walks “pain-free” again: Margaret’s Story
Mrs. Margaret Kanyua Nathaniel of Nairobi, Kenya had suffered for 10-15 years from arthritis in both knees. Over the past three years, however, her condition became particularly aggravated: everyday movement like climbing stairs turned excruciatingly painful. “That’s how I decided to seek foreign treatment. And when I sought for foreign treatment at the NHIF [National Hospital Insurance Fund], they directed me to A&K Global Health,” Margaret remembers.
A&K Global Health shared Margaret’s medical history and records with orthopedic specialists at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India. “Dr. Sunil Kini replied with the medical opinion that I required a total bilateral knee replacement,” Margaret recounts. Because this surgery was not available to her in Kenya, the NHIF sponsored her to travel for the procedure. A&K Global Health arranged all logistics for her trip and our Bangalore team received Margaret when she arrived at the airport, immediately accompanying her to the hospital’s international office for admission.
After suffering from her condition for so many years, Margaret was amazed by how quickly and seamlessly her treatment journey unfolded. Thanks to A&K Global Health’s coordination with Manipal Hospital, she shares: “I was admitted the first day of arrival, I saw the doctor on the same day, the doctor prescribed tests to be done. The following day the tests were done,” with Margaret’s results confirming Dr. Kini’s original recommendation of a bilateral knee replacement. Her surgery was scheduled and completed successfully. “This is my seventeenth day after the surgery,” Margaret smiles widely, “and I feel quite better than the day I came. I can now even walk, pain-free. Yes!”
Her doctor confirms the success of Margaret’s case. “The surgery went smoothly; we did a bilateral total knee replacement…post-procedure, the patient started walking immediately after surgery with the help of a walker, and here she is about 10 days post-surgery, independently walking without much help and no pain at all.”
Dr. Kini also acknowledges the complexity of joint replacement procedures, and the importance of excellent care management. “Treatment of these patients requires an integrated approach…multiple orthopedic surgeons, very good rehab, pain specialists, as well as good physical therapy personnel,” he explains. With demand for joint replacement increasing throughout East Africa, A&K Global Health’s strong relationship with Dr. Kini and his colleagues at Manipal is enabling timely intervention for more patients like Margaret who cannot receive these surgeries in their home countries. Already this year, Dr. Kini has made one trip to Kenya to serve as the consultant orthopedic surgeon at a medical camp coordinated by A&K Global Health. And with the successful outcome of cases like Margaret’s, A&K Global Health is planning several more camps that will bring Manipal specialists to East Africa to consult on their life-changing services in the coming months.
You can hear Margaret and Dr. Kini tell her story – and see Margaret walking confidently! – in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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KTB inbound medical travel committee welcomes A&K Global Health CEO
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has formed a new working committee focused on promoting inbound and intrabound medical travel to and within Kenya. On February 4, 2016, the group held its second meeting at the KTB office in Nairobi in conjunction with the visit of A&K Global Health Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Darwin.
The KTB has long been successful in promoting Kenya’s natural attractions, like safaris, and warm cultural hospitality to the international tourist market. But the Kenya Health Tourism Strategy published in August 2014 issued a new challenge to the KTB: “to market Kenya as a destination hub for healthcare services as well as a health improvement destination.” Given our expertise and connections as a facilitator of local through international medical treatment for Kenyan and East African patients, A&K Global Health was natural partner in realizing the strategy’s vision.
Now, the working committee is stepping up its activities. The purpose of this recent meeting was to capitalize on the presence of Mr. Darwin in Nairobi to chart a way forward between the KTB and A&K Global Health in jointly promoting Kenya as a medical travel destination and hub in East Africa. The immediate outcome of the meeting was a collaboratively prepared concept note, informed by A&K Global Health’s experience in the region and in healthcare management, and outlining how the company will work hand in hand with the KTB to increase inbound as well as intrabound medical tourism.
“For inbound medical travel, it is key that Kenya have a high level of acceptability among local doctors in Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan,” explains Stephen Masinde, A&K Global Health’s Kenya National Director. Thanks to A&K Global Health’s presence in each of these countries – as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda – Mr. Masinde and his colleagues across the continent know just how to build the foundation for those relationships of clinical and professional trust. To ensure that African healthcare providers and health ministries are confident sending their patients to Kenya, A&K Global Health, the KTB and the Ministry of Health are organizing a medical tourism conference to showcase Kenya’s treatment offerings. “The idea is to invite key African health leaders to Nairobi for this event,” says Mr. Masinde, “to see what Kenyan physicians can do, and to encourage patients from those countries to travel inbound.”
The support of Kenyan physicians themselves is also critical in driving inbound medical travel. Historically, “most Kenyan doctors have viewed medical travel facilitators with a degree of suspicion because we assist their patients in traveling abroad, which some perceive as denying them the opportunity to treat the patient. Of course that is not the case: we only transfer cases that cannot be treated locally,” Mr. Masinde explains. “With a more robust inbound medical travel model, our Kenyan physicians will in fact be able to receive a greater number of patients from other African countries than the number of patients they send abroad.” Leveraging our extensive professional network within the Kenyan healthcare sector, A&K Global Health is helping the KTB raise awareness among Kenyan physicians of the opportunities inherent for them in growing inbound medical travel.
Steps are also underway to expand intrabound medical travel – that is, Kenyans traveling outside their own city or region but remaining within Kenya to receive care. Already, A&K Global Health is planning a medical camp in partnership with Nairobi West Hospital to present to Kenyans outside Nairobi the hospital’s capable practitioners and their expanding services and medical technology. While A&K Global Health regularly hosts medical camps throughout Kenya, to date they have featured only foreign medical specialists. Mr. Masinde emphasizes the pivotal nature of this occasion: “It’s incredible to start operating with national doctors doing a medical camp.”
This collaboration between the KTB and A&K Global Health is well on its way to generating exciting results for both organizations – and, most importantly, higher quality and more accessible, affordable healthcare for millions of individuals in Kenya and East Africa. Follow future developments in Kenya’s inbound and intrabound medical travel here on the A&K Global Health blog.
In the photograph above: A&K Global Health CEO Morgan Darwin signs the KTB visitor book while KTB Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa looks on. Standing behind them, from left to right, are Allan Njoroge (KTB Company Secretary/Head of Legal & Corporate Affairs), Reuben Kangogo (A&K Global Health Kenya Operations Director), Mary Luseka (KTB Strategy & Development Manager), Fred Okeyo (KTB Product Manager) and Stephen Masinde (A&K Global Health Kenya National Director).
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Medical camp brings specialty care, continuing education to Kakamega
Some exciting “firsts” took place on January 29th and 30th, 2016, when A&K Global Health and physicians from Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India hosted a medical camp in Kakamega, Kenya.
Though A&K Global Health regularly coordinates such medical camps with our hospital partners for low or no cost in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and South Sudan, this was our first experience bringing a medical camp to western Kenya – and the Kakamega community was eager for the opportunity. During the two-day camp, dozens of local residents received consultations with Manipal specialists in oncology, cardiology and orthopedics. These fields of expertise are in high demand in Kenya, and A&K Global Health is already actively coordinating travel and treatment arrangements for Kakamega patients in each of these specialty areas.
The Kakamega medical camp was unique in another way, too. Our visiting Manipal Hospital specialists didn’t just provide patient consultations; they also delivered continuing medical education within their areas of practice for Kenyan healthcare professionals.
The response from the medical community was tremendous. A total of 63 Kenyan physicians from Kakamega Provincial Hospital and the wider area attended three presentations: Recent Advances in Cardiac Surgery, presented by the Consultant Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeon; Recent Advances in Hip and Knee Replacements, presented by the Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon; and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) & Robotic Surgery in Oncology Cases, presented by the Consultant Surgical & Gynecological Oncology and Robotic Surgeon. Audience members described the sessions as “very informative” and even “captivating.”
A&K Global Health is proud to help foster collaborative professional relationships, like those the Kakamega medical camp has established between Kenyan and Indian physicians, across the entire spectrum of health stakeholders. Our vision-driven approach to healthcare management multiplies the impact of a single medical camp many times beyond the number of patient consultations that take place – it enables us to bring together patients, providers, government ministries and healthcare organizations and to improve medical, educational and financial outcomes for each of these participants. At the same time that we’re helping Kenyan patients obtain the urgent specialty care they need abroad, we’re facilitating professional development for their home doctors, building capacity for the Kenyan health system and investing in its future.
This trailblazing medical camp in Kakamega, the first of its kind in both location and continuing medical education offerings, concluded with a great deal of positive momentum for future events. Manipal Hospital has already proposed working with A&K Global Health to bring three more camps to Kenya throughout 2016, including the popular component of continuing medical education for local healthcare practitioners. Stay tuned to this blog to hear about these events and all of A&K Global Health’s ongoing activities around the world.
In the photograph above: Kakamega-area healthcare professionals follow along intently as Manipal Hospital specialists present continuing medical education on oncology, cardiology and orthopedics at A&K Global Health’s January medical camp.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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2015 in Review: A&K Global Health Celebrates Groundbreaking Year in Healthcare Management
North Carolina, USA – February 18, 2016: In 2015, only its fourth year of international operations, A&K Global Health marked numerous milestones.
The company, founded in 2012 to connect individuals everywhere with quality, affordable medical care in their home countries or abroad, experienced early success forging relationships with health ministries, insurers and individuals in East Africa and the Middle East – all seeking access to care unavailable within their borders. A&K Global Health next established a network of hospital partners in India, Turkey and beyond to service their burgeoning clientele base. But in the intervening years, A&K Global Health has expanded its offerings from compassionate, patient-centered medical travel to encompass the full range of healthcare management activities, including helping national governments to meet their internal capability objectives.
“Our vision is to serve not only individuals, but also institutional clients, providing transparency and control on their behalf to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of the patient journey to seek healing…whether that journey is local, regional or international. This means we manage all macro-level processes while customizing the experience of each patient,” explains Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health’s Chief Executive Officer.
“In realizing this vision, we meaningfully engage all stakeholders of the health ecosystem: institutional clients, patients, healthcare providers, and local and national healthcare systems. Our goal is to create value for each of these participants – and what we’re increasingly seeing is that, as we do this, these actors both collectively and independently want A&K Global Health involved in their efforts.”
That multidimensional demand for A&K Global Health’s partnership is reflected in the company’s growth. Since 2012, they have facilitated life-saving, life-enhancing treatment for more than 1,390 patients worldwide, with 553 – more than a third – of those cases being serviced in 2015 alone. The quality and sophistication of their hospital network as well as their ability to manage complex diseases and conditions is readily evident, too: to date, A&K Global Health has coordinated and managed 231 bone marrow transplants, 103 kidney transplants, 14 liver transplants, 184 oncological procedures, 75 cardiology procedures, and 102 neurosurgeries, in addition to hundreds of other procedures for the full spectrum of medical conditions.
A&K Global Health’s worldwide presence also continues to expand, with the organization today having served patients from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Says Mr. Darwin, “Our ability to create successful ground operations in key markets sets us apart [from web-based medical tourism companies] as a healthcare management company, and is the foundation for the success we are achieving.”
Indeed, great things are already underway for the company in 2016. A&K Global Health is actively managing more than 100 currently in-care patients and their families, while working with many more who are preparing to receive care in the coming weeks. New and robust partnerships with national health institutions are coming to fruition, the result of months and years of advocacy by A&K Global Health to ensure that government bodies charged with funding healthcare for their citizens are able to successfully support quality care, and that their beneficiaries are able to access and procure it. A&K Global Health’s ongoing collaboration with healthcare professionals in the countries where it works is incentivizing clinical excellence at the local level through self-sustaining economic models. And Mr. Darwin is taking A&K Global Health’s thought leadership on the road, sharing his company’s vision for global healthcare management through two international forums in March and May.
Keep up with A&K Global Health throughout the exciting year ahead by following the A&K Global Health Blog, where the company shares all its latest patient stories, partner news, major milestones and activities from around the globe.
In the photograph above: Morgan Darwin, A&K Global Health’s Chief Executive Officer, along with the team in Bangalore, India.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Exceptional care management drives recovery: Jacob’s Story
In 2014, Jacob Mosiori Michira was injured in an accident that landed him in a wheelchair. Only two weeks after the incident, he was discharged from the hospital in his native Kenya and sent home. One year later, frustrated by his stymied recovery, Jacob decided to seek a second opinion on his condition through medical experts in the capitol city of Nairobi.
Jacob’s first stop was Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), which for years has funded medical travel for care not available domestically for civil servants and the armed services – a benefit that will soon be extended to all NHIF members. It was through the NHIF that Jacob was introduced to A&K Global Health.
Jacob visited the A&K Global Health office personally to meet our national director and inquire about how we could assist him. Through the guidance of our Care Consultants, Jacob came to understand that his condition and NHIF benefits entitled him to treatment abroad. Equally important, A&K Global Health informed him that his wife, Esther Nzioka, was eligible to accompany him as an attendant. Jacob’s eyes grow wide as he recalls the moment when he learned that he had international care options that could be covered by the NHIF: “Now, that’s when it was possible to get the information, regarding NHIF comprehensive [coverage]…through A&K Global [Health] Nairobi.”
A&K Global Health contacted our partner hospitals in India regarding Jacob’s case; Manipal Hospital in Bangalore responded. “I have to thank A&K Global [Health] for making it possible for me to travel to India…because they’re the ones who sent this information on my condition outside, to the world.” Jacob smiles. “So, you can see, I’m on the path to recovery.” And indeed he was. With NHIF financial support and A&K Global Health facilitating all facets of their journey, Jacob and Esther traveled from Nairobi, Kenya to Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, India last autumn. They spent nearly two months there while Jacob underwent intensive physical therapy to increase his mobility and independence in daily tasks. With his hard work and the tireless encouragement of his physical therapists, Jacob was able to regain his ability to stand upright and even to make limited movements using a walker.
Jacob and Esther were amazed by both the medical professionalism and genuine caring attitude of Manipal’s staff: “I should clearly remember to thank the Manipal team, led by my doctor, Dr. Naveen. They were very close, closer than friends…and his team of physical therapists, nurses, the administration, they were of great help…they have indeed helped me to recover,” Jacob affirms. His wife echoes his sentiments: “In fact I’ve never seen such…friendliness…in a place like this, especially in hospitals where there are many people. But here, in fact, everybody [has been] social and friendly to us. I thank them.”
Beyond their emphatic satisfaction with Manipal Hospital, Jacob and Esther’s experience with A&K Global Health’s Bangalore team stands out in their memories. “A&K Global India, good people. I have no word to describe them because they have been coming to see us every day, every hour, they’re with us, they call us, give us every assistance we need. I think [there’s] nobody we can – nobody we can equate to them,” says Jacob.
A special moment came on his birthday, which happened to fall during his stay at Manipal Hospital. A&K Global Health’s Operations Officers surprised him by bringing a celebration right to his hospital room! Jacob recalls, “They were here to celebrate my birthday, in hospital – nice cake, everything nice…” Jacob and his wife shake their heads as if still overwhelmed by the support of their A&K Global Health Operations Officers in Bangalore. “I enjoyed that day,” Jacob says. Esther agrees, and brings her palms to her heart in a gesture of gratitude. “What a wonderful love to us. So I thank you so much, A&K Global Health.”
You can hear Jacob and Esther share more about their experiences in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Air Arabia honors A&K Global Health’s 2015 growth with visit to Kurdistan office
After a tremendous year of growth in 2015, A&K Global Health was selected by Air Arabia to be honored as a special corporate partner. On January 24, 2016, Air Arabia Sales Manager Mr. Ahmed Jamal visited our Kurdistan team to personally commend their efforts.
It was all smiles at the A&K Global Health office in Erbil when Mr. Jamal presented our staff with a congratulatory cake. The decoration read “For A&K Company; Thank you for your great work 2015.”
2015 was indeed a momentous year for A&K Global Health’s Kurdish patients, as well as for our business partners. With the support of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), we helped more than 220 men, women and children obtain critical medical care not available in Kurdistan by traveling to New Delhi. Not only is this number of patients significant: the specific type of care A&K Global Health has facilitated is important, too. Many of our Kurdish patients suffer from blood diseases like thalassemia, conditions that require complex, long-term treatment regimens. This means that patients must make multiple trips to and from their treatment destination to receive carefully sequenced treatments at specific intervals – often over the course of more than a year. And for optimal recovery, patients must be monitored for months or years after their treatments are complete.
Guiding patients through this clinical path and coordinating continuous oversight between Kurdish patients’ home doctors and their Indian specialists is a complicated process. It’s also what A&K Global Health does best. Our experience managing such complex diseases and treatment procedures has been vital in improving the prognoses of our Kurdish patients. And our expert healthcare management doesn’t just deliver the best medical outcome for our patients – it also optimizes the use of health institution funds. Throughout the months and years of the entire recovery journey, A&K Global Health ensure our patients stay on track with their treatments, medications, and other interventions both at home and abroad, so that no appointment, procedure or travel is ever wasted.
In this way, A&K Global Health’s patient management economizes the expenditures of health governing organizations like the KRG Ministry of Health, making it possible for them to extend support to more of their citizens in need of care. And as greater numbers of Kurdish patients have been able to receive funds to pursue treatment, our travel industry partners have benefitted, too! A&K Global Health booked more than 600 flights with Air Arabia in 2015. This recent visit from Air Arabia’s representatives demonstrates how our successful patient management has raised our profile in Kurdistan as a prominent patron of the travel industry. We are always pleased when serving our patients, and the health institutions charged with supporting their care, also allows our partners to experience success in their businesses. And we look forward to continuing this crucial work in 2016 and beyond: creating value for all stakeholders in the health ecosystem by improving health, one life at a time.
In the photograph above: from left to right, the A&K Global Health staff members and Air Arabia representatives: Dr. Kameran Qader, Senior Medical Officer; Mr. Emad Alsalhi, Senior Care Consultant; Mr. Wameth Adil, Operations Manager; Mr. Ahmed Jamal, Air Arabia Sales Manager; Mr. Arab Sale, Rozahan Air Representative; and Ms. Samarya Qaiser, Thalassemia Care Consultant.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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A&K Global Health connects Kigali patients, New Delhi specialists at medical camp
More than 90 people in Kigali, Rwanda started 2016 out on a healthy note by attending A&K Global Health’s recent medical camp. This camp was hosted by Baho International Hospital in Kigali and featured doctors from A&K Global Health’s partner Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India.
From January 19-21, 2016, these visiting specialists received patients for consultations regarding cardiology, orthopedic and neurology/spinal conditions. After hearing patients’ concerns and conducting health history and physical screenings, the doctors offered counsel on the best clinical treatment approach for each patient’s situation.
A&K Global Health is involved in all aspects of these events, from arranging for the doctors’ travel and accommodations to advertising in local media to ensuring that patients feel welcomed and comfortable as they wait for consultation. But we know our medical camps are just the first step on our patients’ journeys to seek healing. That’s why our camps are also only the beginning of the comprehensive healthcare management we guarantee our patients. When the traveling physicians return home, we begin the process of helping patients who suffer from complex, often chronic diseases to identify their treatment options and choose the solution that is best for them.
Because of this camp with Max Super Specialty Hospital, A&K Global Health is now assisting 17 cardiology patients, 25 orthopedic patients, and 52 neurology/spinal patients from Kigali as they seek appropriate care. Some will travel to another city for treatment, others to a neighboring country, and still others overseas. Wherever our patients elect to pursue their health, A&K Global Health is there to oversee the continuity of quality care, from medical camp diagnosis to travel and treatment and through recovery and follow-up.
A&K Global Health regularly coordinates these medical camps with our hospital partners for low or no cost throughout Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and South Sudan. This successful event in Kigali has already sparked interest in future opportunities for residents to confer with high-demand specialists: at the end of the three-day camp, patients eagerly shared with A&K Global Health their visions for another Kigali event, when they hope the visiting doctors will bring with them a cardiac ultrasound machine.
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Superior Care Management Leads to Successful Cancer Treatment: Richard’s Story
When Richard Ngetichi was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, he didn’t waste any time. Richard immediately began the daunting search for the best hospitals in the world to treat his condition. Through Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), Richard discovered A&K Global Health – a welcome resource in the global search for care, and located right in his home city of Nairobi.
A&K Global Health’s Care Consultants in Nairobi recommended BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore, India, and Richard quickly agreed. With the support of the NHIF, A&K Global Health arranged for Richard’s travel from Nairobi, Kenya to Bangalore, India and for his consultation with oncologist Dr. K. A. Madhava.
Following Dr. Madhava’s guidance, Richard underwent five weeks of concurrent chemotherapy and radiation. His symptoms improved dramatically: before treatment, he struggled to swallow, but now could eat well and regain some strength. But Richard’s doctors were not yet ready to close his case.
“At the end of the concurrent chemo/radiation, his symptoms all improved and he was doing very well,” Dr. Madhava explains, but in keeping with the best clinical guidelines and protocols for Richard’s cancer, “we brought him back after six weeks for surgical treatment.”
This thorough approach to treatment was a success. Richard’s doctors discovered that his tumor had completely disappeared.
Richard is emphatic when he speaks of his experience at BGS Global Hospital. “They received me with high hospitality, professional doctors, and I was given the best treatment I’d ever seen,” he remembers. “That’s exactly what I came for, all the way from Kenya – to seek the best treatment.”
The professional healthcare management that A&K Global Health provided for Richard was also key to his successful medical results. “The management of these cancer patients is definitely quite complex, it’s challenging,” Dr. Madhava says of Richard’s case. By maintaining close coordination between Richard’s doctors in Bangalore and Nairobi and ensuring his comfort and support throughout travel, treatment and recovery, A&K Global Health made certain that the multiple parties involved in Richard’s care always acted together to produce the greatest chance for a healthy outcome.
“A&K Global [Health] is one of the best professional bodies I have ever come across,” Richard affirms. “They know their work. I really thank them for having assisted me to come to this hospital, get the best treatment, and now – I’m very much happy because of their services.”
You can hear Richard and Dr. Madhava tell the story of this remarkable case in this short video:
A&K Global Health
A&K Global Health is a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex health challenges. We connect you with the right care for your needs, from coordinating international medical travel to facilitating quality local and regional treatment. We also optimize the impact of health institutions by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your journey. A&K Global Health is dedicated to empowering you to reach your highest health. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
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Outstanding Cancer Treatment: Clement Rwigamba’s Story
Clement Rwigamba from Rwanda never expected his visit to Canada to turn into a medical emergency. When Clement arrived, he started feeling pain in his left leg and decided to visit the doctor. After some testing, the doctors in Canada realized it was cancer. Clement had multiple myeloma, a cancer that happens when plasma cells, found in bone marrow, grow out of control and form tumors in the body.
Clement was happy with his treatment in Canada, but the cost was very, very high.
When he returned to Rwanda, he knew that many people in his home country often sought treatment for cancer in India. A friend told him about A&K Global Health and connected Clement with our office in Kigali, Rwanda.
A&K Global Health was able to connect Clement with a doctor in India at Artemis Health Institute Hospital, arrange his travel plans, and get him in touch with our Operations Officer in New Delhi, India, who met him upon his arrival. Though Clement did not know anyone when he arrived, he found that A&K Global Health staff were happy to help him – every step of the way.
Meeting his doctor and an oncologist, Clement was able to check into the hospital, receive medication, and schedule a hip replacement.
When asked about his experience with A&K Global Health, Clement said, “They are people who care very much for sick people. This company is doing a lot of work, and they are good people. All over the world, they help many people as they helped me.”
You can listen to the rest of Clement’s story, in his own words, in this short video:
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Medical Travel to Turkey—What You Need to Know about Turkish Culture
It can be a little scary traveling to a different country – especially if you’re traveling for medical reasons. So we’ve put together some basic information about Turkey to help you understand the culture.
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Agile Global Health attends Kenya Cardiac Society annual meeting
From June 28 to July 1, 2017, the Kenya Cardiac Society (KCS) held its Annual Scientific Conference at Whitesands Hotel Mombasa. As the manager of the National Hospital Insurance Fund’s “NHIF @50” cardiac program, Agile Global Health joined the event as an exhibitor, represented by both our National Director Stephen Masinde and our Operations Director Reuben Kangogo.
The KCS describes itself on its website as “the preferred meeting place for physicians and other health professionals with a keen interest in cardiovascular care.” Its annual meeting, which draws cardiac stakeholders from around the country and the region, is just one way the organization fulfills its mission to “promote and maintain the highest standards of cardiovascular care through the prevention of cardiovascular disease and the education of the public and professionals.”
This year’s conference theme was “impact through collaboration,” a motif perfectly aligned with the successful public-private partnership (PPP) that our management of the NHIF cardiac program represents. As Operations Officer Bernard Ademba reported, “A total of 65 participants, mainly doctors, visited Agile Global Health at the conference, lauding the partnership between us and the NHIF as a ‘game changer’ in Kenya’s medical sector.”
But these medical professionals did not stop at commending the impact the cardiac surgery program has made to date; rather, they sought to further it by developing new avenues for collaboration with the effort, through program manager Agile Global Health. “Officials from Aga Khan Hospital Mombasa, led by Dr. Mohamed Sulin, visited our stand and requested to work with us to help patients within the Kenyan Coast region benefit from the program,” Mr. Ademba shared. “They also invited the Agile Global Health team to visit their facility and inspect their recently-launched catheterization lab, which will assist Mombasa-area patients who previously had to travel to Nairobi to access cathlab treatment.”
Added Mr. Kangogo, “This was really one of the most exciting doctors’ conferences that Agile Global Health has attended. It was incredible to see the clinical community recognizing and appreciating our role in saving Kenyans with heart conditions, and wanting to get more and more involved.”
In the photograph above: Key delegates to the Kenya Cardiac Society’s 2017 annual scientific conference. Agile Global Health joined the Mombasa event earlier this month to represent the NHIF’s cardiac program to these and other experts in attendance.
Agile Global Health
Agile Global Health (operating as A&K Global Health in select countries) is an Agile Health Systems company and a worldwide leader in realizing transparent, affordable, effective and innovative solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. We listen to local and national healthcare leaders in every country where we work, and then support their vision to improve their national health system’s accessibility, quality, and clinical outcomes. For patients, we connect you with the right care for your needs, from facilitating quality local and regional treatment to coordinating international medical travel; for healthcare funders and providers, we optimize your organizational impact by introducing transparency, control and customization to the medical, financial and experiential aspects of your clients’ medical journey. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.
