Vodafone’s Healthline 255, the first medical phone service in the sub-region is making is making a huge impact in the lives of hundreds of people particularly those in rural Ghana. According to the most recent report for Ghana’s first medical call centre, it has so far received thirty-two thousand calls since it was launched in September 2013. Majority of the calls were men with the top five complaints listed as abdominal pain, headache, back pain and male sexual problems.

The 3 northern regions made the most calls to the centre and this was not surprising as they remain the poorest in Ghana; with the poorest access to healthcare nationwide. Majority of the calls were also from people in their prime 15-44 followed closely by aged, 45 and above.

One of the peculiar cases recorded was a 46 year old woman who called to complain about general body pains. Upon further probe, the doctors advised her to seek urgent medical care as she was suffering from serious heart related complications. She followed their advice and sought medical attention that very day and after examination was told by health authorities that she was on the verge of a heart attack. She was full of praise for the team at Healthline 255.

HealthLine 255 is a medical call centre, run by clinical staff and powered by the world’s best triage system, which guarantees accurate medical advice. It is the first of its kind in Africa and provides expert medical advice to people in need of quality healthcare from the convenience of their phones. Healthline 255 opens daily from 4pm to 10pm including Sundays. The triage system is currently used by eighty million people worldwide across Europe, Australia, India and Brazil to power their National Health Service.

The service is exclusive to Vodafone Ghana’s customers and is not an emergency medical service, neither is it meant to replace doctor patient one-to-one medical advice. It is a preventive service that offers education on various health conditions including first aid advice and demystifying health myths.