Så svarar Care to Translate på krisen

Linus Kullänger foto: Pax Engström

Hej Linus Kullänger, läkarstudent från Karolinska institutet och grundare och VD för Care to Translate, den digitala tolkappen för vårdpersonal och patienter.

Berätta, hur har coronavirus-krisen påverkat er och har ni svarat på något särskilt sätt? 

Vi har fått enormt mycket mer att göra. Vi arbetar med att lösa språkbarriärer inom vård och omsorg. Att tydlig och korrekt kommunikation kan vara skillnaden mellan liv och död har inte minst visat sig under coronakrisen, vilket lett till att efterfrågan på det vi gör har ökat dramatiskt. 

Vi anpassade oss snabbt och implementerade ett stöd för att kunna tolka om Covid-19 på 30 språk. Sedan öppnade vi upp vår tolkapp så att alla kunde använda den gratis under den initiala turbulenta omställningen i vården. Antalet nya användare per månad har dubblerats och användningen har ökat med mer än 300%. Våra största marknader utanför Sverige är Turkiet, Tyskland, USA, Afghanistan och Pakistan. Framför allt Turkiet, som står för nästan 30% av alla nya användare.

Vi såg även att det fanns ett stort behov hos vårdgivare och myndigheter att översätta information till allmänheten och i och med att vi är experter på verifierade översättningar på 30 språk var det tydligt att vi kunde hjälpa till. Vi började därför t.ex. översätta patientinformation på många språk som delas ut i pappersform till patienter på akutmottagningar. Det var häftigt att se att vi kunde agera så fort, men också att många vårdgivare varit otroligt snabba på bollen med att implementera nya saker.

Hur kan er lösning bidra till en bättre hantering av krisen? 

Det har framgått ganska tydligt att det varit brist på information om Covid-19 på många språk. Det kan vi hjälpa till att lösa. 

Sedan fyller vi en oerhört viktig funktion under coronakrisen i att kunna triagera patienter som inte talar samma språk som vårdpersonalen. Vi hjälper personal att kunna agera snabbare och göra en mycket säkrare bedömning då tolkverksamheten, som i vanliga fall inte har resurser att göra detta fullgott, har varit mer belastad än normalt.

Hur sprider ni er lösning – är det någon skillnad idag mot hur ni gjorde t ex i början av året?

Vi sprider vår lösning i sociala medier. Det vi har sett är att folk har varit mer benägna till att dela våra inlägg och hjälpa oss att nå ut till andra. Vi var redan innan ett bolag som nästan uteslutande jobbar med digital marknadsföring. Det är klart att det nog hjälp oss en hel del, då vi inte behövt ställa om det på grund av krisen.

Har ni upplevt några hinder eller problem under utbrottet – i Sverige eller andra länder?

Det är mycket svårare att få till möten med vård- och omsorgsgivare i och med att de har haft mycket mer att göra. Därför har flera möten skjutits upp några veckor. Men vi har också sett det motsatta: Vi skulle exempelvis komma igång med en större pilot i en svensk region i slutet av april, men på grund av coronautbrottet blev allting tidigarelagt för att de såg det akuta behovet av vår lösning. Denna typ av snabba och lösningsorienterade agerande har vi verkligen imponerats av under de senaste månaderna.

Framtidsspaning: Vilken effekt tror du att coronakrisen kommer ha på ert företag på längre sikt? Positivt och negativt?

Jag är övertygad om att coronakrisen kommer ha en positiv effekt för Care to Translate. Vi ser att problemet vi löser har fått mycket större uppmärksamhet under denna kris och att man har tagit det på allvar. Vi har också under denna kris visat att vi är agila och kan leverera snabbt och hjälpa till där det behövs. 

Till sist, vilken typ av stöd från Swecare önskar du dig?

Vi kommer önska stöd i att få tag i rätt kontakter för att sälja till vårdorganisationer i många av de länder där våra användare finns.

Så svarar Xinix på krisen

Hej Anders Gripenberg på Xinix International. Ni tillverkar bl.a. en effektiv och miljövänlig yt- och handdesinfektion baserad på stabiliserad klordioxid. Vi har hört att ni har reagerat snabbt för att kunna svara på det ökade behovet av desinfektion under coronakrisen.

Berätta, hur har det påverkat er och vad har ni gjort?

Efterfrågan på våra produkter har ökat enormt. Vi lyckades tidigarelägga vår flytt till större produktionslokaler i början av coronakrisen. Det blev lite kaosartat med mycket kvälls- och nattjobb för hantverkarna för att vi skulle kunna producera dagtid. Men alla ställde upp på ett fantastiskt sätt, så på mindre än en vecka var flytten klar till ny produktionslokal med kapacitet på 30.000 liter om dan. Vi har hittills ökat vår produktionskapacitet från 5 till 30 ton/dag, och försäljningen fortsätter öka. Vår planering med lansering mot allmänheten till hösten fick ju också tidigareläggas och idag så har en stor del av våra kunder återkommande försäljning till nya kunder som upptäckt våra produkter nu under coronakrisen. De som använt våra produkter för vattendesinfektion genom åren kände givetvis redan till oss, men alla dessa tiotusentals nya personer som nu börjar köpa handdesinfektion, men även vattendesinfektion istället för vatten i plastflaskor är givetvis en positiv utveckling.

Har ni upplevt några hinder eller problem under utbrottet?

Vi har exporterat stora mängder till Tyskland, så det är inga problem med exporten. Vi har även kunnat importera flaskor – 100.000 flaskor som lastades i Italien på en fredag och kom till oss på måndagen, så som vi ser det är det inga problem med import.

Gällande Sverige så ligger nog problemen organisatoriskt. Vi har ju en mångårig samverkan med MSB men som det verkar nu så har det varit lite kaotiskt gällande inköp. Vi har fått förfrågningar och levererat till kommuner, regioner, företag och direkt till operationskliniker vid sjukhus när läkare tröttnat på att inte veta om de har desinfektionsmedel till nästa dag. Detta är väl något som de ansvariga får ta tag i efter coronakrisen och finna lösningar på. Vi ställer upp och levererar till de som behöver. Vi har tackat nej till flera privata aktörer som enbart varit ute efter att göra snabba klipp och sälja vidare. Vi har ju inte höjt priserna utan ligger kvar på samma nivå som 2019.

Framtidsspaning: Vilken effekt tror du att coronakrisen kommer ha på ert företag på längre sikt?

Det positiva är vetskapen hos allmänheten om vikten av att desinficera sina händer noggrant. Vi har ju fått en fantastisk försäljningsökning som vi givetvis är tacksamma för. Men vi hade hoppats kunna informera läkare och sjuksköterskor om fördelarna med klordioxid under Hygiendagarna 2020 i mars, men de blev dessvärre inställda. Om inte, hade läkare och sköterskor haft en bättre kunskap om varför våra produkter är bättre, billigare, säkrare och det självklara valet. Här har vi fortfarande en del att informera om.

Men det kommer att bli en omställning inom vården till en bättre desinfektion med minskade vårdrelaterade infektioner - som idag dödar 4 personer om dagen i Sverige. Vi måste sluta sprita händerna och sluta använda sprit som desinfektant och övergå till en bättre desinfektion än vad vi har idag, givetvis med våra produkter istället.

Till sist, vilken typ av stöd från Swecare önskar du dig?

Samverkan och medlemskapet i Swecare har öppnat dörrar till andra aktörer som förstått fördelen med våra produkter vilket är väldigt tacksamt. Vi har även fått förfrågningar från flera länder och dess ambassadörer om vi kan leverera till dem, med kontakter förmedlade av Swecare.

Vi håller redan idag på med planering för produktionsenheter utomlands och redan i juni månad är vi igång med den första. Som vi ser det så kommer vårt företag att växa med flera 100% den närmaste tiden, så vi är väldigt tacksamma för det gensvar vi fått genom Swecares organisation.

A week of high- level visits

Sweden was host for the third Global Ministerial Road Safety Conference last week that gathered a lot of interesting high-level officials from all over the world. Swecare got the opportunity to meet and arrange meetings with visitors from Nigeria, Qatar, India and Kazakhstan aside from the conference.

We hosted a meeting with Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin J. Al-Thani who has been the Director of Public Health at the Supreme Council of Health in Qatar since 2008. He presented their National Health Strategy 2018-2022 and more in depth the Public Health Strategy 2017- 2022. It was a popular event and all seats were taken. We managed to make sure the participants got a one-to-one conversation with him about each specific area of interest from; Mentice, Karolinska Institute, Elekta, Bactiguard, Global Pharma Consulting, Xinix, Stockholm Care and Calmark.

On Thursday we had a round table meeting hosted by state secretary Maja Fjaestad that welcomed a Nigerian delegation headed by Mr. B Mustapha, Secretary to the Government, and included Dr. E Osagie Ehanire, Minister for Health and Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Minister for Transportation. Even though our countries in size and population are very different we still have common challenges such as access to health care in rural areas. With us on the Swedish side we had; Byon8, Hack for Sweden, Bactiguard, Grace Health, Elekta, Sweco and Pansanté.

Finally, with quite short notice, state secretary Maja Fjaestad received the vice minister for Health from Kazakhstan, Mr. Kamalzhan Nadyrov. Swecare participated in the meeting to represent the Swedish companies. Mr. Nadyrov expressed great interest in Swedish Healthcare and Swedish solutions. Kazakhstan is planning substantial reforms of the Healthcare system. Many existing hospitals and medical facilities are being upgraded and 23 new multifunctional hospitals are to be built by 2025. Areas of special interest that were mentioned were development of primary care, prevention, digitalization, medical records, cancer managementand infection prevention and antibiotic resistance.

Join the initiative Vision Zero for Healthcare-Associated Infections in India!

Actors from academia and the public and private sectors met in Stockholm on a sunny afternoon last week to talk about healthcare-associated infections in India and how to combat them. The background is an initiative taken by Swedish companies Essity, EMPE Diagnostics and Bactiguard, to take a lead position towards combatting healthcare-associated infections in India. The first steps to "Vision Zero on Healthcare-Associated Infections" were taken during the delegation trip to India in February 2019, headed by Minister for Health Lena Hallengren.

Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) are an important public health problem globally. HAIs occur worldwide and affect all countries, irrespective of their degree of development. +50% of all HAI are caused by bacterial growth on medical devices, such as catheters. They represent a significant burden among patients, health-care workers and health systems - but are in many cases preventable. In India, it is estimated that more than 2 million people are affected each year.

Cecilia Edström, recently appointed CEO of Bactiguard, introduced the seminar by saying that she is a a strong believer in the triple helix approach, where academia and public and private sectors can work towards the same goal. This initiative is an attempt to build collaborative ecosystems in healthcare across India, to capture the learning’s of Sweden and contribute towards leading the path of substantially reduced HAI in India -  to reduce infections, reduce complications for patients, free up bed capacity and lower the cost of treatment.

The pre-study that has been done was presented by Aticka Chona, consultant at Green Karmas. The study’s purpose was to clearly understand the expectations of the Indian authorities and healthcare industry, and to develop a structure and engagement plan to take forward the co-operation. The pre-study has also raised awareness and interest among various public and private care providers, such as AIIMS, Max, Medanta, Apollo and the Healthcare Sector Skills Council. The interest from the Indian side in the vision has been keen interest, which has been beneficial for the founding companies.

All of the actors said that they know which their challenges are, and what can be done – but they need to learn HOW to do that and how others have done it. The answer lies in Education, education, education. Swedish healthcare is well-known and our work on infection control can be a role model. They know learn more about pre-diagnosis, to build a digital solution based on what has been done in Sweden but then adapted to Indian conditions and they would like continuous contact – handholding – on how to address infections in the hospitals.

The continuation of the project is planned in two phases. The first one will focus on ICU challenges, and the second will be focused on general hospitals challenges. The work will be done through a series of joint working groups between Swedish companies, Indian hospitals and healthcare organizations on the topic of HAI.

The present group of Swedish companies and the Indian hospitals are now ready to take the next step, to bring global best practices, data and knowledge from Sweden to Indian healthcare actors. By joining the Vision Zero for HAI in India, partners can work towards the same goal and actually make a difference. This can then serve as a basis for business opportunities for the Swedish companies – getting access to a chain of hospital through only one entry point is a great advantage!

The initiative is now looking for more Swedish stakeholders that want to share their expertise and solutions, and to capitalize on the work already done for Vision Zero for HAI in India. For more information, please contact aticka.chona[@[greenkarmas.com or anna.riby[a]Swecare.se.

What's next in India

While we celebrate the conclusion of the Sweden-India Year of Health, we have already initiated the next stage of our close collaboration. The new decade will bring increased activity within both midwifery and elderly care, covering both ends of the spectrum where Swedish solutions are particularly sought after.

The importance of digital health will only increase, especially with regards to the management of chronic conditions, but here we hope to develop applications and medtech products with Indian innovators which can be applied in both markets in order to ease the enormous health care burden we face. The combination of longitudinal data from Sweden with volumes available in India could lead to significantly more efficient solutions. New agreements can also be expected within infectious diseases, in particular with regards to Anti-Microbial Resistance.

All this and much more was discussed during the State Visit to India last week. Swecare organised the Elderly Care tract with special focus on dementia, ripples of our dialogue with key opinion leaders can already be felt in the Indian health care community. Minister Harsh Vardhan and State Secretary Maja Fjaestad reasserted their commitment to the MoU which exists between our two countries. The Minister has already expressed his interest in visiting Sweden early next year.

MAMTA Founder and long-time Swecare partner Dr Mehra receiving the Royal Order of Seraphim & the Royal Order of Polar Star

How Swedish Scale-Ups fit into the Future of Digital Health

Sweden Germany Innovation Partnership: eHealth

One Day in Berlin

Objective

Digital health start-ups and businesses will play a crucial role in transforming health care to better take advantage of the technical progress by developing new innovative products and digital health solutions. Given the challenging regulatory framework of the health care sector but also the high potential, start-ups and businesses in digital health will profit substantially from exchanges, networking and cooperation between each other and with relevant stakeholders. This visit is part of ongoing discussions on discuss how Germany and Sweden can make sure to share our innovative businesses across borders and help them connect to a larger market both within the home countries and abroad.

Swedish Scale-Ups

• Cambio Healthcare Systems
• Coala Life
• KRY / LIVI
• Zenicor Medical Systems

Agenda

Morning - Presentations by German government officials for the Swedish Digital Health Companies

• Overview about the Digital Hub Initiative focusing the Digital Health Hubs by Germany Trade and Invest
• Presentation on the Fast Track for Digital Applications by the Ministry of Health
• Presentation on the Federal Funding Advisory Service at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy

Networking Lunch at the 

Swedish-German Business Day

Afternoon - Breakout session on eHealth and the German-Swedish Innovation Partnership

• What are the main challenges in the German market
• What are the strengths which Swedish companies could learn from
• How will the new regulatory changes regarding eHealth change the health care landscape
• Which collaborations would be most beneficial in order to ensure German and Swedish innovations can be tested within the existing system
• Next steps: exchange of innovative companies during a Digital Health Camp in Q2 2020

Informal dinner with representatives from 

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Main Take-Away

The upcoming Digital Care Act (Digitale Versorgung Gesetz – DVG) is a new administrative pathway to accelerate digitalisation and initiate "fast track" to reimbursement. It is only the first of many steps that Germany will take in order to harness new digital opportunities in order to provide citizens with the best health care (and preventive measures) while ensuring data and patient protection. There is scope for Swedish digital companies to be part of this process as the policy landscape evolves.

Thank you!

We could not have arranged this without the support of the team at GTAI and Business Sweden in Berlin! Look to this space for upcoming events (most likely April and/or May 2020) or get in touch if you would like more information.

Ethiopia - Right in time

Last week a Swedish healthcare delegation, headed by the Swedish Minister for Health and Social Affairs, visited Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. A delegation trip to Ethiopia had been in the planning for a long time, but the timing has never been better than now.

A large market with a growing middle class, strong economic growth, good historical relations to Sweden and government focusing on improving healthcare were the reasons behind the decision. The Noble Peace prize being awarded to Prime minister Abiy Ahmed just a few weeks before our delegation just made it all feel even more right in time.

A group of 37 delegates led by our Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren joined this triple helix delegation. This included representatives from three government agencies; the Public Health Agency, the Medical Products Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare, and one academic institution, Karolinska Institutet.  Along came seven companies; Arjo, AstraZeneca, Atlas Copco Medical Gas, Elekta, Getinge, Human Bridge and Mimer Medical. The delegation was co-organized by Swecare, the Embassy of Sweden in Addis Abeba, Business Sweden in Nairobi, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We had a few intense and efficient days. The first day was planned to set the scene of the Ethiopian health care sector starting with a study visit to Black Lion Hospital, the country´s oldest referral hospital with large expansion plans. After a joint introductory meeting, the delegation was divided in three groups to visit the Pediatric emergency, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and Oncology/Cancer center.  After the visit to the hospital, which is just across the street from the Swedish Embassy, we had a working lunch in the garden of the ambassador´s residence with the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority. Their Director General Heran Gerba explained the role of their agency as an entry point for all companies in the sector to enter the market and that their new proclamation from February 2019 is now being put in place to enable a smoother registration for companies. She also mentioned that a digital registration is rolled out to smooth things further. The lunch continued with one-to-one questions from the companies to her colleagues while she sat down with the Director General of our Medical Products Agency and discuss possible collaboration.

The last meeting of the day was at Ministry of Health with the Minister of Health Dr. Amir Aman to listen in on his plans and thoughts about the status of the Ethiopian health system challenges and opportunities. We got a nice surprise at 3pm when we were all asked outside and had a small exercise/stretch together with ministry staff. This is part of the daily routine at the Ministry. After the break we got presentations from several department heads on their responsibilities and agenda for the future.

The day ended with a reception at the ambassador´s residence with a mixed crowd of international organizations, health care professionals and international NGO´s.  

The second day´s main event was our conference Sweden - Ethiopia Health Care Conference: Public and Private Cooperation for a Sustainable Health System. The event was held at Sheraton Hotel and gathered more than 90 attendants. The conference took off with welcoming remarks by Mr. Torbjörn Pettersson, Ambassador of Sweden to Ethiopia, followed by Dr. Munir Kassa  from the Ministry of Health (stepping in for Minister Dr. Amir that was called in to another meeting last minute) and  the Swedish Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Ms. Lena Hallengren. This set the scene of the conference with the context of the Swedish and Ethiopian health care and global challenges that we have to combat together.

A keynote speech was then held by Director General Ebba Abate from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute explaining the four major strategic missions of the EPHI; public health emergency management, putting research and knowledge into practice, capacity building and developing the national laboratory system.

Dr. Johan Carlson, Director General, Public Health Agency of Sweden was the next speaker and talked among other things about anti-microbial resistance, the disease burden in Sweden and how it differs with level of education. Dr. Carlson concluded with some words about the Sustainable Development Goals, and especially goal no. 3 on Good health for all at all ages.

After coffee break and an VIP tour of the company expo for the two ministerial representatives, the morning continued with interesting presentations from the participating Swedish government agencies and their Ethiopian counterparts on the health system topics of Access to safe and effective pharmaceuticals & medical products, Access to good health and care for all; the importance of data and guidelines and Access to knowledge and know how, each followed by a panel discussion by the participating companies and Ethiopian speakers.

The Conference ended with a delicious networking lunch, during which a lot of interesting discussions regarding the Swedish solutions presented, and the challenges in Sweden and Ethiopia took place.

After lunch, the business delegation went on to MCM General Hospital, which collaborates with the Nordics for their burns treatment unit. We met among others the general manager Dr. Young Dae Kwon and Dr. Morten Kildal from Akademiska hospital in Uppsala, who visits regularly, and learnt about their inspiring model for collaboration with regional hospitals to improve burns care in Ethiopia.

As the last thing on Tuesday evening we had a quick summary meeting with Minister Lena Hallengren and then went to the cultural restaurant at Capital hotel were the delegation had a nice Ethiopian buffet and was entertained by Ethiopian music and dance – some of us even got to try dancing.

Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply agency received us on the third day and showed us their warehouse where we had a Q&A session with Mr. Tesfalem, EPSA's Deputy Director General for Outbound Logistics

Across the street from EPSA is St Paul's Hospital that was our second meeting of the day. The visit started with a presentation on the hospital and their expansion plans, followed by study visits to different departments. 

Lunch was combined with a wrap-up session to hear what the participants thought of the program, and how they will follow up the leads they have gotten during the delegation.

The very last meeting was at Ethio-Tebib Hospital, a private facility with general and specialist departments. Among the specialties provided are Internal Medicine, Surgery, Gyn-ob, Pediatrics, Orthopedics, Radiology, Dialysis unit, and Emergency & Critical Care Medicine. 

From the wrap-up meeting we know that the participants got valuable insights and many contacts for possible collaboration and business to follow up on. The next step for Swecare will be a follow-up meeting in Stockholm at the end of January/begining of February next year to check what progress has been made and understand how we can further assist in deepening the collaboration with Ethiopia.