BELLE IMAGERIE BENIN: TELERADIOLOGY

I'm a young (25 years-old) medical doctor, from BENIN Republic, Africa. I'm highly passionate about public health and especially, questions regarding health promotion (empowering populations to be actors of their health conditions; the good ones for sure). I'm an open-minded and very sociable person with great leadership qualities. I'm a solution finder and really love thinking to catalyze communities throughout positive changes. I'm co-creator of BELLE IMAGERIE SARL, a society located in BENIN Republic and providing digital health solutions for populations from BENIN with an extension to the whole Africa and the world very soon (in perspective). Some of our solutions are BELLE IMAGERIE (an effective and already implemented digital platform for real time radiology exams interpretation) and SIFAM (a new startup that comes as a solution for African conditions-related pharmacology and therapeutic tool for patient-targeted medical prescription i.e, patient-targeted medicine. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve myself.

In Africa, the lack of radiologists is a sad reality especially most expressed in remote communities (communities far from the downtown). Sometimes, populations have to travel crazy distances before being able to perform a radiology exam. Populations from remote areas where radiology isn't yet well developed and especially, those from poor background are the most exposed to the consequences of such a fact: delayed diagnostics and delayed specific health care, diseases' sequelae and at a drastic point, many deaths due to the absence of or the delayed interpretation of radiology exams performed. BELLE IMAGERIE comes to solve the problem of delayed interpretation of radiology exams and the prejudice related to it throughout a digital platform connecting thousands of qualified senior radiologists highly working to provide interpretations in real time to millions of people so that to facilitate clinical decisions and thus, a better health care to those specific populations.

Radiology in Africa faces many problems, from difficulty to perform radiology exams to the maintenance of machines, passing by the difficulty/impossibility to get time interpreted radiology exams, as clearly explained in those articles: Article 1 Article 2.

In a nutshell, Africa does lacks radiologists (in clinics/hospitals as well as in medical imaging centers) despite the yet existing and daily heavily working amount. The demand for radiology exams is increasingly apparent but the response is less. BELLE IMAGERIE is solving the problem of difficulty (impossibility to access a radiologist) and/or absence of possibilities to get timely interpreted radiology exams in the low and middle-resources setting of African countries, especially BENIN Republic and particularly in populations from poor background and those living in very remote as compared to downtown areas. This is done at a very flat-rate. BELLE imagerie is also bringing an unique opportunities for BENIN Republic and African countries to have their own numeric medical imaging databases and workout Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions at its side regarding imaging complementary exams so that to provide efficient care to patients.

This video provides an in-depth explanation of all the aspects BELLE IMAGERIE teleradiology solution: Teleradiology demo by Belle Imagerie

BELLE IMAGERIE is a teleradiology platform that connects physicians (the radiology exams prescribers), patients, medical imaging centers and radiologists so that to provide real time radiology exams interpretation; especially numeric X-Rays. The system behind it is very simple: 

1- The physician asks the radiology exam, medical imaging centers are the core since the are the receptors and performers of asked radiology exams (numeric output).

2- The numeric radiology exam is uploaded by the medical imaging center on its account created on BELLE IMAGERIE platform (account filled with bought interpretation credits) with confidentiality options (no patient name +++).

3- BELLE IMAGERIE administrators the dispatches images to radiologists.

4- Radiologists connect to their workspace on BELLE IMAGERIE platform to see and perform the assigned tasks.

5- Once tasks are performed and validated by counter expertise, it's ultimately validated and digitally transmitted to the referral imaging center: a digitized interpretation report with a unique identification code that helps the physician, as well as the patient, have access to the numeric version of the exam and its interpretation (system that allows printing at any time even if the patient loses the radiology photograph. It takes at most .... to get the job correctly done.

BELLE IMAGERIE has been rewarded twice as a leading innovation in the realm of medicine, especially digital health solution by the IUT (International Union of technology) in 2017 and by WHO Africa Innovators in 2019 (BELLE IMAGERIE - WHO AFRICA INNOVATORS, BELLE IMAGERIE ITU 2017 REWARD - BENIN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE). During those events, the society has been valably represented by sir Hans Eddie GBOSSA, the medical imaging technician of the team after a consent from the whole team. BELLE IMAGERIE actually greatly helps not only patients, but also physicians (especially general practitioners and physicians from very remote areas as compared to the downtown), medical imaging centers. Actually, patients are satisfied with getting real time radiology exam interpretation. Medical imaging centers are satisfied with timely response to the huge radiology exams demand since they now have abilities to answer demands on a continuous way - a situation that was not alike for them by the past and so doing, they're making good profits. Physicians are satisfied with rapid and real-time radiology exams interpretation possession (actually, around 30 minutes are needed in average by radiologists to provide quality interpretation with minimum and maximum of 15 min and 45 minutes respectively).

Medicine is basically the science of well-being, bringing hope to the most needy people. Though, it faces many challenges/problems its way along. To keep assuring its role, problems needs to be addressed and adequate measures informed to catalyse change in the communities and medical practices. My solution, BELLE IMAGERIE, is a digital health solution, i.e, a teleradiology platform helping to solve the heavy and difficult problem of lack of timely-interpreted radiology exams and also, the one of absence of a digitized radiology exams database in a specific context of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) at the big data era.

One day, when I was on duty in the departmental hospital of Porto-Novo (CHUD-OP), the administrative capital of my country, I saw a scene that marked me forever. Actually, a 45 years-old like women got a femur fracture and came to the emergency department. She benefited from the urgent medical care and was asked a leg X-Ray that she performed without delay but, unfortunately, she had to wait for like 04 days so that the radiologist duty day in that hospital comes so that she gets the interpretation of her X-Ray. I found that abnormal (actually, Porto-Novo is less developed in terms of medicine and radiology than the downtown, namely, Cotonou where the problem also exists but no at that extent) and decided since that day, to serve as a solution so that such a problem doesn't exist anymore cause what I see may be happening the exact same way elsewhere. I then started thinking, talking about my ideas to friends and ultimately, by God's grace, designed a radiology platform (BELLE IMAGERIE) with the team I formed with those who believed in my idea at that time. Today, it's much a society with other digital health solutions patterns being developed.

Seeing avoidable deaths continuing daily is very harmful for moral satisfaction, especially for the medical doctor I am and who is used to being near to patients everyday, living their health problems and helping them recover at the best possible state. Moreover, colluding with a system that lacks doing what's right to provide the minimum vital solution to better take care of patients is a sacrilege, especially when one has to opportunity and capabilities to run up a system that can help solve a specific health problem. That's basically what led me to think to a way to design a system that can help solve the targeted problem of delayed radiology exams interpretation. I'm highly passionate about public health and I'm highly committed to catalysing communities throughout positive impacts that raise positive changes amongst people and I daily live to find better and even better solution to help bad health conditions change in my country (BENIN Republic) as well as in Africa and the whole world. I know that I have the abilities and capabilities to do so then, I trust in myself and give myself all the possible chances to achieve my dream. I'm a change agent for Africa.

I'm a young, yet experienced, medical doctor working in collaboration with a team made of one other medical doctor, a medical imaging technician, two midwives and informatics specialists. During my medical internship, I saw many problematic patients care delivery situations as well as avoidable deaths related to delayed radiology exams' results  that led me to start thinking solutions to health-related problems and that's how I come to co-create with my team, BELLE IMAGERIE is a teleradiology digital solution platform. My professional qualification gives me the ability and status to run this kind of entrepreneurship to solve communities-related health problems with a regard to empowering communities to be the actors of their own health condition; the good one for sure. My daily clinical practice puts me in front position to experience crucial and yet realistic (real-life) situations.I participated many times in local, national and regional congress, holding leadership responsibilities (organizing the events in a nutshell, as wella s helping for translations: French to English and vice-versa). My professional and social experiences from one hand and my passion for informatics in the other, are strong additional strings to my bow that give me the cap of a leader in my society. I benefited of many online trainings in leadership domain thanks to YALI (Young African Leadership Initiative) and also successfully applied to the hybrid session 19 cohort of 2020 awaiting Covid-19's situation to be more controlled to fly and undergo a specific ground-presence leadership training and achievements.

At the very beginning of this project, I went to see some colleagues and elders in medical field to talk about it but mostly, they discouraged me in the sense that it won't work or even it worked, it won't be for the long-term seen numeric conditions (internet particularly, since th system is to mostly use it for remote professional work) in our country. From person to person, I ultimately met those I'm with today and we built a team. We started the ground work and medical imaging centers we got in touch with in Cotonou didn't want to give it a try. I had then to travel to Porto-Novo where fortunately, a private center accepted and we made it a success. It's only after that, that many other centers decided to join the project and it's perfectly making it way to success till now. Yet many other private centers are to register to get the number of medical imaging centers grow to better convince the world about the unprecedented usefulness of BELLE IMAGERIE in the setting of resource-poor countries (BENIN Republic, my country and the remaining African countries). This solution can also benefit developed countries as well, for sure.

BELLE IMAGERIE started with analogical cliché. Very quickly, we thought good to upgrade to numeric. We then needed the suitable installations and materials. We then went to negotiate a collaboration with centers that were reluctant since it requires much money investment from them. The idea wasn't welcomed because of that fact and we have ultimately designed a profit-for-profit situation in which we freely install them the required material (which we pay for) for numeric radiology picture acquisition and, in return, they will have to abide by a credit-based interpretation system and also provide maintenance for the installations. It was a good business idea (owing to my self-learning) that has been validated at a large scale and perfectly working today. Also, since our vision goes towards an extension to the public sector, discussion with the BENIN National Director of Hospitals failed due to interests conflicts. We then, and this is currently happening, collaborate with the medical imaging center of the University of Abomey-Calavi (governmental property) which perfectly validates the idea. We'll then have a pathway to reach the government with proofs of efficiency so that to get them aligned with our proposal since we're holder of great EHR database.

This project is innovative in that it brings a solution to a specific health problem that is real and is no more existing in some areas (those whom medical imaging centers are enrolled in our system and working with us). It uses internet technology to provide gain of time and real-time radiology exams interpretation by qualified senior radiologists. It uses a specifically designed materiel (designed purposely for BELLE IMAGERIE as a trademark) that is implemented in each medical imaging center getting enrolled with us, providing also the internet connexion needed to submit the clichés on the system so that they are processed.