In a time when the prevalence of non-communicable diseases increases annually, it is more than necessary for every household to take preventive measures including paying more attention to the kitchen in addition to maintaining regular diagnosis.
But for patients of these killer diseases, it is imperative that their condition is monitored on the hour; something that may be very costly if it is to be handled by medical practitioners and perhaps inconveniencing for the patient. Hence the need to have home care health equipment that aids in monitoring such diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes among others.
For many patients of non-communicable diseases, fluctuations in their conditions happen in a split second and can be fatal. This makes monitoring even the more crucial. According to Frabice Shema, the Managing Director of Africa Medical Supplier (AMS), home care equipments were in the past considered only accessible to the wealthy but not any longer, now that they are available on the local market. “Many people still think that having home care equipments to monitor a patient’s condition especially those with non-communicable diseases is only affordable to the rich. Contrastingly, these equipments are now available on the Rwandan market and at relatively low prices.” Shema added that similar with other technologies, health equipment is also available in different categories allowing users with differing means to afford them.
“AMS “AMS seeks after the best manufacturers producing the various equipments needed and ensures that these are made available on the local market at the most affordable prices possible,” he offered. Besides home care equipment like the glucometers which measure blood sugar levels for diabetic patients , BP machine which monitor easily the blood pressure and similar others.
Africa Medical Supplier ventures in the importation of other medicals consumables, pharmaceuticals among many other medical supplies. Serving in a sector that he finds one of the most crucial faculties of human society, health, Shema offered that he is proud of what AMS has been able to achieve in the last whole decade of its operations since 2002 when it was first founded as a medical import company and acquired
the Ministry of Health License to trade in these supplies. “It may be a very humble contribution to the journey that Rwanda has moved over the past two decades, but we are proud to have had our share of the many responsibilities that building our nation brought.”
Shema shared that AMS has, as a major contribution, managed to create a bridge on which medical technology from around the world finds its way into Rwanda. “We import and distribute the best brands of medical supplies that any one elsewhere uses and this is exactly what we aspired for when we begun; making sure that Rwandans can have access to the right medical equipment that others enjoy.”
But while pulling off the big dream of bringing global medical supply brands into Rwanda to make a humble contribution to the growth of the health sector, Africa Medical Supplier has similarly impacted lives in many ways including the 16 permanent employees and many others given job opportunities indirectly.
With a Bachelors Degree in Clinical Pharmacy and a MBA degree in International Business, a young Shema (24 years at the time) set out to find a way of contributing to a profession he so dearly loved. But that step into the unknown has reaped far more than self satisfaction yielding a Rwandan company ready to spread wings around the continent and perhaps beyond.
Africa Medical Supplier has been recognized among Rwanda’s Top100 Companies, two years in a row. The company according to its MD will be incorporated in Hong Kong by the end of 2014 from where it will use its established connections to build a strong brand that serves the needs of medical supplies in Africa.
