Primary Mobile Med International Helps Open 3,000 Medical Clinics Across Ghana

In regions where health infrastructure is subpar, one efficient substitute to building hospitals is to implement mobile medical clinics (MMCs). These mobile clinics offer patients a way to access medical care when hospitals or health services are not easily accessible or available.

Compared to building traditional brick-and-mortar hospitals, it is faster and more cost-effective to create medical facilities from shipping containers. Primary Mobile Med International’s (PMMI) Ghana-based manufacturer can assemble up to four MMCs daily. These MMCs are produced using materials that allow for a sanitary environment and are equipped with medicine and medical equipment used for primary care and screenings.

MMCs are open and functioning in the capital, Accra. Additional facilities will open soon in other locations across the nation. PMMI and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), directed by Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director-General of the GHS, have executed a contract to establish 3,000 MMCs nationwide. The GHS aims to integrate PMMI’s primary care delivery model within its current health care system.

Mobile Medical Clinics are also equipped with PMMI’s standardized electronic medical record (EMR) and identification systems, which register and store patient data electronically and collect real-time data on the incidence of disease. Once registered into PMMI’s system, patients are screened for:

• Hypertension: Patients with hypertension are at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. With proper identification and low-cost medication, preventative measures can be taken to lower risks.
• Diabetes: MMCs enable health care workers to provide a simple blood test to patients that can help determine the existence of diabetes or pre-diabetes.
• Vision Wellness: At each MMC, health care workers can test patients’ vision and, if corrective care is needed, provide glasses. PMMI is working with VisionSpring, a social enterprise that provides affordable access to eyewear.
• Hepatitis B and C: The Hepatitis Foundation and PMMI are working together to offer immunizations and specialized testing of hepatitis B and C. Hepatitis B and C need to be addressed in Ghana to reduce the incidence of death from liver cancer.
• Neurological Identifiers: MMCs offer a neurological screening program developed by  Dr. Teddy Totimeh, a Ghanaian neurosurgeon and Eisenhower Fellowship Program recipient.
• Tuberculosis (TB): Identifying TB early can help reduce the likelihood of it spreading to other people.
• Environmental Risks:  Professionals at the MMCs can educate patients about environmental topics, such as the importance of accessing clean water and effective sanitation and waste disposal methods.

Maintaining comprehensive patient data is essential for maintaining health and preventing disease. Data monitoring also illuminates disease trends and alerts health care officials to areas where potential crises are starting (e.g., Ebola and malaria outbreaks). To this end, PMMI’s aim to advance patient data tracking and health-screening initiatives in developing nations will help prevent needless deaths resulting from inadequate access to medical care.

Primary Mobile Med International (PMMI) is a Kansas-based organization committed to providing developing populations with low-cost and sustainable access to primary health care. PMMI converts shipping containers into Mobile Medical Clinics (MMCs) that can be used as permanent primary health care facilities, or as temporary clinics while brick and mortar facilities are constructed.

To learn more about MMCs and PMMI visit PMMI’s website or , Director of Sales.