This is a small story with a great message of overcoming, where life is the protagonist; it is a story of rebirth through the transformation of a health institution (E.S.E. Hospital San Rafael de San Vicente del Caguán) that brought hope and dignity to a municipality with a long history of conflicts.

Everything was against

The department of Caquetá, Colombia, has been one of the regions hardest hit by the historical violence in the country and one of the most excluded in terms of development. Its mostly rural population, with 76% illiteracy and very low resources, has always been on the back of social and economic growth, and facing the fear and blood brought by the armed conflict.

Since 1957, the San Rafael Hospital and its human team have overcome many challenges of accessibility, infrastructure, budget, among many others, which have even put the institution's operation in jeopardy; but thanks to the determination to move forward, the purpose of saving lives and now, technology, today it is a hospital of great impact on the Caqueteña population and a benchmark of improvement and social innovation in the country.

Problems and obstacles

E.S.E San Rafael, like many health institutions in the country, presented problems of access to care for patients, in this case rural patients, who had to walk, or if they were lucky, ride a donkey, for long journeys of up to 4 hours from their homes in the outskirts of the region, waking up very early in the morning to get first in line and have a chance to get the appointment they needed so much, if they did not succeed, they had to try again, because there was no other option. In addition to this process, there were many more that were carried out in the traditional way in the institution, meaning reprocesses and great waste of resources such as the use of the Installed Capacity, with up to 40% lost.

The appointment management process was carried out in an almost archaic way, a group of people sitting in front of a computer with an Excel spreadsheet doing all the management, if a new process resulted, another person had to be hired and trained, which generated a number of delays and reprocesses that resulted in saturating the work of these people, who as humans they are, reached a point where they could not do more, which contributed to the detriment of health and dissatisfaction of patients.

A decision of hope

It was these reasons and the negative impact they had on the institution's productivity that led Mario Andrés Posada Muñóz, Manager of E.S.E. Hospital San Rafael and his team to make the decision to automate as many processes as possible, understanding that only through technology was it possible to solve the problems that were being experienced in the day-to-day life of Caguán.

Mario Andrés Posada Muñóz, Manager of E.S.E. Hospital San Rafael, tells us about the impact of his decision to bring COCO to his institution.

Spectacular results

After 6 months of implementing a fully integrated solution for Hospital San Rafael, including self-management for patients; who can now manage their appointments from their cell phones at home, and request one by writing a WhatsApp Chatbot. Telemedicine, enabling virtual care and avoiding unnecessary travel.

From November 2021 to May 2022

A story of dignification

With this technological innovation, patients such as Doña Marisol, a 60-year-old woman who suffers from hypertension and has lived in Caguán all her life, specifically in the El Venado district, 4 hours from her health center, can now access care from her cell phone and schedule her check-ups by sending a message, without fear of missing them due to forgetfulness or errors in management, which has improved her quality of life.

Watch the story

Believing in technological transformation

Today E.S.E Hospital San Rafael de San Vicente del Caguán is at the forefront of digital health, operating efficiently through technology, enhancing its human capacity and providing a formidable experience to its staff and patients. This transformation has brought renewal to Caguán, it has brought development and dignity to its population; this transformation has told the people of Caguán, and may it be so for the rest of Colombia: United we build a better country for all.

Within the framework of the Accountability Report, Hospital San Rafael announced the technological transformation it has been carrying out in recent months and the high impact it has had in such a short period of time.

Social impact at its best

The success story of E.S.E. Hospital San Rafael is evidence of the impact we are having on the most important health problems in the country, such as access to rural areas.

Here are some numbers

Con nuestra tecnología hemos impactado a más de 5 millones de pacientes tras aumentar la Capacidad Instalada de las instituciones de salud

Learn more about how we are transforming access to health care cocotech.ai