Patient access on the channels people already use.
DHS supports WhatsApp, USSD, SMS, phone callbacks, and clinic walk-ins as inbound channels. Each one feeds the same case queue with structured context, giving the care team a single view of who is waiting and why.
Setting visit · Week 1
Kayunga district · maternal health
- Watch reception · Mon
- Follow a case · Tue–Wed
- Draft the plan with the clinical lead
5–10 days · two engineers on site
The same case, seen from five different patient sides.
Each channel has its own patient experience, from WhatsApp chat to USSD menu to walk-in reception. On the DHS side, all five resolve to one case with one ID and one shared patient record.
DHS Clinic
Online
Hi, I need to see a doctor today.
We can help. What symptoms are you having?
Cough and fever for two days.
Routed to Dr. K. Expect a call in 30 minutes.
DHS Healthcare · *120*DHS#
- 1. Book a consultation
- 2. Speak to a doctor
- 3. Refill a prescription
- 4. Lab results
- 0. Help
Reply with option:
Access without smartphones
DHS Clinic · SMS
Reminders and confirmations
What each channel does, and why it exists in the queue.
- The most common inbound channel for patients with smartphones. DHS uses the WhatsApp Business API to ask a few short intake questions and route the structured case to the relevant clinician with context already loaded.
- USSD
- A short code that works on every phone, including older feature phones, without an internet connection. Useful in rural areas, on low-cost networks, and for patients who prefer a short text menu over a chat thread.
- SMS
- Outbound and two-way SMS for appointment confirmations, reminders, lab result notifications, and short follow-up questions. Works on every phone and in every language we support.
- Phone callback
- Patients request a callback through any other channel. The care team works through the callback queue in order, with case context already prepared and the patient record open.
- Clinic desk
- Walk-ins remain the largest inbound channel for most sites. The reception app feeds the same queue and the same patient record as the digital channels, so a walk-in patient arrives with their full history available.
Inbound messages turn into a single case with an assigned clinician.
Every inbound message, dial-in, or walk-in becomes a case with a unique ID. The case carries the channel, the patient's words, the structured intake, the AI-prepared brief, and the assigned clinician for review.
The queue screen reception and clinicians work from each morning.
The queue shows channel, reason, assigned staff, priority, and status on one sortable screen. Cases from every channel appear in the same view, so the team works through a single list rather than multiple inboxes.
- Mild fever · 2 daysAssigned to Dr. KamaraA.M.WhatsAppin 12mScheduledin 12mScheduled
- Lab result follow-upAssigned to Nurse AliT.K.PhonenowIn progressnowIn progress
- Prescription refillAssigned to ReceptionE.O.USSDin 28mPendingin 28mPending
- Antenatal reminderAssigned to CHW · M.F.N.SMSin 45mPendingin 45mPending
- Consultation summary readyAssigned to Dr. KamaraS.W.WhatsApp10:14Done10:14Done
Continuous patient records across every channel and every visit.
Patients tend to move across channels during a single episode of care, from an inbound WhatsApp message through callbacks, clinic visits, SMS reminders, and follow-up telemedicine consults. The DHS record stays continuous across all of those steps, with full history available to the care team at each one.
01
Reaches out
Patient sends a message or calls
WhatsApp · USSD · SMS · Phone
02
Routed
DHS turns it into a case and prioritises
AI-supported intake
03
Seen
A care team member responds
Doctor · nurse · admin
04
Followed up
Callback, lab result, or next step
Same case · same channel
05
Recorded
Everything lands on one patient record
EMR · history · reporting
Common situations where DHS ships a patient access layer first.
-
Hospital reception lines that ring continuously and miss half of the inbound calls. DHS adds WhatsApp and USSD intake so the desk team works a structured queue instead of the phone.
-
NGO programmes reaching mixed communities where some patients use feature phones and others use WhatsApp. The case workers see all of them in one queue.
-
Clinics moving from paper case files to a digital record gradually. Patient access is usually the first DHS module we ship.
-
Foundation programmes that need callback follow-up across hundreds of patients per week, with reminders, structured questions, and reporting for the donor.
Often paired with AI-supported workflows for triage and summaries.
DHSAFRICALooking to add a patient access layer that fits your channels?
Tell us which channels are open today, which ones are overloaded, and what currently slips through the cracks. We come back with a queue design and what the first eight weeks would look like.
About a minute · No commitment