Powered by the AI technology behind ChatGPT, Cloomi is an WhatsApp chatbot that empowers Zimbabweans to check availability & compare prices from nearby healthcare providers, with providers given 24 hours to respond. Launched January 2024, Cloomi now boasts over 275 pharmacies, 50+ medical labs, 30+ diagnostic imaging centres, & a searchable directory of over 800 registered health practitioners.

To get started send the message “HI” to the WhatsApp chatbot number  +263788257164. Then, following the chatbot’s prompts, choose the target search location, and the medication/service you’re looking for, in text or picture format, making sure to withhold the patient’s identity. Instantly, subscribed providers in the selected location will anonymously receive the request, and can respond via quick reply buttons YES, NO, or NOT RELEVANT. Only YES responses are sent back to the user, together with the contact details of the provider.

Withholding the identity of the user is important, as it puts the patient in the driving seat in terms of deciding which providers to talk to. Plus, at an point, patients can stop receiving further message with a simple button tap. Providers can also, optionally, send the user extra details, such as price, or to tell the patient to bring a prescription.

We see more AI use cases in the medium to long-term; currently, Cloomi uses AI for two crucial touchpoints:
1. Platform moderation: Cloomi can automatically quarantine requests that do not conform to the selected category. For example, if a request in pharmaceutical does not classify as a pharmaceutical product, then it is quarantined, pending manual verification.

2. AI Suggest for Pharmaceuticals: To help alleviate drug shortages, Cloomi automatically suggests 3 alternatives for the request product, so pharmacists could suggest alternatives, if legally & professionally permissible.

And oh, by the way, you can directly go to the chatbot by following this link from your mobile device or computer with a WhatsApp installation: wa.me/263788257164?text=GET_CLOOMI