BUSINESS

Safaricom Pilots Mobile Health Records System in Nakuru

Share
Safaricom headquarters in Nairobi. The firm is piloting a digital health system in partnership with Nakuru County.
Safaricom headquarters in Nairobi. The firm is piloting a digital health system in partnership with Nakuru County.
Share

Safaricom has partnered with Nakuru County to improve health services for over 100,000 people through an integrated electronic medical records program named Afya Moja.

Afya Moja is a simple, mobile based digital health passport that receives and securely stores patient information. It allows users to access a copy of their own health information and the ability to share it with trusted health providers. It allows doctors, upon consent, to have access to patients’ medical backgrounds and therefore respond effectively to their needs.

“What we aim to do through Afya Moja, is to make patient medical records portable so that patients and healthcare workers can access them any time they need them. We will be focusing on diabetes patients during the initial stages of this pilot as we move on to other patients with other chronic diseases”, said Steve Chege, Chief Corporate Affairs, Safaricom.

An initial eight hospitals will benefit from this partnership including PGH Nakuru Level 5 Hospital, Naivasha Sub County Hospital, Molo Sub County Hospital and Keringet Sub County Hospital. Other hospitals in the pilot are; Soin-Mogotio Sub County Hospital, Kiptangwany Health Centre, Mirugi Kariuki Sub County Hospital and Gilgil Health Centre.

A sign at the Nakuru Level 5 hospital. It is among facilities set to benefit from the Safaricom pilot.
A sign at the Nakuru Level 5 hospital. It is among facilities set to benefit from the Safaricom pilot.

“Mobile as an enabler for health is still largely untapped. Challenges with patient identification remain across the ecosystem with difficulty linking patients to information. Despite increased digitization of patient information, interoperability of systems is very difficult to achieve so information remains siloed sometimes even within the same facility. Afya Moja aims to address this challenge,” Said Steven Wanyee, Director of Biomedical Informatics, IntelliSOFT Consulting Limited.

READ>>>>>Banks, Safaricom Share Prices Fall But Market Turnover Grows

The implementation of the Afya Moja Program will be rolled out in different counties in the coming months leading up to a full adoption countrywide. Safaricom will provide the technology platform which will enable patients access their health records and medical backgrounds through their mobile phones.

The platform has been created by a consortium of partners including Safaricom, Savannah Informatics Limited and IntelliSOFT Consulting Limited.

Last year Safaricom was included in the 2020 Fortune Change the World List for its role in transforming how people in Kenya are paying for and accessing healthcare through M-TIBA which is a partnership with CarePay and PharmAccess

M-TIBA which has over 4 million users enables people to save, send, receive and pay for medical treatment through a mobile health wallet on their phone. The solution has previously won the shared value category at the 2017 Loeries Awards and received the FT/IFC Transformational Business Award in Sustainable Development.

READ>>>>>Raise Ksh792B by Selling Stake in Safaricom, Parastatals – NSE Advises Govt

Written by
BUSINESS TODAY -

editor [at] businesstoday.co.ke

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Us

Related Articles
Ibrahim Ambwere wealth
BUSINESS

How Luhya Tycoon Stopped StanChart Bank From Closing Kakamega Branch

When Standard Chartered Bank mapped out branches to close down some six...

Does Airtel Have Airtel paybill services in kenya today
BUSINESS

Airtel Money Goes Big on Growing Paybill Payments

Airtel Paybill: Airtel Money has on 5th December announced ‘Rudishiwa transaction fee’...

People Daily goes digital
BUSINESSMEDIA

Why Uhuru Kenyatta Has Shut Down 32-Year-Old People Daily Newspaper

The People Daily, the ad-supported free newspaper for 10 years, has been...

GT bank Kenya branches
BUSINESS

To Mark 10 Years, GTBank Kenya Launches Interest-Earning Account for SMEs

Over the past decade, GTBank Kenya says it has remained committed to...