Nigerian health sector received a boost recently with the introduction of mHealth Insuarance Wallet by PharmAccess Foundation.  mHealth is a healthcare payments platform that connects payers, patients and healthcare providers.

The mHealth Insurance Wallet delivers funds from public and private healthcare funders directly to patients and providers through a “health wallet” located on their mobile phone.

At a demonstration ceremony held at Adefemi hospital in Ikeja Lagos, Country Director PharmAccess Nigeria, Mrs. Njide Ndili said that the use of these funds will be restricted to conditional spending at the selected healthcare providers within defined geographic areas in the country.

The mHealth Wallet was launched by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris.

Leveraging on the experiences implementing mhealth initiatives in Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria, PharmAccess Foundation and its partners realized the need for a solid, back-end infrastructure to facilitate health payments and support a network of clinics where patients can utilize their health wallets for treatment. This platform can integrate with any prevalent digital payment system in a country, including banks, online payment systems and mobile money operators.

She explained that the platform would boosts demand by connecting patients to health savings schemes, benefits, and risk pooling opportunities at very low costs.

“It stimulates supply by strengthening the cost-efficiency of health providers’ service delivery through mechanisms like joint procurement systems, access to finance or capacity building. The increased transparency and reduced risk and transaction costs make it more attractive to invest in health for various health funders and payers, who receive proof that their money is used for healthcare only,” she noted.