M-TIBA unveils SMS-based service to verify healthcare service workers

M-TIBA says the move aims to help facilitate travel for health workers during curfew hours and movement into or out of counties with restricted movements.

According to Moses Kuria, Managing Director, CarePay Kenya, “The mobile is a powerful weapon in Kenya’s fight against COVID-19. Our development team have done a fantastic job in rapidly building and deploying this ID verification module on M-TIBA. We’re continuing to work with healthcare providers and insurers to find new ways to use the platform to ensure the safe and uninterrupted provision of healthcare and supplies.”

The verification platform will also help security officers end the reliance of paper-based passes being used to identify essential service providers. The platform works simply. A security agent sends a free SMS with an ID number of the healthcare worker to 20253. They will receive a confirmation message from M-TIBA authenticating the ID – and vehicle registration details, when available.

This will help KHF members, who are providers of gazetted essential services, to carry on with their official duties during curfew hours, or when transiting through lockdown areas. Over 2,000 staff of KHF member organizations have already been registered on the platform pilot. It is expected that a further 2,000 healthcare workers will register in the coming weeks.

M-TIBA, was developed in Kenya, by CarePay and is used by insurers and healthcare providers for the secure digital administration of large-scale health schemes via mobile phones. It enables members to manage their medical insurance benefit using their mobile phones while also providing real-time integrated data exchange between patients, insurers and healthcare providers. M-TIBA has been working with the healthcare sector to deploy mobile technology in the fight against COVID-19. Recent developments include using contactless systems to verify patients seeking treatments at hospitals.

Dr. Anastasia Nyalita, CEO, Kenya Healthcare Federation says, “As all efforts are directed towards containing the spread of COVID 19, we need to simultaneously support and maintain the availability of essential workers, medications, equipment and supplies. Our partnership with M-TIBA will help our members and the security services smoothen the flow of these essential services at this critical time.”

M-TIBA, developed and managed by CarePay, is the preferred health financing technology platform for the government, retail and private health sector. It is a proven health payments integrator, revolutionising the management of large-scale health schemes and supporting the drive for Universal Health Coverage in Africa. PharmAccess and Safaricom are both founding partners of the M-TIBA platform. It has connected over 1900 healthcare providers to M-TIBA including NHIF accredited private healthcare facilities. Over 4.3 million people are currently registered on the M-TIBA platform with high customer satisfaction.

M-TIBA was first developed in Kenya and is being used by over 4.5 million people across Africa who have registered on M-TIBA for savings and insurance schemes. It also processes payments to over 2,000 healthcare providers who are contracted on the platform.