NHIF, Dutch-backed M-Tiba to offer slum residents Supa Cover

What you need to know:

NHIF Supa Cover will offer members a wide range of healthcare benefits that include outpatient cover.
Other benefits are in-patient cover, maternity, chronic ailments, kidney transplant cover, renal dialysis, surgical, oncology, drugs and specialised examinations such as X-Ray, MRI and CT Scan, among others. Beneficiaries would be required to select a preferred healthcare facility.

The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has entered into a partnership with PharmAccess Foundation to enable more than 2,000 families living in Nairobi slums access NHIF Supa Cover through M-Tiba platform.

M-Tiba, a mobile phone health wallet solution is a Dutch platform developed by CarePay in partnership with Safaricom #ticker:SCOM and PharmAccess Foundation.

“NHIF is gearing up towards universal health coverage and we see M-Tiba contributing towards that objective by helping us to include more people in our scheme,” NHIF chief executive Geoffrey Mwangi said on Friday.

“By enrolling these patients into the NHIF Supa Cover programme, we will collect data (using M-Tiba), enabling us to determine the adequacy of premiums and reimbursements for services.”

Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital Foundation identified the families to benefit from the programme. The hospital uses M-Tiba to offer medical services to more than 50,000 slum residents.

Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital chief executive Robert Nyarango said through M-Tiba, healthcare providers get paid digitally without delay, reducing transaction costs.

“M-Tiba also collects medical data digitally. Based on the collected data, doctors are able to make informed decisions on the services they offer and helps them to attract financing to improve their healthcare services, therefore providing better healthcare to patients,” he said.

NHIF Supa Cover will offer members a wide range of healthcare benefits that include outpatient cover.

Other benefits are in-patient cover, maternity, chronic ailments, kidney transplant cover, renal dialysis, surgical, oncology, drugs and specialised examinations such as X-Ray, MRI and CT Scan, among others. Beneficiaries would be required to select a preferred healthcare facility.

PharmAccess Kenya country director Millicent Olulo said digital infrastructure allows for precise targeting of vulnerable populations and generates near real-time data on the usage of the funds.