Kenya’s Medbook is encouraging extensive uptake by building out an end-to-end healthcare ecosystem where users can access a variety of services.
Founded in October 2014 and initially hosted by the @iLabAfrica incubator at Strathmore University, Medbook has consolidated various offerings onto one platform.
Its original Medbook platform allows patients to easily access doctors and reliable health information. Users can receive online consultations, with all their health information then digitally stored.
The startup’s offering has expanded, however, and it also runs Medihealth, a state of the art hospital management software that makes it easy for medical practices, hospitals and private doctor clinics to manage their patient data and the billing rules imposed by health insurance companies and government agencies.
“The software helps physicians and healthcare administrators with time consuming tasks such as electronic medical records management, medical billing, appointment booking, and prescriptions, while also meeting the regulatory requirements,” said Oscar Nganga, general manager of Medbook.
Mediclaim, meanwhile, is the startup’s insurance claims management system, where health facilities and insurance companies can easily manage their health insurance claims, while it is also developing Flora App, which helps young men and women keep track of their sexual and reproductive health.
“Moreover, they can get access to health information around this health topic. Additionally, the user will be able to consult with gynecologists and psychologists through a chat feature on the app, with anonymous capabilities for the patient user,” said Nganga.
Medbook launched in order to address the difficulties faced by Kenyans in finding qualified health practitioners, but has expanded as it discovered more problems that needed fixing. This expansion of its product line has encouraged what Nganga describes as “tremendous uptake”, with Medihealth and Mediclaim being used in over 400 healthcare centres across the country.
This has all been achieved without external funding, aside from some grant capital secured from Grand Challenges Canada to build out Flora App. Nganga said Medbook may look at taking on investment to help it with its next stage of growth.
“We plan on rolling Medihealth across more counties in Kenya and then moving across the border to all the East African countries,” he said.
This expansion is planned for the first quarter of next year, with Medbook also planning on diversifying its subscription-based model by selling data and advertising services.
“Profits are looking good, and are impressive especially with the slowdown in the economy at the moment,” said Nganga.
