FEATURED: How Babyl-govt partnership will increase healthcare access

In March this year, the Government and Babylon Health (operating as Babyl in Rwanda) signed a 10-year partnership enabling Rwandans countrywide to access healthcare services through their mobile phones. The new healthcare delivery model dubbed ‘Digital-First Integrated Care’, aims at convenient access to qualified doctors and nurses, especially for people living in remote areas. Babyl has been operational in Rwanda since 2016 building partnerships, capacities and systems that have tested and proven the telemedicine approach effective. The new partnership with government enables the firm to provide health services to patients with the community-based health insurance scheme, Mutuelle de Sante as well as lays out a partnership with health centres for services such as laboratory tests as issuing prescriptions. Shivon Byamukama the Managing Director of Babyl Rwanda told The New Times that the new 10-year partnership with government will see the firm handling more patients consequently increasing healthcare access across the country. “The agreement with the government is to allow patients with Mutuelle de Sante to access healthcare services we provide the same way they would at a health centre with the same payment mechanism. The contract we have with the government is powerful in that we can now treat people with Mutuelle de Sante. This increases the number of people we can reach at any time,” she said. Prior to the commencement of the partnership, the firm had piloted the model and tested it through partnerships with entities such as Gates Foundation to ensure that it’s flawless and fit for purpose. Under the new partnership, in the event one would like to seek medical treatment, one can get medication consultation on dialing *811# to register and following set steps leading to a phone call interaction with a nurse for triage and a doctor’s consultation for triage. If there is a need for laboratory tests, the patients receive a code that they present at a nearby health centre to access the services without paying. The health centres validate the patient’s health insurance, deliver the service as well as prescriptions for medicine. Laboratory tests results are shared through the platform as soon as the patient has taken tests at a health centre with prescriptions delivered via SMS for patients to collect medication from health center’s pharmacies across Rwanda. The firm has established partnerships with stakeholders in the public health sector to ensure easy and affordable health services virtually. “We have agreements with the Ministry of Health to use their facilities for prescriptions and lab tests. We have an agreement with Rwanda Social Security Board to make sure that when you go to get either a laboratory test or prescription, they will pay for them. Our system is integrated with the health centre system to ensure easy access to the services,” she said. With an expectation that the new partnership could see a growth in the number of patients, Babyl says that they have adequate capacity and resources to handle growth in demand for services. Currently, they handle between 3000 and 3500 consultations daily with the capacity to double that on a demand. For the service delivery, they have over 80 doctors, about 100 nurses with the firm noting that they have the capacity to increase them. The model uses a shift system in working with healthcare practitioners where they recruit nurses and doctors who already work in private and public institutions engaging them during their free time. Over time, Babyl’s digital platform will have built Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) of a large section of the Rwandan population enabling coordinated care for patients through efficient digital referrals and patient information transfer. The platform currently has over 2 million registered users and delivered over 1 million consultations with doctors and nurses with surveys showing positive reactions by Rwandans to the innovation.

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FEATURED: How Babyl-govt partnership will increase healthcare access