e-Scape Technologies Awarded Patent to Develop Micro-Mobile Health Scheme Technology (MMHS).

We are not a technology dependent company, rather, our core focus is to develop technologies that Nigeria can export to other nations of Africa and the world. This we will continue to do in line with government’s development goals”.

This much was said by the CEO and founder of e-Scape Technologies Limited Nigeria, Christopher Abhulimen, shortly after e-Scape Technologies Limited was awarded technology patent to deploy a Micro-Mobile Health Scheme (MMHS) technology by the Federal government of Nigeria.

The MMHS describes both a method and system for accessing healthcare insurance by using airtime from subscriber mobile phones to make micro payments to fulfil conditions for the different healthcare products provided by health management organizations.

According to Mr. Abulimen, the MMHS will help to improve access to quality health care among Nigerians.

“The solution was conceptualized and developed to address the challenges facing the National Health Insurance Scheme which is providing accessible health care insurance coverage for Africans and reducing out-of-pocket expenses related to using health services. Traditional systems of pre-paid health contributions were plagued by plethora of challenges which the present system addresses effectively by utilizing the mobile phone which is the most ubiquitous device present today”.

“This method utilizes a simple system that allows weekly micro contributions from as small as $1 and upwards to be made from the mobile subscriber’s airtime credit. It is a pre-payment model based on a setting up a target amount to be contributed during a period known as a ‘gestation period’ during which regular deductions shall be made until the period has elapsed and the user then qualifies for a customized health insurance product”.

“Every Mobile subscriber is a potential target customer and his MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Number) is his unique health registration number allowing him to ‘Opt-in’ for the scheme at zero access costs utilizing the provided bearer channels; SMS, USSD and Mobile App and presenting them with user registration menu that will collect initial user registration details (Full Name, Date of Birth, Sex, Location, Email Address, etc. from the subscriber and allowing him to select from a menu of contribution options.

“The mobile system also provides for secondary support services like preliminary diagnosis, doctor appointment alerts, reminders, outbreak alerts and health warnings and more importantly health tips. This new system shall plug into the existing relationship between Health Maintenance Organizations and the National Health Insurance Scheme providing the necessary support and technical infrastructure to successfully deliver on the promise for Universal Health Insurance Coverage for Africans within a few years of its implementation”. He says.

Subscribers can opt in for the healthcare service by registering their phone numbers via a USSD short-code from where they are billed, a token sum of money, in airtime value, every month, or otherwise. This gives subscribers access to medical services at all partner hospitals nationwide whenever they have the need to visit a hospital.