During a recent visit to Kenya, Reinette Klever, the Dutch Minister for Trade and Development, expressed her admiration for the country’s progress in digital healthcare. Her visit, which coincided with the State Visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, included a tour of CarePay’s Nairobi offices, a key player in Kenya’s health tech landscape.
CarePay, founded in a 2016 partnership between Dutch and Kenyan entities such as PharmAccess, the Investment Fund for Health in Africa (IFHA), and Safaricom, has become a beacon of success in digital healthcare innovation. The company’s flagship product, the M-TIBA platform, allows users to manage health insurance, facilitates real-time claim payments, and gives patients control over their health data. With 4.7 million users and over 5,100 healthcare providers connected, M-TIBA has revolutionized the healthcare experience in Kenya.
Minister Klever was particularly impressed with a live demonstration of the M-TIBA platform and the digital lending program of the Medical Credit Fund (MCF), another initiative supported by Dutch funding. MCF offers collateral-free mobile loans to healthcare SMEs, enabling them to expand services and purchase essential equipment. This program has already disbursed approximately Ksh. 25 billion ($195 million) to over 2,300 healthcare businesses across Africa, with an impressive 96% repayment rate. Notably, the program has empowered many women entrepreneurs in the sector.
Klever also visited an AAR Healthcare clinic in Westlands, Nairobi, where M-TIBA has drastically reduced insurance claim processing times from 77 days to just three days greatly improving cash flow and the patient experience. The platform now serves 17% of patients at the Sarit Center clinic, underscoring its growing importance.
The success of Kenya’s digital healthcare initiatives, especially CarePay’s technologies, has garnered international attention. The model is now being explored for application in the UAE and even to address healthcare fragmentation in the Netherlands, showcasing Kenya’s leadership in digital health innovations.
