Babylon, a digital healthcare firm with offices in five countries, recently expanded its Babyl service in Rwanda so that multiple users can access the service from the same mobile phone, including if the phone is not a smartphone. Previously, the service only was accessible by one user per phone. As a result, the number of daily Babyl consultations has risen from 3,000 to 5,000 since early 2021. During the same time period, the number of women registering for the service has risen 64 percent.
Since its launch in 2016, Babyl has reached 30 percent of the population of Rwanda with 2 million consultations. The service, which is linked to Rwanda’s National Insurance Scheme, allows each user to interact online with a nurse or doctor and receive a prescription if needed.
Shivon Byamukama, the Managing Director of Babyl, stated, “I’m proud that Babylon has been able to remove another barrier to healthcare for Rwandans, especially for women. We’re committed to working with the government and relevant authorities, such as NIDA [National Identification Agency], to continually improve and innovate Rwanda’s healthcare system as [it] becomes one of most advanced countries for digital health. This important change brings us one step closer to our mission of putting high-quality accessible and affordable healthcare in the hands of every person on Earth.”
Babylon, which was founded in 2013, is active in Canada, Rwanda, Singapore, the UK and the US. During 2020, it facilitated 2 million human-to-human consultations plus 3.9 million via artificial intelligence.
Sources and Additional Resources
Babylon press release
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/babylon-gives-millions-more-rwandans-access-to-digital-first-healthcare-in-next-step-towards-digitising-rwandas-healthcare-system-301370489.html
Babylon homepage
https://www.babylonhealth.com/
More MicroCapital news on Rwanda
https://www.microcapital.org/?s=Rwanda
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