Nigeria’s health management infrastructure, NucleusIS, has launched a new healthcare product to allow customers to buy health insurance on credit. By this scheme, the insurtech covers the costs of a customer’s healthcare and the customer repays overtime.
Founded in 2019, NucleusIS has a smart technology that connects its clients with hospitals and healthcare facilities and allows for seamless validation via its Application Programming Interface (API). It has also developed a technology ecosystem consisting of web portal, mobile app and USSD shortcode to enable Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) monitor providers and policy holders across touchpoints in the healthcare value chain.
Currently operational in Nigeria and Ghana, NucleusIS plans to expand into other parts of Africa once it has secured enough investment to fund its move.
NucleusIS claims to be managing 600 corporate clients and has sold over 20,000 health insurance policies. The startup also stated that it is connected to more than 1000 hospitals.
NucleusIS’s venture is an especially difficult undertaking as 97% of Nigeria’s population is not covered by any kind of health insurance and 3% of the population who have health insurance are provided for by employee health coverage according to a Dataphyte report. Contributing to this unhealthy statistics is the notion that health insurance is only for the sick.
However, NucleusIS’s head of communication Godwin Awuya holds high hopes for the future of the startup. “NucleusIS will continue to look for ways to use technology and financial initiatives to drive health insurance adoption across the continent,” he said.
“The platform is one of the many initiatives the company will be rolling out to make health insurance truly accessible and affordable to the average person,” he added.
