Dear patient, your special doctor will ‘see’ you now

The local health sector has received a lot of criticism in the last fortnight as Kenyans shared heartbreaking stories of their experiences in various hospitals.

Top among the complaints was that getting access to a doctor is a hectic and often expensive task that can take weeks, especially if the patient does not know which health specialist he needs to see.

Whereas the World Health Organisation recommends a doctor-to-patient ratio of one doctor for every 1,000 patients, in Kenya, one doctor finds himself having to cater for up to 16,000 patients according to a survey done by the Ministry of Health. Things get even more frustrating when you get to the hospital and find out that the doctor you need to see is unavailable or occupied. This is where Medbit comes in.

It is an app which helps users gain virtual access to doctors. It was co-founded by high school friends Dennis Mugambi, Jesse Kimotho and Richard Okenye who are determined to make Kenyan doctors more accessible to patients.

Jesse, 22, is an arts and political science student at Yale University, and is the company’s CEO. Dennis, 22 is the managing director, while Richard, 21, a Telecommunication and IT student at Kenyatta University, is the chief operations manager. The three were classmates at Alliance High School.

Their invention comes in two apps: Medbit for patients and Medbit pro for doctors. Both apps provide users with the location of all the doctors near them at any particular time, as well as the doctors’ schedules and their areas of specialisation. What’s more, one can book an appointment online!

Richard, who is also Medbit’s outreach manager and content director, says that all a user needs to do is download the app and log in via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Once they have an account, they can communicate with all the doctors in the app.

“The user only needs to turn on their phone’s location, and the app will bring up a list of all the doctors close to them. Users can also search for specific doctors, read their reviews, message them privately and also book and pay for consultation services in advance through Mpesa, PayPal or debit cards.

“Once an appointment is made by a patient, the doctor receives a notification on their phone immediately,” he explains.

For doctors, the process of signing up has an extra step. They are required to provide a brief statement revealing their personal details and qualifications, a pin location, and a list of the services they offer.

“The doctors are also required to submit their licenses as provided by the Kenya Medical Board to our team. We then verify the documents before approving or disapproving them. We do this with the help of Ministry of Health officials. That way, we ensure that our users engage only with qualified and accredited professionals,” says Richard.

Doctors are entitled to a free two-month trial, after which they are required to pay Sh2,499 every month, and an additional Sh100 for every booking made through Medbit.

To guarantee users’ privacy, the app uses a 256-key encryption code similar to the one used by Twitter and Instagram. Although they are the app’s administrators, the Medbit team does not have access to any patient’s information, or any conversations between patients and doctors.

The app is already in use, and is available for download on Google Play Store.

Since it was launched in 2018, the app has been downloaded more than 5,000 times.

“We have now brought about 500 doctors on board, and about 1,500 patients are using the application to book appointments. We plan to rope in 300 doctors every month, so that we can achieve our ambition of having 80 per cent of Kenyan doctors on the platform by the end of this year.

“We also hope to bring insurance companies on board to increase the payment options and make it even easier for users to access sound medical advice,” Richard added.

The team also hopes to make it possible for doctors within the app to communicate among themselves, to share patient’s medical records or recommend referrals.

Already, Medbit has won several awards, including the Nairobi Innovation Week’s Top 15 Most Promising Startups Award, Global Minimum’s Innovate Kenya Competition, the Nailab/UNFPA I-AM challenge in Nairobi and the Africa Arena’s Nairobi Ecosystem for Start-ups Challenge.

With mentorship from Tsai Centre at Yale University and Innovation Hub at Kenyatta University, the Medbit trio hopes to make access to healthcare easier not only in Kenya but also across East Africa.