The health sector in Nigeria is gradually yielding to digital innovations. Digital technologies are permeating the sector with legacy business models affected.
Typically, being a Nigerian, you have mountain of reasons to frown about; If not as a result of insecurity, you are frustrated by the near collapse of the educational sector, the economy or the health sector.
So, the need to embrace the possibility of technology setting a new standard in the healthcare sector must be applauded.
According to the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Nigeria has about 76 Million Subscribers on broadband with 40% penetration and 187 million lines representing 97.6% in the voice call segment as of May 2021.
This number shows the possibility of technological penetration to problem-solving and the acceleration in economic growth with a prompt and proper adoption of technology in all aspects of our nation’s life.
Therefore, young problem solvers like Tolu Oluyemi, Peter Arijiniwa and Adedamola Bowale, co-founders of Pay1One, a leading digital revenue assurance platform owned by Avancee Pinnacle are solving Nigeria’s plethora of palavers one tech solution at a time.
They have chosen the Nigerian healthcare sector as the first point of call.
Technology; means for the Health Sector
The Nigeria health Sector is in a mess. hundreds die on a daily basis, not because their illnesses or conditions are critical, but because the Nigerian health care system does not have what it takes to ensure an adequate and working system to render quality service to them.
The biggest economy in Africa lags behind other smaller nations despite its wealth. This challenge seems insurmountable by the different administrations that have come on board.
The Nigeria healthcare sector has been left desolate and in a pathetic state for so long. The challenges in this sector include inadequate infrastructures needed for service delivery, a dearth of medical professionals, inadequate funding, lack of universal health coverage and other issues and challenges that the sector faces. Daily we hear stories of Nigerian medical practitioners abandoning the country they love to render their service in other nations where their skills are valued and they are remunerated accordingly.
While experts have pointed, over and over again, to these problems, others with a bias toward technology believe that low technological adoption is the reason the health sector is in a sorry state. The reason the stretched sector cannot cater to the health demands of over 200 million Nigerians. This might seem too much to take in, however, this might be the real reason, the sector is finding it hard to adapt to changing realities and to increased demand for health care in the country.
One lesson, the advent of COVID-19 has taught the world is that the sustainability of our world is proportional to the level with which it can adapt to technological changes. These technological adoptions made it possible for the economy to keep running.
The educational sector, entertainment and all other sectors strived despite the prolonged lockdown the world had to endure as a reason for the pandemic.
The healthcare system cannot be left out. As the most impacted sector in Nigeria, the healthcare sector needs a technological solution to be more efficient in its service delivery to the Nigerian people.
This is why the statement of Vivianne Ihekweazu, the anchor of the conference and the Nigerian Health Watch director is relevant in this regard “COVID-19 has highlighted the need for us to now think fast on how to use technologies and innovations to improve healthcare in Nigeria”.
One person who also believes in the need for technology deployment in the health sector is Mr Tolu Oluyemi, the CEO / Co-founder of Avancee Pinnacle, a technology company that is disrupting payment in the public health sector.
Avancee Pinnacle is the Creator of Pay1One payment solution for health care facilities.
How Avancee Pinnacle is Creating a more vibrant Health sector One Tech Solution at a time
At a critical time when Nigeria needs problem solvers to salvage the Nigerian health sector from the mess it is in, Avancee Pinnacle, one of the fastest-growing revenue assurance and technology companies in Nigeria is pushing out solutions that are not only disrupting the service rendering mechanism but also solving critical issues that have been elusive over the years.
These solutions have opened new doors to new realities and possibilities in the sector.
Avancee Pinnacle, the creator of Pay1one, a revenue assurance system for the public health sector was founded by Tolu Oluyemi and co-founders – Peter Arijiniwa and Adedamola Bowale – in Q3, 2019, out of passion and necessity to restore the dignity of public health facilities, which have suffered neglect and rot over the years.
Tolu Oluyemi, a graduate of Business Information Technology from the prestigious London SouthBank University in the United Kingdom and a former product manager at SystemSpecs (Remita) was driven to set up payment solutions for the public health sector while facilitating the adoption of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of government health facilities on the Remita platform. This gave rise to Pay1One.
Tolu saw a lacuna in the payment system in public health facilities. The revenue collection apparatus of these health institutions from primary to tertiary was plagued with corruption, inconsistency, besetting bottlenecks, ineffectiveness and leakage. This makes both patients and health institutions not to get the best out of the system.
“While I was working with Remita, during the start of the Treasury Single Account Scheme (TSA scheme) mandated by HE President Muhammadu Buhari, when he mandated all federal public institutions should use one single payment gateway, Remita, I was part of the team tasked with sensitizing federal parastatals where cash are being handled to try and see how they can start to use Remita to process their IGR,” Tolu stated
“I visited hospitals and started to see the manual payment and verification processes adopted by these hospitals leading to extremely high TAT in service delivery, including inaccurate manual recording of transactions. I also noticed a lot of these hospitals are dilapidated, and not far-fetched because manual payment processes facilitate massive leakages. I noticed that it was cumbersome for patients to get services even after payment. They had to go and verify payment in different departments, as such, epiphany simply set in on the need to intervene” Tolu summarized his conclusion as “the urgent need to digitalise cash payments, while also providing multiple cashless transaction channels”
It was therefore a no-brainer for Tolu and his co-founders – Peter and ‘Damola, who both have over half a decade of experience in the fintech space to create a solution that caters not just for public health facilities and their revenue collection efforts, but also ensures patients make payment for health services with more ease, from their comfort zone..
“AVPL is taking the lead in reshaping and redefining patients’ experience through their ease of making payments, while also blocking leakages thereby making more revenue available for the government for developmental purposes.” Tolu pointed out.
“Innovation and technology must be the bedrock upon which any and indeed all development rests and stakeholders in the health sector must of necessity move in this right and proper direction.”
Pay1One solution, with its customized real-time transaction monitoring console, affords hospitals and health institutions to track revenue inflow and outflow in real time, collect data, make informed decisions, reduce the cost of revenue collection, eradicate leakages and maximize IGR.
This is crucial because these institutions can now see the smooth running of its institutions despite the meagre allocation they get from the government.
One feature that endears these institutions to this solution is its smart hybrid payment feature. This means that patients and hospitals can make payments and receive payments with or without an internet connection. This is big for health facilities where the internet has low penetration or is nonexistent, including incessant power cuts.
The team developed an android mobile operating system to leverage mobile devices and features such as cameras, biometrics and network to meet specific terrain, data and payment requirements. Likewise, with the Pay1One wallet, patients can make payments without contact with payment points in hospitals right from their phones.
Speaking on the reason why Avancee Pinnacle decided not to go mainstream like other tech companies who deploy their solution to the fintech ecosystem to maximise investment.
According to Tolu:
“It felt like an untapped sector. The Public health Sector requires technology fast, not just to help hospitals block leakages and generate IGR, but to also ensure that patients have health care delivery promptly”
“Turnaround time of payment is reduced to the bare minimum, also providing multiple revenue collection channels for the hospitals.” he added.
What the future holds for Avancee Pinnacle
Although Tolu Oluyemi and co-founders – Peter Arijiniwa and Adedamola Bowale – have been building solutions tailored exclusively to the healthcare sector, their giant stride seemed to have eluded the press. Nobody seems to know that these creators of Pay1one left regular fintech, formed their own niche to find solutions for public health care delivery. You will wonder why they decided not to blow their trumpet for this long, working in the dark, to lighten up the health sector.
The reason for this is not far-fetched. Tolu, Peter and Adedamola have been working underground to bring on board hundreds of public healthcare facilities all over the country. It was a task these selfless leaders achieved even without external investments.
Speaking on why they didn’t seek publicity for their ingenious solution, Tolu said: “It wasn’t that it was deliberate but because of our commitment to focus on onboarding many hospitals to help them generate as much revenue as possible and automate their payment processes, thereby ensuring they have more money to resuscitate their hospital, we totally forgot to announce ourselves”
With the huge successes, they have recorded adding value to the revenue collection system with their revenue assurance solution, Avancee Pinnacle is looking to replicate these revenue assurance successes in other government and private institutions and establishments, such as the toll gate, open parks, tax collection, the transport payment system and other cash revenue-generating initiatives and establishment.
Avancee Pinnacle is big on financial inclusion. The tech company is set to leverage its structure and connection in public facilities in rural communities, where its solution automates payment to ensure that every single person can access financial services whether in urban or rural areas.
There is no doubt that the Avancee Pinnacle team deserve accolades, however, applauding might not be enough. They need support in creating more solutions that would ensure effectiveness in the public sector, reduce corruption and increase government revenue for more development. It’s only wise to expect more industry-altering solutions from the Avancee team.
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