Interswitch Limited, a leading payment system has announced the acquisition of eClat Healthcare Limited, a Nigeria-based health technology company that aims to improve healthcare delivery in Africa.
According to a statement by the company, the acquisition was sealed after procuring a 60% stake in eClat through the purchase of shares from current shareholders and subscription to new shares issued by the company.
Speaking on their acquisition, Mitchell Elegbe, Founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch, explained that the company was innovating to deliver social and economic development across sectors. He added that the acquisition aligned with their corporate vision.
“We are a technology company that is innovating to deliver value across sectors that are critical to Africa’s social and economic development. Our acquisition of eClat demonstrates strong progress along with this strategy and alignment with our corporate vision.”
Mitchell Elegbe, Founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch
He added that healthcare is evolving and that Interswitch’s expansion plans are to provide customers access to healthcare beyond hospitals.
The newly acquired company, eClat, was established in 2012 to provide modern solutions to health care delivery.
eClat’s healthcare technology platform consists of a core e-Clinic software used in more than 250 primary care centres in Oyo, Delta and 5 other states across the country. The software also includes electronic billing, immunisation, ante-natal and care pathway functions.
Interswitch is not new to healthcare solutions
Interswitch has had an investment interest in healthcare technology aimed at addressing the challenges plaguing the healthcare sector in Nigeria and eventually in Africa.
To actualise its goals, Interswitch has been modernising healthcare through healthcare product offerings like Smarthealth, an automated service platform that helps manage non-core functions such as record keeping, claims processes and administration services easily and efficiently.
The technology also offers biometric identification at hospitals, online submission and processing of claims, capitation payments and other payments such as salaries, vendors, suppliers, taxes and pensions.
How Smarthealth works
Once a healthcare provider signs-up for Smarthhealth, all patients’ records are transferred to a secure server. Patients are then issued a chip and biometric PIN-based identification card.
The card can be used by patients to make payments and can also be used by the hospital to request a payment claim.
Is Interswitch merging Smarthealth and eClat?
It is not yet clear if Interswitch intends to merge both healthcare platforms together but Elegbe revealed that the eClat acquisition provides an opportunity to introduce new Interswitch products. These will include Verve Health cards and a payment collection & disbursement solution (Quickteller for business), to drive the needed efficiency in payments for health services.
The product offerings of Interswitch and eClat are expected to enable operators in the healthcare sector improve the efficiency of their core operations and facilitate seamless payments.
They will also utilise a major data source provided by eClat: the Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform. It is hoped that this platform will help healthcare policymakers make informed and efficient upgrades.
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