halsall

When I heard the announcement from the National Health Fund (NHF) late last year that the agency would be moving towards putting things in place for the development of a National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP) I was a little sceptical.

After all, administration after administration had said this very same thing but nothing ever came to fruition.

I was heartened when I recently saw that the NHF requested submissions for a consultant to examine and begin the process.

If, as a country, we are serious about improving the health of our population, there has to be a focus on technology-driven health literacy and access.

Technology can significantly enhance and promote health literacy, leading to improved behaviour necessary for better health outcomes.

With the growing use of the Internet by Jamaicans, wider cell phone usage and availability of affordable data plans, we have a real opportunity here.

Mobile money has been hailed as a possible solution to the problem of financial inclusion and can be a solution to many challenges, such as money laundering and praedial larceny.

But mobile money also fits in very well with health technology as it can enable the use of, and broaden access to, several health-care services that would not otherwise be available to many persons.

The first thing we have to make clear is that mobile money is not a generic term.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many pundits have stated that the future of healthcare is virtual care. The beginning of this was demonstrated during that time when the demand for telemedicine increased exponentially. The circumstances of the pandemic – the high admission rates at health facilities and limitations on the movement of people – made it a necessity.

Since then, more people have been opting for this solution which allows them to seek care regardless of geographic location and without having to leave their homes.