Kenya orders 100,000 more biometric ID cards from OTI

On Track Innovations Ltd. (OTI) recently received an additional order for 100,000 of its MediSmart healthcare biometric ID cards.

The cards were purchased by Kenya’s Smart Applications International Ltd. (SMART) for use in medical facilities across Kenya. The card contains a microchip that stores a patient’s name, picture, signature, and medical treatment records.

SMART has already issued an estimated 200,000 MediSmart cards and installed more than 2,000 contactless smart card readers throughout Kenya’s hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care facilities to combat fraud.

According to the Kenya Business Daily, fraud accounts for an estimated 40 percent of the medical insurance sector’s losses. This in turn has led to higher insurance rates at a time when insurance providers are struggling to generate revenue and the industry as a whole is sagging.

UAP Insurance was one of the first to introduce biometric identification cards and says that the program has helped to drive business growth and reduce the number of fraudulent claims from non-members.

James Wambugu, the CEO of UAP Insurance, says, “It has led to faster identification of genuine policyholders and beneficiaries and growth of our business.”

According to Pauline Muriuki, CEO of SMART, “Out of an estimated work force of 12 million people, less than a million Kenyans actually have private medical insurance coverage, which represents a tremendous growth opportunity for the healthcare insurance industry.”

She adds that “this opportunity will only be a reality when solutions like the one provided by SMART and OTI become the route to market.”

Kenyan insurance companies that are implementing the biometric cards account for roughly 70 percent of the insurance market.

OTI was first established in 1990 and “is a global leader in contactless smart card solutions for homeland security, payments, electronic passports, national IDs, petroleum payments and other applications.”