Nepal’s leading FinTech company—F1 Soft International—has acquired CogentHealthPvt Ltd, a software company working on the digitisation process of country’s health sector. With the newly acquired company, F1 Soft aims to take data management system in the health sector beyond computerised ticketing and billing.

F1 Soft International President Biswas Dhakal informed that the software (SISH Tech)—developed by a pharmacist -turned-software developer, will help health service facilitators in the decision making process apart from digitising patients’ medical records.

The software consists of procedures one needs to follow during medical treatment. The company believes that this will help reduce casualty, thus benefiting medical practitioners. Likewise, patients will be able to access the history of their health records anywhere and anytime since their data is maintained digitally.

The company claims that the newly acquired software is much more advanced than those being used in Nepal currently and has a number of features that can increase the efficiency of hospitals as well as health practitioners.

“The country lacks research and development in the health sector which is why we have forayed into the digitisation process,” Dhakal said. “We aim to digitise data of the country’s health sector by 2020. Given that there are already a number of similar software providers, with a little push from our side, we are confident of achieving this ambitious target.”

The software is currently being used by 36 hospitals across the country including Patan Academy of Health Sciences and Prashuti Maternity and Women’s Hospital. According to Dhakal, Patan Hospital generates around 2,000 invoices daily. The software aims to digitise the health details of individuals via these invoices to improve efficiency. “Hospitals can actually initiate a study based on this data and find out trends in the health sector,” Dhakal said.  

Another advantage of the software is the ability to use it at remote locations across Nepal even if there is no internet availability. According to F1 Soft International, the software will be able to provide more features if internet is available.

While the company is currently selling products to hospitals in different modalities, it aims to reach health centres situated at remote places by partnering with development agencies working in the health sector. “The idea is not just about generating profits but helping the health sector evolve. We aim to increase its accessibility which is why we feel tying up with development partners will help yield better results,” Dhakal says.