Redefining Outpatient Care in Kenya: How Checkups Cova’s Home-Based Model Is Saving Time, Cutting Costs, and Improving Health Outcomes

In this section of the interview, Renee Ngamau, Co-Founder and President of Checkups Cova, provides a compelling insight into how the company’s hybrid healthcare model, which combines physical clinics with digital health solutions, is transforming outpatient care in Kenya. She explains that one of the biggest pain points for patients is the time lost waiting in clinics for triage, doctor consultations, lab tests, and medication. Checkups Cova eliminates this friction by offering on-demand medical services at home or in the workplace, saving patients valuable time and minimising disruptions to daily life or work schedules.

Renee emphasises that the model is not just appealing to high-income earners or busy professionals—it also serves small business owners, informal workers, and rural residents, for whom closing a shop to visit a clinic can mean an entire day of lost income. By bringing care directly to the patient, Checkups Cova preserves productivity and offers care with comfort, privacy, and speed.

She also notes a behavioural shift: patients are now seeking care earlier and receiving better health outcomes, rather than relying on internet searches for self-diagnosis and self-treatment. In addition, the model reduces costs by eliminating unnecessary overhead, such as parking fees, reception services, and third-party lab visits, making healthcare more affordable, accessible, and efficient.

From urban hubs like Nairobi to remote communities across 23 counties, and even among diaspora families arranging care for relatives back home, Checkups Cova’s approach is breaking down traditional barriers to care and helping redefine what patient-centred healthcare delivery looks like in Africa.