Vitalls gives patients a passport to better health

Digital health passports were in the spotlight during the pandemic five years ago, but the world wasn’t quite ready. Today, rapid advances in technology are changing that. From Abu Dhabi, Vitalls is on a mission to make it easier for people to carry their health data across borders through its app — benefiting not only patients, but also physicians, insurers, and governments alike.

In an interview with HealthTechAsia, conducted shortly after Expand North Star in Dubai, founder and CEO Medhi Bouchenak shares how the company aims to put health data directly in the patient’s pocket — taking inspiration from the fintech model.

“I was in a hospital in Paris ten years ago, just observing how things worked,” recalled Bouchenak. “I remember filling out endless forms — questions like “Do you have energy? Do you have this condition or that?” It struck me that most patients, myself included, weren’t doctors — we often don’t really know what’s going on with our own health. We’re just making our best guess,” he reminisced.

“That’s when the idea first came to me: why don’t we have something like an NFC or RFID bracelet for hospitals? You could simply tap it during every check-up or exam, and all your records would be stored automatically.”

Even if a nurse or doctor changed shifts, he continued, they could just tap the bracelet and instantly see your treatment history. “You’d get the right care faster, and when you leave the hospital, you’d take your data with you.”

He shelved the idea, believing it to be too early, owing to not having the right ecosystem or infrastructure in place. “At the time, even Wi-Fi wasn’t properly available in most hospitals.”

It wasn’t until several years later that the concept resurfaced — this time while the founder was travelling.

“It was around the time generative AI was taking off, and I began revisiting some of my earlier ideas. I asked ChatGPT whether anything similar to what I’d envisioned for Vitalls already existed. Technically, there were national health systems and unified databases, but nothing that worked across borders — and nothing that truly allowed patients to own their data.”

After meeting the founder of a UAE-based deep tech company called DeepMinds, Vitalls was incorporated in April 2024. Just a few months later, the first Android MVP was launched – a digital health passport – at the GITEX trade show in Dubai.

SWIFT of healthcare

Bouchenak highlighted the simplicity and convenience of fintech in empowering today’s consumers, noting how similar principles could transform healthcare.

“There’s no solution today that truly puts you in control of your own data,” he said. “I give this example all the time: if I ask you, ‘How much did you spend on coffee last week?’—you probably don’t know off the top of your head. But you can check your banking app and see, ‘Ah, I spent this much at Starbucks.’

Now think about your health data. You have no idea, right? It’s insane. It’s a paradox—you know exactly how much money you have, but you know next to nothing about your own health. And if you stop to think about it, you realise that without health, money doesn’t even matter. It’s crazy.

So when I built this, I had to be a bit clever about making it happen. Regulation is tough, that’s the first challenge. And honestly, a lot of people talk nonsense about safety, security, privacy—you name it.

I started looking at what’s actually happening in most countries. The reality? You get an email, a paper report, or sometimes a web portal you can access for maybe seven days. After that, you lose the document. That’s it. That’s the problem I wanted to fix.”

The solution he said was a personal vault for health: the “digital health passport”.

“I want to build a solution where you don’t have to worry about file formats — you just upload whatever you have, and the app automatically structures it, digitises it, analyses it, and helps you track your health easily.”

“Most importantly,” he said, “you’re in control.”

When patients enrol, they receive a unique encryption key that grants them full ownership of their data. Doctors can view the information and leave notes, but they cannot modify or delete it.

“We also use encryption at rest — meaning the document itself is encrypted. Even I can’t access it,” he explained. “That takes data protection a step further; even most governments don’t go that far. Our goal is to put users completely in control, giving them both security and flexibility.”

The app additionally allows patients to actively track their health through built-in analytics. 

“If you’ve taken multiple lab tests, for instance, you can compare your results over time or benchmark them against averages. It gives users complete visibility and meaningful insights into their own health data.”

Patients’ control over their health data extends wherever they go. “Imagine tomorrow you carry a health card, or simply use your phone, and everywhere you go your verified medical records follow you—just like your bank transactions appear in your banking app. That’s the next step we’re building,” said the founder. 

“We’re lining up the right partners—card providers and global networks—so this passport-like tool can travel with the patient wherever they go. The way I see it, I want to build the SWIFT of healthcare.”

This includes building a system that unlocks access to a patient’s medical profile on a web browser by equipping hospitals and clinics with a card reader and scanner. “A patient just taps their phone—like Apple Pay at the shops. Clinicians can instantly view your full history—everything from allergies to past surgeries—without you having to do a thing.”

Bouchenak emphasised the strategic branding behind the term ‘digital health passport’. “Calling it a ‘health companion’ or a ‘health data storage app’ would have made governments see it as competition, as if we were trying to replace national health systems. That would have created resistance,” he explained.

“So I approached it differently,” he continued. “I told governments, ‘We’re not competing with you—we’re the bridge.’” The branding not only communicates the concept clearly but also helps secure government approval, even after a comprehensive certification process and compliance with ISO, HIPAA, GxP, and SOC 2 standards.

Healthcare across borders

As the envisioned “SWIFT of healthcare”, Vitalls aims with its digital health passport to transform how people manage their medical records across borders, ensuring that their health history can be understood when they move between countries.

Currently available in English, French, and Arabic, the team is preparing to launch a Portuguese version next, followed by Spanish.

The platform is particularly useful for medical tourists. “At the moment, there’s no ‘bridge’ connecting overseas medical data back home,” he said. With the passport, patients can keep all their health records in their own language, share them effortlessly with hospitals during their stay, and return home with everything securely stored in one place—a system that also supports the growing medical tourism sector.

Companies with employees stationed overseas are also taking note. The founder  highlighted that its digital health passport is increasingly seen as a premium benefit by corporate HR teams for expats. “If someone spends several years abroad, they can come home with a complete, portable health record. Corporates see real value in that—they understand the challenge of managing health data across borders.”

Adding to its suite of offerings, the company announced at GITEX a new smart travel insurance solution that it will develop in partnership with health and life insurance company MSH MENA, part of MSH International. 

Bouchenak explained that travellers often purchase insurance without fully understanding how it works or what to do in an emergency. “Most go straight to a clinic, pay the bill upfront, and only later hope for reimbursement,” he said. ”The new solution aims to simplify that process, providing a more seamless and reliable safety net for international travellers.”

Travel insurance will be available through the app for whatever duration the user requires. If a problem arises during the trip, the app can use geolocation to identify nearby healthcare providers approved by the insurer. “All you need to do is show your Vitalls ID — and you won’t pay a single penny,” said the founder. “It’s something no one else has done before.”

The Vitalls team is expanding its premium offerings beyond travel insurance, with several new features in development.

One upcoming feature is smart reminders, which automatically prompt users to take their medication. “Say you get a prescription for an antibiotic twice a day — the app will recognise it and send reminders each morning and evening. You can even customise the timing. It’s going to be a very popular feature.”

Another addition is the family benefit, allowing users to add dependents such as children or elderly parents. “My mother always says she’s fine when I call,” Bouchenak said, “but with this, I can actually see her health results and monitor her wellbeing. It keeps families connected, even from far away.”

Finally, Vitalls plans to introduce extra storage for premium users — enough space for large files like MRI videos and medical scans.

“I don’t want my stuff to be stuck in one place,” the founder laughed. “We are digital nomads now, ever since Covid.” From its base in the UAE — itself a geographic crossroads — the company appears well placed at the intersection of fintech and healthtech, aiming to take us a step closer to turning fragmented systems into a single, connected world.