Digital Pharmacy: Meet Lagos-Based Healthtech, Changing Narratives In Nigeria Healthcare

It is no longer news that Nigeria is faced with various challenges in the healthcare sector, from the issue of gross mismanagement to skilled professional deficit, poor infrastructure, and epic poverty, especially amongst the significant majority who live below $1 daily.

However, ‘Airmed‘ a Lagos-based healthtech startup, founded by Tobechukwu Obikili, is changing the narratives of the healthcare sector by providing channels of easy accessibility.

In an interview with Ripples Nigeria, Tobechukwu noted that ‘Airmed’ is aimed at addressing the issues of medical problems in  Nigeria as well as offering quality healthcare services.

According to him, Nigerians are unaware of the crisis that the country is faced with, especially with the ‘Japa’ syndrome of qualified healthcare practitioners.

He said: “In trying to address issues relating to medical collapse in the country, we are investing in its restoration by placing a premium on offering quality healthcare services.

“We are in a crisis but it seems we are unaware. The few medical professionals we have managed to produce, for instance, are being auctioned in batches to foreign countries. We must not forget quite easy, COVID-19 exposed our deficiencies in terms of qualified healthcare experts.

“Perhaps, the media has a lot of work to do in amplifying our reality, especially the shortage that we have within the healthcare space.”

We Saw Difficulties Experienced

In 2020, Tobechukwu resigned from his job as general manager of Elfimo, a pharmaceutical company established in 1987, as the COVID-19 epidemic was raging over the world, and decided to cofounded ‘Airmed’ with Teslim Bello, a chartered accountant who is currently in charge of Airmed’s business development team.

Tobechukwu noted that he alongside Teslim saw the challenges of accessing pharmacies during the lockdown and decided to address the challenge, using technology to connect to pharmacies and make drugs available for people.

He said: “The lockdown experience was a defining moment for the world. For the first time, we had the globe grounded, with no exception to even developed countries. Movement was restricted and it became difficult for people to access places and various services including medical and pharmaceutical services.

“We saw the difficulties experienced by people as a result of the new challenge, especially in the area of accessing pharmacies to purchase drugs prescribed by medical doctors.

“We thought of ways to address the challenge and Airmed was born through an initiative to use technology to connect pharmacies and make them accessible online for people to place orders from the comfort of their homes.

“Our growth has been organic. I remember how we started out. We were collecting orders via WhatsApp. We will work all day sorting out drugs and medications to be delivered. In some ways, we had limitations”

He further said that ‘Airmed’ is committed to ensuring that people both doctors and patients do what is expected of them to see that the world remained healthy.

Tobechukwu promised to impact over five million people across Africa in 5 years as the bigger picture is aimed at taking Africa to a greater level.

In his word: “We built Airmed on the understanding that adults and children are expected to visit their doctor for regular check-ups, even if they feel healthy.

“This way, our team follows up with our users to see that they perform disease screening, identify risk factors for disease, discuss tips for a healthy and balanced lifestyle, stay up to date with immunizations and boosters, and maintain a good relationship with a healthcare provider.

“In 5 years, Airmed as a brand should have impacted 500 million people across Africa. The bigger picture is taking Africa to a greater level. Our vision is to build a venture that will deliver affordable, qualitative medical services across the continent”

The co-founder, and the startup’s business development officer, Teslim Bello-Osagie, said, they did not envision the speed at which ‘Airmed’ grew including their client and customer base.

He said: “We never envisioned ourselves growing this fast. Today, our client and customer base is growing almost daily. Through our partnership with Elfimo, we have supplied individuals and various organizations medical products including supplements, painkillers, multivitamins, children medications amongst others,”

“We have also partnered GIG Logistics as our delivery company so that our customers and clients can receive their orders in the shortest time possible leveraging the extensive network of the GIGL riders”