The World Health Organisation defines having access to medicine as having medicines continuously available and affordable at health facilities that are within one hour’s walk of the population. This is not the case for millions of Nigerians, especially those living in rural areas. Without access to medicines, Nigerians are susceptible to the three big killer diseases on the continent: malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.
Nigerian health tech startup, LifeBank is tackling this problem by strengthening healthcare systems in Africa by providing hospitals with quality medical supplies. Just today, it announced the signing of an agreement with the Yobe State Drugs and Medical Consumables Agency (YODMA). The state agency with a mandate to procure drugs and medical consumables for onward sales and distribution to healthcare centers across the state.
Under the terms of the agreement, LifeBank will manage the agency’s machinery and operational vehicles, enable trackability of products, digitize the supply chain and transfer technical knowledge to the agency’s workforce. LifeBank will rely on its expertise in deploying technology and mobility solutions in 12 cities across Africa to Yobe state and other healthcare centers in NorthEast, Nigeria.
LifeBank has built a digital marketplace where hospitals can make orders for medical supplies and have them delivered directly to their facility using a multimodal system that includes drones, boats, and motorbikes. The startup has also provided a USSD channel for hospitals in rural areas enabling access to medical supplies without data or airtime. These services are supported by a 24/7 customer center that provides answers to customer complaints.
Speaking at the signing of the MoU, LifeBank CEO Temie Giwa-Tubosun noted; “ We are excited about our partnership with the Yobe State Drugs and Medical Consumables Agency and look forward to deploying our technology and sector expertise to help the agency achieve its goal of digitizing its supply chain and improving the quality of healthcare available to patients in the state”
LifeBank is taking the road less traveled in its quest to ensure access to quality medical supplies across the North-East. As it continues to expand its operations around the region, it is seeking even more partnerships that will allow it to deliver healthcare for the future.
Internally, LifeBank is committed to understanding the numbers and patterns that affect the supply and demand of medical supplies across all its cities of operation and ensuring all the 54,930,245 in these locations have access to the right medical supplies. Its proprietary technology allows the company to gather data to predict the demand for blood, oxygen, and medical consumables. LifeBank also uses its data to monitor the impact of disease outbreaks or health emergencies. Utilizing data, technology, and smart logistics, LifeBank has saved 53,811 lives, moved 179,949 products, and served over 1,200 hospitals.
It will now turn its sights to Yobe State where its goal will be to ensure that YODMA can distribute supplies faster and safer powered by LifeBank’s technology that ensures that product authentication, tracking, and multimodal transport is possible.
