When Ola Orekunrin was a 22-year-old medical student in the UK, her 12-
year-old sister became critically ill while visiting relatives in Nigeria. With
no medical facility nearby that could treat her condition, the family
attempted to arrange an air evaluation. Orekunrin was shocked to discover
that not only was no air ambulance available in Nigeria, there was not one
available in the whole of West Africa:
"The nearest one at the time was in
South Africa. They had a 12-hour activation time so by the time they were
ready to activate, my sister was dead.” It was then, she explains, "I started
thinking about whether I should be in England talking about healthcare in
Africa, or I should be in Africa dealing with healthcare and trying to do
something about it.”
Motivated by her sister's death and the desire to help others with minimal
access to trauma care, Orekunrin left a promising medical career in the UK to
found West Africa's first air ambulance service, Flying Doctors Nigeria. Now
a 28-year-old trauma doctor and helicopter pilot, Orekunrin's fleet of
airplanes and helicopters have airlifted hundreds of people from remote areas
to hospitals.
“From patients with road traffic trauma, to bomb blast injuries
to gunshot wounds, we save lives by moving these patients and providing a
high level of care en route,” Orekunrin says.
“I wanted to find a way that I can facilitate people who were critically ill,"
she says.
"Get them to see a doctor, and not just any doctor -- I wanted to
facilitate getting the right patient to the right facility, within the right time
frame for that particular illness.”
In addition to the distance to health care
facilities, there are many other challenges in the region that make air
transport critical:
“Many of our roads are poorly maintained, so emergency
transport by road during the day is difficult. At night, we have armed robbers
on our major highways; coupled with poor lighting and poor state of the
roads themselves, emergency transport by road is deadly for both patients and
staff.”
With 20 aircraft and 44 doctors on staff, Orekunrin is proud of her
accomplishments, but sees much more room to improve the state of medical
care in Nigeria:
“Eighty percent of the world trauma occurs in low-middle
income countries just like Nigeria. I feel there should be more focus on the
trauma epidemic that Africa currently faces... I want to achieve a proper use
of the healthcare sector in Nigeria.”
For her impressive accomplishments and determination to fill a critical social
need, Dr. Orekunrin was named one of the World Economic Forum’s 2013
Young Global Leaders, the organization's prestigious group of the world’s top
leaders under the age of 40.
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