01 Dec ‘20 · by Africa Practice
AirBank is an on-demand emergency medical oxygen delivery product that is the quickest, most convenient, and cost-effective way to order medical oxygen in cylinders.
The force behind this essential service is Temie Giwa-Tubosun, a resourceful entrepreneur who through her company LifeBank, which she founded in 2016, is one of the few African women innovators redefining the continent’s health sector. Today, LifeBank is renowned for its life-saving tech-led medical product distribution services in Nigeria, with potential to expand beyond the country’s borders.
“Medical oxygen therapy became the most commonly utilized therapy in the management of the COVID-19 virus. Provision of emergency medical oxygen in optimum conditions is critical to save lives and prevent irreversible damage to the health of COVID-19 patients,” Temie says, explaining what inspired her to come up with AirBank.
CRITICAL TO SAVE LIVES
As an on-demand emergency medical oxygen delivery product, AirBank was quickly developed to mitigate and help meet the increased demand during the pandemic. It has since become one of the quickest, most convenient, and cost-effective ways to order medical oxygen in cylinders in the country, in response to the COVID-19. “AirBank has provided more than 100 units of 6(cm3) of medical oxygen to isolation centers treating COVID-19 patients,” says Temie who is leading a team of experts including an operations manager, medical dispatch riders, and truck drivers, to help effectively deliver the new service “We have distributed medical oxygen to 6 isolation centers treating COVID-19 patients in 3 regions in Nigeria: Lagos, Kano and Oyo States, providing [hitherto] 154 units of 6(cm3) of medical oxygen, saving more than 400 lives.
NEW NORMAL
As the world braces itself to face the new normal of a post COVID-19 healthcare system, LifeBank is now scaling up and expanding AirBank – as a last mile medical oxygen distributor in Nigeria, and has already expanded its services beyond isolation centers, launching in 3 new states of Nasarawa, Kano and Bayelsa.
“Oxygen is critical in providing needed patient care to many patients, beyond those suffering from COVID-19 infection,” Temie says. “ AirBank is positioned to provide a solution and we plan to continue expansion to reach other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa,” she concludes.
By UNDP Africa Innovates 50 Homegrown African Innovations Tackling COVID-19.
