Dr. Imodoye Abioro stands out as one of the few entrepreneurs in Nigeria's healthcare sector trained in both medicine and technology and he's on a mission to bridge both worlds. As the visionary co-founder of Healthbotics, Abioro spent the past four years revolutionizing Nigeria's healthcare system by connecting hospitals to blood banks, particularly hospitals in remote areas.

For the 29-year-old, his drive to close enduring gaps in the region’s healthcare system is personal and dates back to 2017 when he experienced a tragic loss during medical school. Abioro's best friend, who had a genetic condition that made him susceptible to severe bleeding, suffered an episode of acute hemolysis which led to anemia. His friend was rushed to the emergency department at the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Nigeria but the hospital had run out of Type O-negative blood that night, which his friend needed.

“He died around 2am,” Abioro tells AfroVibes. “It was the only time I remember crying as an adult and keep in mind, I’ve lost my dad. It was that painful because it didn't feel right.”

The lack of blood supply in Nigeria is a challenge faced by many countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in high-income countries, the median blood donation rate is close to 31 donations per 1,000 people, while low-income countries struggle with just five donations per 1,000 people.

Dr. Okechukwu Erinne, a medical doctor and public health specialist tells AfroVibes, “In Nigeria, only 5% of donations are made by voluntary donors. Such abysmal statistics reflect the need to debunk myths about blood donation and emphasize its life-saving effects.” In both Nigeria’s public and private sectors, most blood donors are commercial donors who receive compensation, family members, or one-time donors responding to emergencies. With approximately 220 million people in the country, this leaves the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBSC), the agency responsible for the country’s safe blood supply, unable to meet more than 73% of the population’s annual blood needs. It suggests the current reliance on commercial and family donors can not meet the nation's blood supply needs, with 'poor blood supply' being a key issue. Abioro looks to improve this statistic.

He initially planned to pursue a career in molecular biophysics in the U.S., but in 2012, Abioro heeded his mother’s advice and enrolled in medical school at the University of Ibadan. He originally remained drawn to engineering, however, and took additional technology courses at the university.

Dr. Imodoye Abioro and Healthbotics team members.

“By my third year, I forgot about tech because I crossed over to clinicals and started seeing patients,” he says. “I was on track to become a pediatric neurosurgeon because of my love for children and the brain.”

But shortly after medical school, Abioro lost an adult patient under the same circumstances that caused his friend’s death. “UCH blood bank ran out of Type O-negative blood. Simple as that," he says. He then decided to fully commit to healthcare technology, a path he originally began exploring after the loss of his friend.

“I looked at the entire system and asked myself, if I become a pediatric neurosurgeon in this country and do my best for every child that comes under my care, will they survive? The answer was no,” Abioro says. “And not because of anything that has to do with the disease or with the treatment that we offer, but the system. I’d do my best but people would still die and I didn't want that for the rest of my life.”

That's when Abioro reached out to his colleague, Dr. Tunde Oyebamiji, to develop a solution: Healthbotics.

“We were both broke,” he says. “I had just finished my housejob (compulsory 1-year internship training in Nigeria after medical school) and Tunde was in his final year of medical school. It took us nine months to raise $2,000 dollars.”

Dr. Imodoye Abioro (left); Dr. Tunde Oyebamiji (right).

Creating Healthbotics

In 2020, Abioro and Oyebamiji incorporated Healthbotics with the mission to “fix healthcare.” Since then, they have earned awards such as the 2020 AI for Development Challenge, the 2020 African App Launchpad Cup, and the 2021 Young Innovator award at the World Summit. Most notably, the team took first place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Africa Digital Innovation Competition.

Healthbotics’ initial venture, "Lend An Arm", started as an app to increase voluntary blood donation in Nigeria and aggregated blood banks so hospitals could order and receive blood more efficiently. As a skilled software developer due to the additional technology courses he took in college, Abioro wrote the app’s code. But the team faced early challenges.

“Many blood bank owners in southwest Nigeria were not familiar with digital technology and relied on paper records instead,” Abioro says. “So we had to reevaluate our approach and realized there was one technology common to both hospitals and blood banks – phones.”

By the end of 2020, the team had relaunched "Lend An Arm" as a non-profit call center that operates like an emergency helpline. When hospitals urgently need blood, they call the center, which uses its extensive database to connect them with blood banks across Nigerian states, including Lagos, Oyo, and Kwara. Once a blood bank confirms availability, the call center dispatches drivers to collect and deliver the supply to the hospital.

“Hospitals usually had deals with one or two blood banks, which is less reliable than our network of more than 30 blood banks per city,” Abioro says. “There was no database for blood banks in this country. We manually visited cities and asked people.”

"Lend An Arm" is compensated by hospitals for its services and uses this revenue to pay blood banks for the blood supply. As a non-profit social venture, any surplus revenue from the call center goes toward staff wages and is donated to charity organizations that support blood donation, including the Blood Donors Club at the University of Ibadan and the Blood Guild at the University of Lagos.

Healthbotics now has 13 total employees and over 130 hospitals using its call center – including UCH – and continues to expand.

It launched its second venture, Mediverse AI, in 2021. Healthbotics' goal with the AI-powered electronic health records (EHR) platform is to help healthcare facilities digitize their processes and improve efficiency. It caters to small and medium-sized healthcare businesses including clinical laboratories, hospitals, pharmacies, and mortuaries by adapting to their specific workflows.

Healthbotics team members. Photo provided by Dr. Imodoye Abioro.

Healthbotics team members. Photo provided by Dr. Imodoye Abioro.

“My vision is that we have a fully digitized health system. When my friend died, in addition to the hospital running out of Type O-negative blood supply, there were many steps that could have been avoided,” Abioro says. “His records were not available so the doctors who saw him had no idea what was wrong with him. They were just empirically managing him.”

By the end of 2022, the team had its first version of Mediverse that worked for a lab or a hospital. They did pilot tests with St. Dominic Catholic Hospital in Oyo State and Coastal Connections in Haiti and received helpful feedback.

Dr. Imodoye Abioro at St. Dominic Catholic Hospital.

“We saw it handle over 145,000 patient records but there were many issues we needed to fix in terms of our own technological capabilities,” Abioro says. “But we didn't stop. We continue to build.”

The company launched its commercial version, Mediverse 2.0, on July 1. With this version, Healthbotics aims to provide a more seamless data integration by drawing live information from ICU monitors, ECG machines, and point-of-care devices. It offers the advanced technology for a low cost of N30000 to N45000 ($20-30) per month.

“We used some of the latest technologies,” Abioro says. “We are not afraid to introduce technology to our people here because we have the education to use it.”

Abioro notes the team also adheres to strict regulations to avoid violations and meet international standards. This ensures their products are globally marketable so they can expand to more favorable markets as needed.

“We have put our money and our lives into this,” Abioro says. "For bootstrapped companies like us, you need a cash reserve to make sure you don't run out of money. That way, if the regulator moves funny, you have enough to at least move your core team and your operations to the next market that has been friendly to you and start again. The grace of God has been very important. We don't take it for granted and it’s how we've been staying grounded so far.”

Healthbotics team. Photo provided by Dr. Imodoye Abioro.