DOCTOR and founder of Mobihealth International, Dr. Funmi Adewara, has emphasized the importance of telehealth and digital health technologies and why governments, policymakers, healthcare providers and the private sector should place them at the center of healthcare planning and delivery in Nigeria.
Dr. Adewara said this during the two-day Eko Health Conference (EHC) 2026 held on Thursday and Friday in Lagos, with the theme Building a Healthier Lagos: Connecting Access with Excellence and the sub-theme Leveraging digital innovation and strategic partnerships for better outcomes.
The call by the Mobihealth boss for the urgent adoption and positioning of telehealth at the center of the Nigerian health system was necessitated by the statement of the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, at the conference.
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The Lagos State Commissioner for Health revealed that Lagos currently has approximately 7,000 doctors but is estimated to need 40,000 to adequately serve its rapidly growing population.
Adewara, alluding to the health commissioner’s comment, said digital health innovations are the way forward to effectively address the shortage of doctors and other health workers in Nigeria, especially in rural communities.
“Lagos has 7,000 doctors but needs 40,000. We cannot build a way out of this crisis. We must innovate to get out of this crisis,” he said.
According to her, the solution to Japa is not to replace each doctor who leaves the country, but to strengthen the impact of each doctor who stays.
“The future is not about where the doctor is. It is about ensuring that the doctor’s experience is wherever the patient is,” he added.
He stated that telehealth should be seen as a pillar of health policy, workforce strategy and national health infrastructure that can unlock untapped clinical capacity by allowing doctors to provide care wherever they are.
According to Adewara, almost 70 to 80 percent of healthcare needs can be managed safely at the primary healthcare level. He advocated strengthening primary health care through telehealth, artificial intelligence, electronic medical records and proper distribution of tasks, which will allow secondary and tertiary hospitals to focus on more complex cases.
“Even if medical school admissions were to double immediately, population growth and continued migration of health professionals would outpace workforce expansion,” he said.
In view of this, Adewara reiterated that telemedicine creates more working hours for doctors without creating more doctors, and stressed the need to harness the expertise of Nigerian health professionals in the diaspora.
The 2026 Eko Health Conference (EHC) was organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Health. The conference brought together policymakers, health professionals, researchers, development partners, investors and private sector organizations to shape the future of healthcare in Lagos, with an emphasis on how technology, collaboration and strengthened health systems can be leveraged to improve access to quality healthcare.
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