(DDM) – Health and technology experts have intensified calls for full adoption of telemedicine to address Nigeria’s acute shortage of medical personnel.
Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) gathered that the appeal was made during an Exclusive Public and Private Sector Stakeholders Engagement Roundtable themed “Telemedicine and Digital Health Access in Africa,” held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Nigeria currently struggles with a doctor–patient ratio of 1:4,000, far below the World Health Organisation’s recommended 1:600, leaving millions unable to access timely medical attention.
Delivering the keynote address, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, emphasized that technology can only transform healthcare if the nation strengthens its digital infrastructure.
Represented by the National Director of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), Olubumi Ajala, the Minister lamented that millions of Nigerians still lack internet access, hindering digital health deployment in rural areas.
“We still have about 20 million Nigerians that have no access at all to the internet. For technology like this to really have that transformation, we must have connectivity,” Pate said.
The Minister highlighted the Project 7-7-4 initiative, aimed at ensuring every local government area has stable internet access, as part of the government’s efforts to bridge digital gaps.
He further noted ongoing work on a 90,000 km fibre project, supported by the World Bank and private sector partners, which seeks to expand national broadband backbone capacity to over 120,000 km within three years.
Pate also discussed the development of a national data exchange, designed to allow secure interoperability among agencies without centralizing citizens’ information.
“We have the ID, we have the payment. The only missing link is the exchange. Based on access and permission, people like you can be able to access what you need. Collaboration will come in,” he stressed.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Uniccon Group of Companies, Prof. Chuks Ekwueme, explained that digital health solutions are increasingly necessary due to the critical shortage of doctors.
“Right now we are in the ratio of one doctor to 4,000 patients. Even if you double the number of doctors, we still don’t meet the WHO recommendations,” he said.
Ekwueme shared that this gap inspired the creation of MySmartMedic, an AI-driven telemedicine system tailored to African patient patterns, providing advisory support for common health concerns.
“Every individual seeks medical attention not necessarily to get surgery or medication. Sometimes it’s advisory. We’re bridging that gap of advisory by about 60%. The remaining 40% are human doctors on the platform that can consult from the comfort of their homes,” he explained.
He added that the platform alleviates pressure on urban doctors while extending healthcare access to rural populations, many of whom have never seen a doctor.
The system includes an app connecting patients with specialists in dermatology, cardiology, paediatrics, gynaecology, and more, as well as electronic medical records that can be shared across borders.
Ekwueme also noted that the platform incorporates affordable hardware that measures patient vitals and operates even with limited connectivity using edge computing, making it accessible to all socio-economic classes.
He concluded that telemedicine represents a sustainable solution to Nigeria’s medical workforce deficit, bridging healthcare gaps nationwide.
The experts called for urgent policy and infrastructure support to fully integrate digital health into Nigeria’s healthcare system, warning that failure to act could worsen existing healthcare inequalities.