The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mobihealth International, Dr. Funmi Adewara, has called for telehealth to become a core pillar of healthcare policy, workforce strategy, and service delivery in Nigeria, describing it as a critical solution to the country’s growing shortage of healthcare professionals and a key enabler of universal health coverage.

Dr Adewara made the call while speaking as one of the panelists during the Day Two session of the 2026 Eko Health Conference (EHC), hosted by the Lagos State Ministry of Health under the theme ‘Building a Healthier Lagos: Connecting Access with Excellence,’ with the sub-theme ‘Leveraging Digital Innovation and Strategic Partnerships for Better Outcomes’.

The conference brought together policymakers, healthcare professionals, researchers, development partners, investors and private-sector organisations to explore innovative approaches to improving healthcare delivery across Lagos State.

Speaking during the session, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, disclosed that Lagos currently has approximately 7,000 doctors but requires an estimated 40,000 to adequately serve its rapidly growing population.

Alluding to the Commissioner’s remarks, Dr Adewara said the figures clearly demonstrate why Nigeria must embrace technology-enabled healthcare delivery rather than relying solely on expanding the physical healthcare workforce.

“Lagos has 7,000 doctors but needs 40,000. We cannot build our way out of this crisis. We must innovate our way out. The future is not about where the doctor is. It is about ensuring the doctor’s expertise is wherever the patient is,” she said.

She noted that even if Nigeria doubled medical school admissions immediately, population growth and the continued migration of healthcare professionals would continue to outpace workforce expansion.

“The solution to Japa is not simply replacing every doctor who leaves. The solution is multiplying the impact of every doctor who remains,” she added.

Dr Adewara explained that telehealth enables healthcare professionals to extend their reach far beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics, allowing patients to receive quality healthcare regardless of location.

She further highlighted the enormous opportunity to harness the expertise of Nigerian healthcare professionals living in the diaspora.

“Imagine a cardiologist in London, a psychiatrist in Manchester, a paediatrician in Toronto or an oncologist in Houston dedicating just two hours each week to patients, mentoring or multidisciplinary team meetings in Nigeria. That is how we transform brain drain into brain circulation,” she said.

According to her, digital health makes it possible for Nigerian specialists anywhere in the world to contribute meaningfully to healthcare delivery, education, mentorship and multidisciplinary clinical decision-making without relocating.

Dr Adewara stressed that healthcare should no longer be viewed as a choice between digital and physical care, but as an integrated system where both work together seamlessly.

“The future of healthcare is Click & Brick. Digital and physical care are not competing models—they are one seamless system, enabling patients to move effortlessly between virtual and in-person care while their health information follows them securely, eliminating fragmented care and ensuring continuity of care,” she said.

To demonstrate how such a system would work in practice, she described the journey of a fictional patient, Mrs Adebayo, a trader living in Badagry who develops a cough and chest pain.

Instead of travelling for several hours through Lagos traffic to a teaching hospital, Mrs Adebayo begins with a telehealth consultation from her community. Following the consultation, she is referred to her nearest primary healthcare centre for basic investigations. Her results are uploaded securely, allowing her doctor to review them remotely. She receives treatment locally, collects her medications from a nearby pharmacy and continues her follow-up appointments virtually.

Months later, when specialist cardiology input becomes necessary, the cardiologist already has secure access to her complete medical record, including her consultation history, laboratory results, medications and previous treatment plan.

“No repeated history. No duplicated tests. No missing records. No fragmented care. That is Click & Brick,” she said.

Dr Adewara emphasised that telehealth should no longer be regarded as an experimental innovation or optional service.

“Telehealth is not a pilot project. It is not an optional add-on. It is national healthcare infrastructure,” she added.

She noted that nearly 70 to 80 per cent of healthcare needs can be safely managed at the primary healthcare level when supported by telehealth, artificial intelligence, electronic health records, remote monitoring and appropriate task shifting, allowing secondary and tertiary hospitals to focus on more complex cases.

Illustrating the untapped clinical capacity telehealth can unlock, she described how a consultant attending a conference in Abuja could, before boarding an evening flight back home, log into a secure telehealth platform and consult patients in Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu or Lagos Island.

“Telehealth creates more doctors’ hours without creating more doctors,” she said.

She added that telehealth also improves affordability, accessibility and continuity of care by reducing unnecessary travel, minimising waiting times and ensuring patients remain connected to healthcare providers throughout their care journey.

Dr Adewara called for stronger public-private partnerships to accelerate telehealth adoption across Nigeria and urged governments to develop enabling policies that encourage innovation while safeguarding patient safety, privacy and quality of care.

She also advocated integrating telehealth into state health insurance programmes and primary healthcare systems to improve access, strengthen referral pathways, enhance health data intelligence and expand healthcare coverage.

Concluding her presentation, Dr Adewara urged governments, regulators, healthcare providers, development partners and the private sector to place telehealth at the centre of healthcare planning.

“Healthcare is no longer defined by where the hospital is located. It is defined by how quickly expertise can reach the patient. If we are serious about achieving universal health coverage, improving health outcomes and addressing Nigeria’s healthcare workforce shortage, telehealth must become an essential part of our national healthcare infrastructure,” she concluded.