CribMD is an eHealth platform that provides users with telemedicine services and connects users to doctors who can attend to them via house calls or virtual meetings.
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In June 2020, Ifeanyi Ossai, a seasoned entrepreneur co-founded CribMD with Ngiri Michael, an experienced software engineer who holds the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO); and Lorna Mae Johnson, a nurse and midwife who serves as Chief Financial Officer and is also the co-founder of an inter-city medical clinic in Los Angeles. Ossai’s interest in healthcare stemmed from the death of his aunty. Her death was the aftermath of the inability to reach a distant hospital on time following a protracted allergic reaction. According to him, her death could have been avoided if she had received medical attention sooner. He conceived the idea of launching a chain of clinics in a bid to decentralise health care in Nigeria and he Founded WeCare in 2017. However, Ossai soon found that there was a problem with the business model he was running.
“Our physical clinics could not accommodate most of the customers we get on any given day. We could only see about 10% of the customers that come to our doorsteps,”says Ossai. This led him to found CribMd in a bid to solve the demand of doctors and meet up with the World Health Organisation’s recommended doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:1600. Today, CribMD has evolved into a business that Ossai proudly touts as ‘Uber for doctors’ CribMD is an extensive version of WeCare, making doctors not only accessible but also sufficient for the large population of Nigerians in need of medical care.
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“Our goal is to democratise health care by delivering quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare to you wherever you are in Africa,”says Ossai.
Modus Operandi
CribMD is filling a gap that has existed for a long time but widened and became more conspicuous due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For a long time, patients have had to undergo the tedious process of lining up at hospital queues while exposing themselves to other sick people. Moreover, the low doctor-to-patient ratio in Nigeria has also led to long-waiting-hours which result in more suffering for the patient and even death in some cases. Given the delicacy of health, it has become imperative to leverage technology in streamlining healthcare by providing patients with virtual consultations and on-demand telemedicine services. CribMD has achieved this goal. Its services are available in all 36 states of Nigeria. The platform is also home to 5000 registered doctors, some of whom jumped ship from WeCare. To ensure safety and security for patients, CribMD conducts a thorough vetting process on doctors before onboarding them into the platform. Ossai said,“As a doctor, you register on the platform and submit all the necessary details, including your certificate, certificate of annual practice, your registration with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.” “With all these, we now verify your credentials with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to see whether they check out. You have to be somebody that has worked somewhere before, maybe in a hospital or a clinic. We use all this information to know that you’re really a doctor.”Featured Image Source: CribMD
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