Dr. Ola Orekunrin, the youngest doctor in the UK and pilot who left her career in the UK to set up Africa’s first air ambulance service in Nigeria.
Ola Orekunrin was a 22-year-old medical student in the UK, she was on a family visit to Nigeria. Suddenly, her 12-year-old sister fell critically ill. At the point when it became urgent to fly her out through the air. Unfortunately, there was no such service in Nigeria at the time. No air ambulance available in Nigeria, and West Africa
According to her during an interview, “They had a 12-hour activation time so by the time they were ready to activate, my sister was dead.”
Following her sister’s death, it later occurred to her “I started thinking about whether I should be in England talking about healthcare in Africa, or I should be in Africa dealing with healthcare and trying to do something about it.”
Orekunrin left her medical career in the UK to found West Africa’s first air ambulance service, Flying Doctors Nigeria.
Currently, her airplanes and helicopters have continued to airlift people from remote areas to hospitals. “From patients with road traffic trauma, to bomb blast injuries to gunshot wounds, we save lives by moving these patients and providing a high level of care en route,” Orekunrin says.
For her accomplishments, African Giant Dr. Orekunrin was named one of the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Young Global Leaders, the organization’s prestigious group of the world’s top leaders under the age of 40.
