Ekiti State of Nigeria, was born, raised and
trained in the UK, where she graduated as one of
the youngest medical doctors in England . She is
also a trainee helicopter pilot.
While she was studying to become a doctor in
the UK, her younger sister fell seriously ill while
traveling in Nigeria. The 12-year-old girl, who’d
gone to the West African country on holiday with
relatives, needed urgent care, but the nearest
hospital couldn’t deal with her condition.
Orekunrin and her family immediately began
looking for an air ambulance service to rapidly
transport the girl, a sickle cell anemia sufferer,
to a more suitable healthcare facility. They
searched all across West Africa but were
stunned to find out there were none in the whole
region.
“The nearest one at the time was in South
Africa,” remembers Orekunrin. “They had a 12-
hour activation time so by the time they were
ready to activate, my sister was dead".
“It was really a devastating time for me and 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 did the latter. Motivated by the tragic
death of her sister, the young doctor decided to
leave behind a high-flying job in the UK to take
to the Nigerian skies and address the vital issue
of urgent healthcare in Africa’s most populous
country.
Determined to make a difference in medical
practice and health care delivery system in
Nigeria, Orekunrin decided to set up Lagos-based
Flying Doctors Nigeria, the first air ambulance
service in West Africa, transporting victims of
medical emergencies, including industrial workers
from the country’s booming oil and gas sector. It
basically provides critical care transportation
solutions to both the private and public sector by
selling yearly air ambulance cover plans to
states, companies and individuals.
Since then, she has successfully steered the
company upwards in achieving its corporate
goals and ensuring sustained growth.“Against all
odds, I passed my A-Levels with flying colors,
started my degree at the University of York at
15. I supported myself all through, working. I
wrote my final medical examinations at 21, thus
emerging the youngest medical doctor in
England,” said Ola Orekunrin.
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