LifeBank, in partnership with the Oyo state government and
a global investment group Dan Holdings, has extended its medical oxygen delivery service to Oyo state.
The oxygen delivery service named AirBank has been active before COVID-19 struck. It has now been expanded to cater to the needs of patients who, because of the virus, need help taking in enough oxygen.
How AirBank works
Following the way it searches for and delivers blood to hospitals on time, LifeBank also searches for medical oxygen and delivers it to hospitals where it is needed. Since AirBank has been expanded to COVID-19 treatment centres, medical oxygen is also delivered to the centres when needed.
In Oyo state, the delivery is made to either of the 2 isolation centres in the state. The delivery is free, thanks to the partnership with Dan Holdings, and the Oyo State Government. According to the e-health startup, free medical oxygen will be delivered to up to 100 patients in the state.
As of May 16, 20 deliveries had been made to the 2 centres. The number of infected patients keeps rising and at the time of writing this report, there are 143 confirmed cases in Oyo state.
While not all patients will require medical oxygen to breathe, more sponsors are needed to ensure that until the curve is flattened, the supply of oxygen continues to be available.
In addition to AirBank being extended to Oyo state, a drive-thru mass testing centre had already been set up in partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC). Set up in the Adamasingba Stadium, people can get tested at the drive-thru centre after registering on the NIMR website.
With organizations partnering with LifeBank to make medical oxygen freely available, patients who have contracted the virus have a good fighting chance especially if they need help to take the next breath.
