Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s first Air Ambulance service, recently scored another first when it won the International Assistance Group, IAG, accreditation.
Founded in 1992, the Paris, France based International Assistance Group, IAG is the world’s largest alliance of independent assistance companies and accredited providers. Its network specializes in worldwide roadside, medical, travel, corporate and home assistance for business and leisure travellers, expatriate workers and corporate clients.
IAG’s operational network key strength lies with its stringent quality criteria in their respective markets.
In a release signed by one of the medical directors of Flying Doctors and its second largest shareholder, Dr. Jibayo Oyedele, “the accreditation was approved after a thorough physical audit by an international team and strict vetting by the IAG board.
“The aircrafts used by Flying Doctors are regulated by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, and the team of doctors from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN. But the team felt that in addition to local regulation, they were ready to take the exciting step to pursue international accreditation,” he said.
The IAG alliance offers affiliates the opportunity to cover more of the assistance market through close collaboration with other partners and providers in the network. As a result, a reliable, international network is established in which each company can enhance its competitiveness without sacrificing independence, while affiliates play the role of correspondents, exchanging assistance to position members for better business prospects.
With a network of partners and accredited service providers currently supporting over 118 million end users worldwide, IAG has recorded 5.6million cases, 623, 640 medical cases, 20, 649 medical repatriations, among many other strides.
Flying Doctors Nigeria, with its fleet of 20 aircrafts, is strategically positioned to deliver custom made emergency healthcare to government, corporate clients and high end individuals and families. It operates from its head office in Lagos and another office in Port Harcourt.
The core professional side of Flying Doctors comprises of high flying physicians led by Dr. Jibayo Oyedele, a senior acute medicine physician with over 30 years of medical practice. Before coming on board the Flying Doctors team, Dr Oyedele ran a family/acute medical facility for over 20 years.
Dr. Ola Brown continues to work on the corporate side of the business, in the area of strategy, marketing, investment and growth. Working alongside the medical directors and the medical team that continue to pursue excellence with the overall goal of ensuring that no one in Africa dies because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, Dr Brown’s managerial skill has ensured that the company has consistently remained on the path of growth.
With the IAG accreditation, Flying Doctors Nigeria is poised to deploy efficient and qualitative innovations as it continues to blaze its pace setter trail in the air ambulance services sector.
