Meanwhile, in rural communities, one doctor is expected to look after 5,000 patients. If that doesn’t feel like a national crisis, perhaps this will: Nigerians spend an average of N5,200 every month on self-medication because they simply cannot trust hospitals to be there when they need them.

However, in the middle of this dysfunction, we’ve selected two HealthTech brands who are torchbearers for a broken system; Helium Health and Reliance HMO. 

Both founded in 2016, both funded by global investors, both leveraging technology. But they serve completely different corners of the healthcare puzzle: one is wiring up hospitals with digital infrastructure, the other is selling ordinary Nigerians something close to peace of mind. So, the question? Which one serves Nigerians better?

The Context: Digital Health as a Lifeline

Globally, digital health has gone beyond being experimental. The market is projected to hit $660 billion by the end of 2025, growing at nearly 25% annually since 2019. Artificial intelligence alone is set to contribute over $102 billion by 2028. 

In Nigeria, the digital health market will reach $645 million this year, driven by smartphone penetration, improved internet, and the government’s goal to digitise 70% of health records by 2025.

On the demand, 70% of Nigerian doctors now use some form of healthtech tool. Patients are booking virtual consultations more, and insurers are relying on apps to reduce paperwork. Against this backdrop, Helium Health and Reliance HMO have risen to prominence.

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Helium Health: Building the Rails

Helium Health is the backbone of African hospitals with an indispensable product: Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS). 

These systems replace dusty paper files with digital dashboards, automate billing, manage drug inventories, and streamline appointments.

Helium Health has raised $42.2 million to date and now operates in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda and Kenya. Its acquisition of Meddy in 2021 and development of HeliumDoc allowed it to integrate AI-powered tools for telemedicine, doctor discovery, automated workflows and patient engagement tools. Through its HeliumCredit product, it also offers financing to hospitals starved of liquidity.

Hospital administrators commend Helium Health for one thing: control. With over 1,000 facilities onboarded and thousands of clinicians using its software, it has become the quiet enabler of efficiency in a chaotic system. The average patient may never hear of it, but without Helium, many hospitals would still be filing patient data in dusty cabinets.

Reliance HMO: Delivering the Ride

Reliance HMO sits on the other end, highly visible, customer-facing, and almost evangelical about access. Unlike Helium, Reliance doesn’t build tools for hospitals. It sells health insurance plans directly to individuals, families, and businesses, plans that truly work.

With $51.1 million raised so far, Reliance has built a provider network of over 2,600 hospitals in Nigeria and 3,800 globally. Its platform gives users telemedicine, cashback incentives for unused plans, and transparent, flexible options like the Red Beryl plan at ₦38,650 annually. For many SMEs and startups, this affordability is the difference between employees being insured or not at all.

Customer feedback usually highlights its quick claims process, responsive support team, and user-friendly mobile app. Reliance has also pushed innovation in chronic care, piloting programmes in diabetes management that reduced fasting blood sugar levels by 12% for participants.

In short, Reliance is the brand patients see, touch, and trust.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Which Serves Nigerians Better?

This is not a straightforward fight. Helium Health is the engine room, Reliance HMO is the frontline face. Helium ensures hospitals can run efficiently; Reliance ensures patients can actually access care. One is building the rails, the other is driving the train.

If you’re a hospital administrator, here’s your answer: Helium Health is the partner you need. If you’re an HR manager trying to insure your staff, Reliance HMO is the obvious choice. In reality, Nigerians need both, because infrastructure without access is meaningless, and access without strong infrastructure collapses quickly.

Nigeria’s health sector will not be saved by government spending alone. It will be saved by fierce experiments like Helium Health and accessible models like Reliance HMO. Each represents a different strategy to solve the same problem: how to give Nigerians dignified, affordable, and reliable healthcare.

So, which serves Nigerians better? The answer depends on where you stand. But if both continue to grow and eventually intersect, the biggest winners won’t be the companies, it will be the patients who, for once, might actually find the system working in their favour.

Nigeria’s healthcare system, many say, is hanging by a thread, stitched together by a federal health budget that limps at N1.33 trillion, just 2.7% of the N49.7 trillion national budget. 

Nonetheless, despite these shortcomings, there are outliers, those not waiting for the system to fix itself. Mrs Tonye Mayomi is one of them.

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As the General Manager of Schubbs Dental Clinic, a leading dental care brand with a 38-year history, Tonye Mayomi manages healthcare businesses across three locations; commendably impacting how care is delivered, one facility at a time.

“I see it as giving back to my community,” she says, reflecting on her journey. “When people fall sick, they’re helpless, and setting up a practice that can help them get better—it strengthens the community.”

Her story is built on focus and uncomfortable truths about Nigeria’s broken healthcare infrastructure. For example, the country currently has one doctor for every 5,000 people, far below the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 1:600. And yet, Tonye Mayomi has managed to build and run successful healthcare operations, even in underserved areas.

Thriving in a Male-Dominated Space

Navigating the medical space as a woman in Nigeria comes with challenges. Mayomi faced them, winning. “Medicine is a male-dominated field in Nigeria. When you’re leading teams with consultants and doctors, they tend to look at you like you’re female, and they think they know more than you,” she shared.

But she never shrank. In fact, she made her presence non-negotiable. “The aspect of patient care is not a one-man system. You have the front officers, the cleaners, the procurement officers, human resources. Eventually, the doctors understood that no one should be looked down on. And they even started giving me more respect than they gave their medical colleagues.”

For Tonye Mayomi, giving up has never been an option. “Maybe because I got into this field at the right age. I was already in my 30s, so I knew it was my calling—to help people feel better and to make healthcare practices function better. Without us as healthcare administrators, doctors can’t function properly.”

Her determination has kept some doctors from fleeing Nigeria’s overburdened system. “Many doctors who have encountered me have always felt a relief. Some of them have even decided not to leave Nigeria.”

That is no small feat in a country where over 15,000 Nigerian doctors have left in the past decade, seeking better pay and working conditions abroad.

The Cost of Care and Customer Service

Speaking about the challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare system, Mayomi said. “Customer care is a major issue. The cost of care is another. When people can’t afford to pay for care, it slows down the entire system—everyone feels it, from the doctors to the front desk officers.”

In Nigeria, less than 10% of citizens are covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme, leaving millions to either self-fund their treatments or go without care.

Mayomi stresses that addressing these two areas, cost and customer service, is highly important. “We need to improve patient management systems. It’s a continuous process, but hopefully, this will result in a healthcare system that actually works for Nigerians.”

Cleanliness, Compassion and Care

While the system’s cracks are glaring, Tonye Mayomi believes there are practical ways to work around them. Her philosophy is fixed on cleanliness, compassion and patient-centred care. 

“Sick people don’t want to come into dirty hospitals. They want to feel welcomed. The way a patient is treated is as important as the medicine you give them. If you throw a malaria medicine at somebody, it will work, but they will never forget how you made them feel,” she said, challenging the culture of transactional care with a more humane approach.

Advocating Innovation and Women Inclusion

Speaking on innovations, Mayomi has led and is pushing for full automation. “We use Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Patients can book appointments online, and when they come in, they don’t need to pass files around. Within minutes, they’ve been assigned to a doctor. We also use marketing tools that automatically send out information about our services.”

She insists that technology is not a threat but an enabler. “Doctors need to be humble enough to learn. It’s not a competition with technology; it can enhance their performance.”

And for women’s participation in healthcare, she says it needs to go beyond nursing. “Women are an underserved population in medicine, especially in administration and facility management. But now is the time. If you can hold a screwdriver, you can run a hospital’s facility management gate and you will be relevant for a very long time.”

At the 2023/2024 Medical and Dental Induction Ceremony at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Schubbs Dental, under her leadership, presented cash prizes to the best graduating student in Dentistry and the best student in Restorative Dentistry.

“It is only reasonable that we support students who are becoming doctors today,” she says. “We will keep supporting doctors in Nigeria and hoping that will shift the middle, so more people will stay or even come back to serve their country.”

Her long-term dream? To see every healthcare facility in Nigeria fully automated. “I advocate automation. I advocate women inclusion. I advocate continuous learning. I advocate best practices in medical care. These are the things I push every day.”

“I would love to see Nigeria become a medical hub, like Turkey. Why can’t Nigeria be where people come for their surgeries, their paediatric procedures? We have more doctors graduating here than anywhere else. This is something I’m actively pushing.”

And her parting advice? “Exercise more. We are seeing more young people who are overweight, and it causes so many other health issues. Wake up in the morning, take a walk. If you can’t run, take a walk. Just move.”

In a healthcare system where most people are struggling just to stay alive, Tonye Mayomi is building and leading to ensure inclusive and working conditions.