Nairobi’s Moonlight Medics Run Clinics Off Scooters
By Syed John
Gig medics use cargo bikes and AI triage to treat neighborhoods the state forgot.
Ride-sharing scooters in Nairobi now moonlight as rolling clinics. Nurses strap diagnostic kits to cargo bikes, receive AI triage suggestions over earpieces, and treat patients in alleys lit by solar lanterns. They operate between midnight and dawn, when traffic is thin and temperatures tolerable.
No one licensed this. It's mutual aid powered by telemedicine subscriptions. Residents pay a few shillings for consultations, medics upload anonymized metrics to NGOs, and the city pretends not to notice because outcomes are good.
Healthcare shouldn't rely on hustle, but until clinics reach every block, moonlight medics are the difference between waiting weeks and healing tonight. They deserve more than tips—they deserve infrastructure.