Dr Ngozi Eze opened LifePoint Medical Centre on Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent in Wuse 2, Abuja in 2020. The clinic runs two consulting rooms — Dr Ngozi's general practice and a specialist room rented to a visiting cardiologist twice a week. Between the two rooms, LifePoint books approximately 35 appointments per day at full capacity.
The no-show rate was the clinic's biggest operational problem. Patients booked appointments, received no reminder, and simply forgot — or encountered a work commitment, traffic on Airport Road, a car that would not start, or any of the hundred disruptions that fill an Abuja week. The no-show rate was hovering at 22–25% in the months before Maraba, meaning approximately 8–9 unfilled appointments per day.
"A cardiologist visit day is the worst," Dr Ngozi said. "The specialist comes for a half-day, we have 12 patients booked, and 4 of them do not show up. The specialist does not get paid for empty slots. Patients on the waiting list who could have seen him that day do not get in. It is waste on every side."
The reminder gap
Before Maraba, LifePoint's reminder process relied on the receptionist, Bola, calling patients the day before. Bola makes these calls while also checking in walk-in patients, handling prescription queries, and managing the consulting room schedule. On busy mornings, reminder calls did not happen. On quieter days, Bola might reach half the appointment list before the clinic opened and had to stop.
WhatsApp reminder messages were sent manually from Bola's personal phone — a process that mixed clinic business with her personal number and created no-reply from patients who did not recognise the number.
What LifePoint configured
- Booking: All phone bookings captured by Maraba, connected to the clinic's Google Calendar
- 24-hour reminder: Automated WhatsApp message sent from the clinic's Maraba number — not Bola's personal phone — 24 hours before every appointment
- 2-hour reminder: A shorter confirmation message sent 2 hours before the slot: "Your appointment at LifePoint Medical Centre is in 2 hours. Reply CONFIRM to keep it or call us to reschedule."
- Cancellation handling: If a patient replies CANCEL or calls to cancel, Maraba notes the slot as open and alerts Bola to offer it to the waiting list
- Rescheduling flow: If a patient needs to reschedule, they can reply to the WhatsApp with their preferred alternative time. Maraba checks the calendar and confirms a new slot
- Languages: English (primary), with Igbo and Yoruba enabled for callers who prefer them
The mechanics of the reminder message
The 24-hour WhatsApp reminder LifePoint uses reads:
The 2-hour reminder is shorter:
Patients who reply CONFIRM to the 2-hour message are tracked in the dashboard as confirmed. Bola can see, by 10am, which of the day's afternoon appointments are confirmed and which have not responded — giving her time to call undecided patients personally before their slots.
Results over three months
- No-show rate: from 23% to 7.4% over three months
- Appointment confirmations (via WhatsApp reply): 68% of patients confirm in advance
- Same-day reschedules filled: 41% of cancelled slots are now filled from the waiting list before the day ends — previously, cancelled slots went unfilled because Bola had no time to call the waiting list
- Revenue recovered from reduced no-shows: Dr Ngozi estimates ₦180,000–₦240,000 per month in previously-lost appointment revenue
- Bola's daily workload: outbound reminder calls eliminated, freeing approximately 45 minutes per day for patient-facing work
The rescheduling pattern
One finding surprised Dr Ngozi: many patients were not no-shows by choice — they simply had no easy way to reschedule when their plans changed. Before Maraba, rescheduling required calling the clinic, waiting for Bola to answer, and going through the available slots by voice. Patients who could not reach the clinic often just did not show up rather than dealing with the friction.
With Maraba, rescheduling from the WhatsApp reminder is two taps: reply with a preferred time, Maraba checks the calendar, confirms a new slot. Several patients have told Bola specifically that they are more likely to reschedule because it is so easy. The no-show-to-reschedule conversion is one of the clearest quality-of-service improvements the clinic has seen.
Specialist day performance
On the cardiologist's twice-weekly visit days, LifePoint now has a near-full schedule. The cardiologist reported in February 2026 that it was the first time since the clinic opened that he had fewer than two empty slots in a half-day visit. Dr Ngozi calculated that recovering those slots on cardiologist days alone covers the Maraba Pro plan subscription cost by a factor of three.
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