LAGOS:  LOCALS in need of healthcare services particularly in cases of emergency have received a major boost after a local information communications technology firm launched a mobile application tagged Find-A-Med.  According to officials, the app was designed to the helps users find nearest health centres around them and keep track of their basic health information in case of an emergency.

“Though a large number of medical centres of varying quality exist in every part of Nigeria, there is no accessible, searchable database. Find-A-Med was created to solve this challenge,” Emeka Onyenwe, Co-founder, JumpSpace Communications, said.  Speaking further, he said, “From the colleague who died of the simplest medical condition, to the random accident victim who didn’t even make it to the hospital before they gave up, everyone has directly or indirectly experienced poor medical attention.

“There is no denying that Nigeria is dire need of improvement in the health sector and emergency services.”  Onyenwe said that more than 5 000 medical centres had already been registered on the application which gives users access to a rich database of hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, dental care, eye care, laboratories and other medical centers, as well as turn-by-turn directions to medical centres closest to their present location.

He also said that Find-A-Med doubled as a quality review directory which applied raw open data in a more usable format to help individuals make informed decisions about the types of health centres around them.

Onyenwe said the app allowed users to review the quality of care they received, thus providing life-saving information and in some cases, accountability to those health centers.  Find-A-Med is available for free download on the Google and Apple stores as well as mobile web.

SOURCE: CAJ NEWS AGENCY