By Jessica Dogo
The Chairman of Unnicon Group of Companies, Prof. Chuks Ekwueme, has called for collaboration with the company on its newly launched application ‘MySmartMedic’ to bridge the gap in Nigeria’s healthcare delivery.
Ekwueme made the call at the launch of MySmartMedic Application organised by the Unicorn group of Companies, in Abuja.
He said, “We really studied the Nigerian healthcare sector and knew the gap, and that is exactly what we have come to fill.”
Speaking on how MySmartMedic works, he said that the device was built in such a way that there were native aspects to it, which generate from the edge computing of the device.
Ekwueme said, “This device is somewhat, even when you suddenly lose network, there is ability to still access or compute.
“So, depending on the peculiarity of the region and the connection, we designed it, we customised it to suit the region. We also have other enhanced connection using satellites whenever they have access to it.
“But at every point in time, they can access this digital solution, pending whenever they have connectivity to update records that have been saved locally.”
He hinted that the application would be launched in Kenya and Senegal after launching in Nigeria.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said that the country would leverage on the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), to take telemedic to the unserved localities.
The minister, who was represented by the Director, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), Ajala Olubumi, said that there must be connectivity for transformation in the country.
“For a technology like this to really have that transformation, we must have connectivity, and we still have about 20million Nigerians that have no access at all to internet.
“And we are leveraging on that, combining the NigComSat, we could basically beam internet to locations, because Nigeria is just one of the nations in West Africa with her our own satellite,” he said.
In his goodwill message, the National Commissioner, National Data Protection Commission, (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, said that telemedicine had a transformative promise.
Olatunji, represented by the Commission’s Legal Officer, Alexander Onwe, said trust without innovation would lead to stagnation and resistance.
“Our responsibility as government, private sector, development partners, is to achieve both.
“I reaffirm the commitment of the NDPC to support digital health innovation, protect patients right, strengthen regulatory clarity, promote responsible use of emerging technologies and build a trusted, inclusive, secure digital future for Nigeria and Africa.
“The NDPC is your partner in ensuring that no citizen is left behind in this digital healthcare transition, and that every digital interaction reinforces confidence, safety, and value,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani
