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Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja
The Minister of Communicatios Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani has stated that the country would leverage on the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat) to take telemedic to the unserved localities.
He stated this at the launch of My Smart Medic Application by the Nigerian Unicorn Group in Abuja, Tuesday.
The minister, who was represented by the Director, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), Ajala Olubumi, said, “For technology like this to really have that transformation, we must have connectivity. And we still have about 20 million Nigerians that have no access at all to internet.
“And we’re 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.”
Chairman UNICCON Group, Chuks Enwerem in his remarks said, “we really studied the Nigerian healthcare sector and know the gap, and that is exactly what we have come to fill.”
On how My Smart Medic works, he said: ‘This device, we have built it in such a way that there are native aspects of it, which generate from the device the edge computing…
“So, depending on the peculiarity of the region and the connection, we designed it, we customised it to suit the region.
“Then, we also have other enhanced connections 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 also noted that after launching in Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal are the countries where the application will be launched.
The National Commissioner, National Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr. Vincent Olatunji who was represented by the Commission’s legal officer, Alexander Onwe, said, telemedicine holds transformative promise, adding that innovation without trust leads to resistance while trust without innovation leads to stagnation.
“Our responsibility as government, private sector, development partners, is to achieve both.”
“I reaffirm the commitment of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission to support digital health innovation protect patient rights, 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.
