App is launched by company based in San Francisco.
By Raif Karerat
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WASHINGTON, DC: A new mobile app, called MUrgency (One Global Emergency Response Network), is being set up to create a global emergency response network to aid people in distress in developing countries.
The brainchild of Indian social entrepreneur Shaffi Mather, MUrgency is being launched by San Francisco-based MUrgency Inc., reported the Times of India.
According to the Indian newspaper:
MUrgency is a cloud platform and mobile application which will connect people who need emergency response with their trusted network, other users of the app and / or credentialed medical, safety, rescue and assistance professionals as the situation requires and the individual in emergency requests. It will make the nearest emergency responder (doctor, nurse, EMT, paramedic, ambulance etc.) available to a person facing an emergency.
Currently, some 6.25 billion people worldwide lack access to a reliable emergency response system in case of emergency, and even the three quarters of a billion people who can obtain a reliable response often have to deal with inordinate expenses and delays, reported Business Call to Action.
According to WHO estimates, more people die from lack of timely care than from Aids, TB and malaria combined. MUrgency aims to address the situtation by deploying an emergency response system that is available to anyone with mobile network access.
According to MUrgency’s founder and CEO Shaffi Mather, “It is well known that timely medical assistance is the most critical factor in saving lives. Unfortunately, it is not readily available to 90 percent of world’s population. At MUrgency, it is our mission to make fast emergency medical assistance available across the world by 2020 with just the tap on your phone.”
While the platform and app are available globally, the MUrgency responder network is being rolled out on a regional basis, starting with Punjab in India, following stringent validation of responders’ credentials.
(This story was updated on July 20, 2015)