By Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Charles Ogili, Conakry, Guinea
A member of the ECOWAS Parliament Joint Committee, Sen. (Dr.) Mrs. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, a former Deputy Governor of Rivers State and the distinguished Senator representing Rivers West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has advocated the use of a simple Apps on telephones to give access to more people for health services.
Sen. Banigo spoke on the sidelines of the delocalised meeting of the Joint Committees on Health/Education, Science and Culture/Telecommunications and Information Technology/Industry and Private Sector in Conakry, the Republic of Guinea.
According to Sen. Banigo, with the advent of information technology, vital information on health can be disseminated to communities at the local government levels, rural communities, especially the hard to reach areas.
Her words: “We can provide our communities at the local government levels, rural communities especially the hard to reach areas with information on health education, which is vital and it’s such that we can put a simple App in a simple mobile phone”.
She also stated that with the proliferation of mobile phones and its penetration into the remote villages and accessible to most of our rural dwellers, it presents an opportunity to develop a simple App that will be stable, very simple but very effective that can carry very basic healthcare information as well as health education information.
She stressed that vital information on health conveyed through this channel can save many lives if given enough awareness and have the level of infrastructure that is needed that will enable enough access to the length and breadth of the country.
Banigo welcomed and praised the idea of the Joint Committee of the ECOWAS Parliament for the delocalised meeting with emphasis on health and education, stating that there is no better time for it than now and expressing her hope that the message goes across and get adopted by all countries.
According to Banigo, the country will develop faster if all hands are on deck, including the telephone regulators as well as the necessary political will by the government to positively impact the citizens of the sub-region.
She expressed admiration for the lease or concessionary arrangements embarked upon by the hospitals in Conakry, which members of the Joint Committee visited, describing them as effective and something that Nigeria can emulate.
