Nigeria takes one more step towards development with the launch of Google Station super-fast Internet, which is claimed to be 16 times faster than the average 1.86 megabits per second of the country. This is something like people riding cycle gets a bullet train.
With the launching Nigeria becomes the fifth country in the world to get Google Station and first in Africa. As of now the fast and free Internet will only be made available at select locations like to just shopping malls and Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.
Nigeria’s health sector is in pathetic system where just four doctors in average are for every 10,000 people. Maternal and infant mortality is highest compared to rest of the world. Google Station could make a difference in the lives of people if its hotspots are made available in public health facilities across the country.
Lately Telemedicine has proven to be helpful in the healthcare with its digital technology. Shell Nigeria deployed it for the treatment of infants at the Obio Cottage Community Hospital in Port Harcourt, capital city of Niger Delta area. It helped in treating off-shore workers too.
However, telemedicine could not expand further due to low internet speed in Nigeria and Google Station is hoped to make their operations seamless.
It is learned soon Google Station would expand beyond shopping malls and to include teaching hospitals, medical schools and secondary healthcare facilities.
The Nigerian medical doctors usually opt to go West for better training and access to state-of-the-art technologies for patient care. A data reveals about 25,000 such doctors practice in the United States.
