You have a nagging backache that you’ve tried to wish away but it still hangs on to you. You think it’s nothing serious, but the painkillers haven’t really helped to confirm this belief. And you don’t have the time and chance to see a doctor physically, because your schedule is, for the foreseeable future, absolutely jam-packed. What do you do?
Femi Kuti decided to provide an answer to this question; in 2015 he set up Kangpe, a mobile platform which connects health conscious Nigerians to verified doctors. With the Kangpe app, the public can access over 750 general health practitioners and specialists from wherever they are, request advice from them, and get a response within 10 minutes.
Femi, a trained medical doctor and former investment banker, said he found that there was a need for a convenient means by which Nigerians could consult doctors for what they considered ‘minor’ ailments- instead of ignoring symptoms or self-medicating. According to him, “the whole idea of Kangpe was born because it was clear that people always had issues they wanted to discuss with the doctors that weren’t considered serious enough to warrant a visit to the hospital”. Kangpe, he says, exists to fill this gap.”
Users of the Kangpe app are able to get advice from doctors on symptoms, disease diagnosis and possible treatment, based on the details they supply. They can also have health, parenting and fitness and wellness tips sent to their phones on a regular basis.
Femi says the doctors on the Kangpe platform are verified by the Kangpe team upon signing up. Their credentials are investigated to ascertain that they are actually practicing doctors.
There might be a perception that Kangpe is built to rival the traditional hospital. But Femi insists that it is not a substitute for visits to the hospital, because “there are going to be things that will clearly need a doctor to examine you and have a conversation with you about.” Kangpe also gives its doctors’ contact details to its users if they want a physical consultation.
The Kangpe app for Android is available for download on the Google Play Store.
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