Now, emergency medical assistance will be just a stone's throw away. San Francisco-based MUrgency Inc – founded by a Keralite – has developed a new mobile app to ensure fast emergency medical assistance.

The company, founded by Shaffi Mather, through the new app, aims to reach out across the globe by the end of 2015 through the MUrgency platform.

Mather said it is a well-known fact 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 through the mobile phone to anyone, anytime, anywhere with just one tap on your phone," said Mather on Thursday.

The company has also joined the UNDP's Business to Call Action program with the app.

While the platform and app are available globally, the MUrgency Responder function on the app is being rolled out gradually, starting with Punjab in India in August 2015, following strict validation of responders' credentials.

Before launching this app, MUrgency was tested in various markets such as Dubai in UAE, Punjab in India and Israel and it was found that the app helped in reducing response time to less than half of what it takes an ambulance in an efficiently run ambulance system to reach the emergency victim.

According to WHO estimates, more people die owing to lack of timely medical assistance as compared to AIDS, TB and malaria combined.

This app ups the power of mobile technology, cloud network and cell phone networks to create a seamless global emergency response network that aims at emergency response by connecting people who need help directly with trained responders like doctors, nurses, paramedics and ambulances.

On the supply side, the network aggregates existing emergency responder resources, validates their credentials and onboard them to the MUrgency Network.

(IANS)