Kenyan startup Flare has launched its “Rescue” product, which ensures users access to medical assistance within 15 minutes in an emergency.
Uber-style consumer-facing app Flare – which allows patients or hospitals to see available ambulance options and request help quickly, has raised a number of funding rounds.
Its new Rescue system allows subscribers to call one hotline during a medical emergency, from which they are instantly connected to a large network of quality providers. The medical team is active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and ensures help within 15 minutes.
If assistance does not arrive within 30 minutes, Flare said it will fully refund a user’s annual membership fee.
While there are plenty of quality ambulances, the startup believes the lack of a coordinated system means that often the closest ambulance is not dispatched to patients and ambulance crews struggle to locate where the patient is calling from.
“Our tech solves both of those problems,” said Maria Rabinovich, the other founder who leads Flare’s tech team.
“We want to completely change people’s expectations around how simple and fast emergency help can be in Nairobi. That’s why we are willing to make this promise to all of our members.”
Rescue is currently only accessible in Nairobi, but Flare has big plans for 2018. It is already expanding to the areas surrounding Nairobi, and is looking to expand to Mombasa and Kisumu as well as a number of Kenyan counties during the year.