Wetin Rembi dey do sef?

I was talking with a friend of mine a couple of days ago, throwing the word “Rembi” around casually when she interrupted me - “what is that… Rembi” she asked, puzzled. 
“Rembi noww,’ I retorted in that Nigerian fashion, as if showing a slight desperation in my tone would make her automatically understand what I was talking about. But she should have already known; it wasn’t the first time I had said it to her hearing. 
“ehn, you’ve said it before” she continued, “but I haven’t really gotten what it is all about.” 
“I have told you noww!” I said defensively. And I really did, why else would I use it casually with the expectation that she would know what it was about. She wasn’t alone. I had answered her privately, but I wondered how many others had similar questions. 
“What is Rembi?” “What is Rembi about?” “wetin Rembi dey do sef?”
Rembi is a health tech company that provides Electronic Medical Records services, FOR FREE! Yup. For free.
An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system or Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, is just fancy talk for a way of electronically collecting patient health information and storing it digitally in such a way that they can be shared and accessed across different healthcare settings. Health records in Nigeria are still majorly paper based and poorly kept in dusty file rooms at risk of pest attacks or the occasional fire or flooding. It is currently unimaginable to think of an alternate universe where important bank records are so casually kept, manually, with no backups and at the type of risks our health records are currently exposed to. Rembi seeks to address this problem of paper based manual record keeping, secure our health records and help usher in a new digital age in the health sector as is being enjoyed in the banking sector. 
The records when collected are shared through network-connected, hospital-wide information systems or other information networks and exchanges. These records aim to include all aspects of health records and record keeping, including demographics, medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images, vital signs, personal statistics like age and weight, and also billing information. 
Rembi is designed to accurately store data and to capture the health status of a patient at the time of contact with a healthcare provider while comparing it to previous contacts. Rembi is able to do this because at the time of deployment, it seamlessly and meticulously converts previous paper based records into digital format, making them into single searchable files. This saves time wasted in manually tracking down patients’ previous paper records and the data is easily accessible, accurate and legible – the endless quips about the handwritings of medical doctors are well-known. It reduces risk of data replication as there is only one modifiable up-to-date file. The risks of lost paperwork would become a forgotten tale. 
Rembi is a fully fledged and fluid system that can fit into any healthcare setting, from Primary Healthcare settings to Tertiary institutions and even the private sector. It fits also in the hands of the patient as a mobile app module (currently under development) with a lot of features such as appointment booking and reminders. It is however, very different from your weight tracking or exercise tracking app, just the way your mobile banking app is not your bank but has features from your bank. Rembi is all encompassing, and non-discriminatory, and thus designed to be accessible from a range of devices such as feature phones (Nokia torchlight) to smartphones. Rembi’s fluidity also means that it is always learning, always improving and seeking out better ways to enhance the experience.
So now you know a little bit of wetin Rembi dey do.

Henry Eze is the Media and Partnership guy at Rembi. He plays doctor at JUTH, Jos and makes noise on Twitter in his free time.