Click a doc!

MIMS, the medical publishing division of Avusa Media Limited, together with MapIT and Adcock Ingram Generics, recently launched www.mapadoc.co.za, a free online directory designed to help consumers locate doctors, specialists and health-care services in South Africa.

After eighteen months of sourcing, verifying and geo-locating thousands of records, MIMS ‚ the medical publishing division of Avusa Media Limited – together with business partner MapIT and launch partner Adcock Ingram Generics, recently launched www.mapadoc.co.za, a free online directory designed to help consumers locate a wide range of doctors, specialists and health-care services in South Africa.

‚All consumers have to do is to enter the type of medical service provider they are looking for and their preferred location on mapadoc.co.za and the website will list specified medical professionals nearest to their location, including name, telephone and street address,‚ says Silke Friedrich, Business Manager, MIMS at Avusa Media.

Moreover, the website allows the user to find a medical service provider’s exact location on a map, and provides turn-by-turn directions to getting there. ‚Map-a-Doc shows how easy it has become to find almost anything you want or need on a map,‚ says Etienne Louw, Managing Director of MapIT, leading provider of quality enriched digital mapping solutions to businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The directory currently has over 15 000 accurate and current records, all provided by MIMS, a leading publisher of quality reference information to the southern African medical profession.

Map-a-Doc’s service covers most metropolitan and rural areas, and has a comprehensive list of private and public hospitals, vets as well as pharmacies. Records and specialities are continually being added in order to render an increasingly useful service to the public.

‚Medical professionals can use mapadoc.co.za to provide customers with their contact details and locations on a map, essentially using the service to guide new customers to their doorstep,‚ says Friedrich. The service is free to both users and health-care professionals. Avusa Media is in the final stages of including a sms component in the system, so that consumers may have access to medical services information on-the-go. The sms component, which will carry a charge, will be optional.

Furthermore, doctors will soon have the option of upgrading their online presence, so that they are not just listed in Map-a-Doc, but also on Streetmaps.co.za, the most widely used digital map in South Africa offered by MapIT and AAT (Always Active Technologies). It also enables them the opportunity to convert their locations to POI (Points of Interest) on MapIT’s master map which is widely used by leading PND (Portable Navigation Device) suppliers such as TomTom.

‚As a producer of quality generic medicines across several therapeutic areas, we felt that joining forces with Avusa as launch partner for mapadoc.co.za will allow us to place our brand at the forefront of innovative medical solutions for consumers,‚ concluded John Backman, Head of Marketing for Adcock Ingram Generics.

Map-a-Doc also lists contact details of medical aids in South Africa.

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