Caracas (AFP)

Looking for a hospital or a clinic, an oxygen tank, medication?

Venezuelan applications have arisen to try to help Covid-19 patients and their relatives for free in a country hard hit by the pandemic but also by the economic crisis.

A second wave of coronavirus in March is wreaking havoc in the country of 30 million people which has experienced eight consecutive years of economic recession.

The country officially lists more than 220,000 cases and 2,500 deaths but NGOs denounce underestimated figures while hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed.

Four hours from Caracas, in the state of Anzoategui (North East), Wilmer Toyo has developed Docti.App, a kind of interactive directory including pharmacies with in particular guards, emergency services or sites where the you can rent oxygen tanks.

"All this information was scattered," explains this 30-year-old programmer, who has centralized everything on his free downloadable application.

"When you have an emergency, what we want is to have answers quickly, the application is great because you save time", assures Maria Ramos, engineer, 30, who used "the app" to find medicine and especially oxygen for his mother who was affected by the coronavirus in April.

As hospitals are overwhelmed, many patients stay at home even when they have difficulty breathing.

In a context of scarcity, finding cylinders (and loading them) is a headache and there are often long queues in front of recharging sites despite the cost of around $ 30 (8 or 9 times the minimum wage).

- "Collaborate" -

Another difficulty, the chronic power cuts and the weakness of the Internet in this country where there are 14.4 million subscriptions for smartphones.

According to the global Speedtest index, only Cuba and Haiti have lower bandwidth on the continent and Venezuela ranks 139th in the world (176 countries listed).

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Developers therefore work in difficult conditions and due to lack of funding, users are often called upon.

In Caracas, José Miguel Avendaño has developed "Javenda", an application with an interactive map bringing together 1,020 hospitals, clinics and health centers.

When you click on the logo of the desired hospital, the application connects to Google maps to give the route.

"Instead of criticizing and complaining about our plight, I tried to solve the problem," said Avendaño, 46-year-old data specialist.

He hopes that his map and application will be updated by users like Daniel Torres, a programmer who has added the health centers in the state of Carabobo (North) where he resides.

"Why not collaborate? It's a way to fight Covid-19," he said.

To participate in a competition bringing together young people from all over the world, Rebeca Paredes and Wanda Tremont, both 16 years old, have developed "Nezha", a "security app" for establishments open to the public.

"See the authorizations, the security measures applied, their size, capacity, emergency exits, etc."

explains Rebeca while browsing several screens at the same time.

There too, they rely on the users, the owners but also the customers: "Sometimes you see a salesman with the mask under his chin and you say to yourself, + is it really safe to buy in this place? + ", wonders Rebeca who lives not far from" January 23 "the large popular district of the west of Caracas.

The two young people are looking for outside help to continue developing their application, the symbol of which is a lotus flower.

© 2021 AFP