Google pilots hospital bed, oxygen availability feature on Maps

Search engine giant Google on Monday announced that it is piloting a feature on its Maps function to help users check the availability of hospital beds and medical oxygen at select locations. This is a part of the company’s efforts towards Covid response in India and will work on the basis of user-generated information in a Q&A format. 

“As this will be user generated content and not provided by authorised sources, it may be required to verify the accuracy and freshness of the information before utilizing it,” Google said in a blog post. 

The Search and Maps functionality have been updated to show locations of 23,000 vaccination centres across the country. This is apart from the 2500 Covid-testing centre location displayed in English and eight Indian languages, said the post. Information for the feature is being sourced and updated from data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). 

Google also said that it was running an internal donation campaign to raise funds for nonprofits helping those effected by Covid and has raised $4.6 million (Rs 33 crore) to date. Google’s UPI-based payment app, Google Pay, has also added a feature to donate to NGOs and nonprofits through its Covid Aid campaign feature. 

Previously, other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter also announced measures to amplify accurate information on vaccination, infrastructure and other Covid related requests on their platforms.