facebooktwittertelegramwhatsapp
copy short urlprintemail
+ A
A -
Qatar tribune

Tribune News Network

Doha

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has launched virtual healthcare services at the Public Health Care Centres (PHCC) and the Hamad Medical Corporation to further encourage social distancing amid the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Qatar.

People feeling sick can now dial 16 000 to have a virtual consultation with a doctor, get their medicines delivered to their doorsteps and have sick leave issued electronically. It should be noted that the hotline, 16 000, also serves as a 24/7 call-centre service for all enquiries related to the COVID-19.

The virtual healthcare service is being rolled out in collaboration with the Qatar Smart Program (TASMU), the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC), the Qatar e-Government Portal (Hukoomi) and the Qatar Post along with notable digital solution providers.

How does virtual consultation work?

Patients requiring PHCC services can dial 16000 and choose a PHCC option. They will then be routed to a PHCC Community Call Centre offering remote telephone and video consultations for patients requiring both routine and priority care. 

The community call centre will be operating seven days a week from 7am to 11pm. Clients accessing this service can expect a video or telephone consultation with a physician that will provide them with advice, diagnosis and offer prescriptions. In addition, the service will assess those patients with routine conditions providing guidance.

For urgent medical care

HMC has launched an innovative Urgent Consultation Service, enabling patients with non-life threatening conditions to speak to a specialist physician over the phone. Patients can dial 16000 and will then be routed to an HMC coordinator who will triage their case before transferring them to a specialist.

This service will cover 11 specialties for urgent care needs only – urology, cardiology, orthopaedics, general medicine, general surgery, dermatology, ENT, OBGYN, dental and paediatrics. The specialists will also be able to check and book/rebook appointments if needed.

These services are available to all registered PHCC and HMC patients with Health Cards.

HMC’s Department of Geriatrics has also launched a virtual clinic for patients enabling elderly patients to receive consultations in the comfort of their own home. This service has been launched to protect elderly residents in Qatar who have been advised by MoPH to stay at home unless absolutely necessary.

Sick leaves 

If patients are given care through a video or telephone consultation with their healthcare provider, and require a sick leave certificate, they will be issued sick leave electronically through the e-Jaza system, the patient can then download the sick leave certificate from here.

Medicine delivery

HMC and PHCC are working in partnership with Q-Post to have medications delivered to your home to ensure you can receive your required medications without having to attend the health centers or clinics.  This started with a segment of patients on March 25 and be will rolled out in phases to the rest of the population accordingly. 

Call centers Nesmaak at 16060 and Hayak at 107 will remain as is for routine calls but will add a capability to route calls that require urgent attention to 16000

The second phase of the remote access to the new healthcare mechanism is to provide access via a chatbot through the MoPH, PHCC or Hukoomi websites.

Enhancing remote access to healthcare at the time of COVID-19 crisis will help curb the rapid spread of the disease. MoPH, MOTC, MoPH and TASMU in collaboration with key stakeholders will continue providing quality medical care to the people of Qatar in a timely and accurate manner.
copy short url   Copy
28/03/2020
15492