*Consultation, sick leave letter and delivery of medicines to patients' doorstep now a phone call away
In light of the rapidly evolving Covid-19 pandemic, The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has launched a set of remotely accessible channels to healthcare services at the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) and Hamad Medical Corp (HMC).
The new service was opened in collaboration with Tasmu Smart Qatar, Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), Hukoomi and Qatar Post along with notable digital solution providers.
Developed to ensure the safety of everyone by allowing patients to schedule an appointment by dialing 16000 , the new virtual healthcare services allow virtual consultation with the healthcare provider, receiving medical advice, sick leave and get their medicines delivered to their doorstep.
The toll-free hotline 16000 will also continue to provide a 24/7 call centre service for all inquiries in relation to the Covid-19.
The nationwide new remote healthcare service initiative primarily targets three medical instances of virtual consultations, issuing of sick leave certificates remotely and medication refill delivery to the patients' home.
Patients requiring PHCC services can dial 16000 and choose the PHCC option; callers 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 7 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 prescriptions.
In addition, the service will assess patients and provide guidance.
HMC has launched an innovative Urgent Consultation Service, enabling patients with non-life threatening conditions to speak to a specialist physician over the phone.
Upon dialing 16000, patients will 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 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 and don't go out unless absolutely necessary.
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 through the link: https://www.qchp.org.qa/en/Pages/ValidateEJaza.aspx available on the MoPH website, using QID/HC Number.
HMC and PHCC are working in partnership with Q-Post to have medications delivered to home to ensure that people can receive their required medications without having to go to the health centres or clinics. This started with a segment of patients on March 25 and will be rolled out in phases to the rest of the population accordingly.
Call centres Nesmaak at 16060 and Hayak at 107 will remain open 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 remotely accessible healthcare at the time of Covid-19 crisis will help curb the rapid spread of the disease.
MoPH, MoTC, and Tasmu in collaboration with key stakeholders will continue providing quality medical care to the people of Qatar in a timely and accurate manner.
