The hotline 16000 has built a very effective system to answer general or specific queries about Covid-19, a senior official told Qatar TV last night. “In addition to the frontline operators who can provide the basic information, we have a specialised team of physicians, nurses and other medical staff to answer specific queries,” explained Nasser Saeed al-Nuaimi, deputy chief quality officer and co-director of the Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute (HHQI) and head of the hotline.
The hotline 16000 has passed three stages of development since it was first launched in March last year. At first, people used to ask about the nature of Covid-19 and ways of infection and protection besides home quarantine and quarantine at the state health facilities, and how to deal with the infected cases and the related issues.
Then, as the restrictions started to ease and people started to travel and come back to the country, the questions were mostly about the necessary quarantine period, the quarantine conditions for family and children and how to use Ehteraz, with some calls coming from outside Qatar.
“And now with the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine, many people ask about it and the possible side effects, its safety on the elderly and the appointments for the targeted categories and where to take it,” the official said.
While almost 98% of the questions receive answers from the hotline’s frontline operators, only the rest need specialised referral. The hotline updates its system almost on weekly basis in co-operation with all the entities concerned in the country to be able to give callers updated and well-supported assistance.
The hotline has received more than 1.7mn calls and handled them effectively since March last year. In addition, it managed to help patients get almost 68,000 medications delivered to their homes in co-operation with Qatar Post and the related departments. Recently, another service was added to the hotline to give specialised psychiatric and psychological assistance in co-operation with the department concerned. More than 15,000 consultations have been given so far. The Medical Commission-related questions are also handled by the hotline.
Replying to a question, al-Nuaimi said that an icon could be added to Ehteraz app to show that the person has taken Covid-19 vaccine, as indicated earlier by Dr Yousef al-Maslamani, medical director of Hamad General Hospital, in a QTV programme recently. More services could be added to the hotline 16000 in the future, al-Nuaimi added.
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