Each and every institution in Qatar plays a key role in the ongoing fight against COVID-19. The increase in the number of total recoveries in Qatar underlines this fact and undoubtedly with this collective effort Qatar will soon be able to overcome this pandemic. The role played by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in this battle is noteworthy and the whole PHCC team behind the mission to fight COVID-19 deserves a huge round of applause.
PHCC, with its remote healthcare service, has provided 49,341 virtual consultations so far. Also, PHCC has delivered medicine to over 6,000 patients, as part of the commitment to deliver uninterrupted services under the present situation. The entire nature of the PHCC working system has been changed to adapt to the new situation and various measures were taken by PHCC under the present circumstances and in the framework of preventive and precautionary measures.
The newly-launched electronic and virtual services such as the telephone counselling service, Community Call Center, home delivery for medicine, electronic medical certification service, support for diabetics and their proactive treatment are the ideal examples to showcase the real commitment of the PHCC team. By doing this, PHCC has created a substitute for traditional face-to-face counselling with the doctor.
By adjusting the timing and implementing various services, PHCC managed to reduce congestion it its health centres. By making public aware of the need to maintain safe distancing and other health prosecutions, PHCC taught each and every resident of the nation to be a warrior in the battle against coronavirus. PHCC also transferred all appointments registered in health centres to specialised clinics and family medicine clinics to telephone consulting services and community contact centers.
The service of the Community Call Center is also praiseworthy as it provides distinguished services for patients who need urgent medical advice without an appointment, where patients can call 16000 and be transferred to the institution’s call center, which provides virtual medical consulting service “call and videocall” where beneficiaries get medical consultations by specialists, diagnosing their condition, and describing necessary medications if necessary.
Since the service was launched on March 29, until April 20, 13,703 calls were answered and 4,531 medical consultations were provided by phone through specialised doctors, as well as 377 consultations on video calling, while the rate of waiting to answer the calls was a minute and a half. Committed, steadfast and unfazed, the entire PHCC team served the nation well and all are really grateful to its exemplary services.
