Doha: The free hotline 16000, dedicated to coronavirus (Covid-19) inquiries, received about 1.7 million calls since it was launched by the Ministry of Public Health in March.
The hotline was launched with the aim of answering public’s questions and inquiries related to Covid-19, in addition to enabling the public and healthcare staff to access main health care services provided by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC).
The hotline, which operates round the clock seven days a week, received more than 552,000 calls to request information or services related to COVID-19. While the rest of the calls were distributed to the other services provided by the line, a number of people with COVID-19 were able to contact the hotline to obtain urgent and quick care, which helped during the peak of the pandemic to facilitate the process of classifying cases and directing them to home quarantine or isolation facilities. It also helped in tracking contacts to identify potential new cases and thus slowing down the rate of infection spread among the population in the State of Qatar.
The hotline provided callers with the option to speak in Arabic or English with employees and to obtain the necessary information about the current situation of the pandemic in Qatar, as well as the symptoms and signs of infection of COVID-19, including procedures that need to be taken in the event of suspected infection and the rules of quarantine, in addition to general advice on travel to countries where the virus is spreading.
The hotline provided urgent medical consultation services provided by HMC to more than 220,000 cases who were able to speak with a doctor and obtain medical advice remotely using phone or video calls and were prescribed the appropriate drugs.
With regard to patients who needed pharmacy services, the hotline allowed them to benefit from home delivery of medicines by requesting that medicines be delivered to their homes by mail or dispensing medicines from the nearest health center to them.
As of Dec. 3, the number of patients who had medicines delivered to them at home reached 252,433 patients, while the number of medicines dispensed to these patients reached 860,64 medicines.
The hotline provided patients with the National Mental Health Helpline, which has so far received more than 15,000 calls from people in need of support, especially those suffering from psychological pressures and anxiety due to the pandemic through a team of specialized mental health cadres to provide support and evaluation to callers who are classified into four main categories, namely: children and their parents, adults, the elderly, and frontline healthcare personnel.
Deputy Chief of Quality Sector at HMC and Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute Nasser Al Naimi said that the allocation of a hotline for COVID-19 and other urgent services contributed to enabling health sector partners in Qatar to provide immediate care to the infected and limit the spread of the virus by providing clear pathways to track contacts through incoming calls to the hotline.
He added that HMC's specialized team, in cooperation with other partners who are healthcare providers, was able to develop an information base that can be used to assist the call center staff in responding effectively to all public inquiries.
