The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has ushered in additional telemedicine and health monitoring services to the Virtual Doctor Platform by offering remote specialised care and medical consultations.

The designated medical staff will be working round-the-clock to streamline communications with community members and raise their awareness about the best international infection prevention practices.

The platform has been launched since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, with highly-qualified and well-trained staff responding to public inquiries. It is available in Arabic, English, Chinese, German, French, Indonesian, Russian, and several Indian languages.

Emirati postgraduate doctors residing in Canada, Turkey, and New Zealand are taking part in the provision of telemedicine services, with over 97,000 COVID19-related calls that have been received so far from across the UAE.

Dr. Hussein Abdel Rahman Al-Rand, Under-Secretary of the ministry’s Health Assistant Sector, Health Centres, and Clinics, said, "In line with the directives of the UAE Government, MoHAP is committed to promoting the quality of life and sustaining the healthcare services, with all preventive measures in place. The platform is providing round-the-clock proactive preventive services and virtual consultations to meet a patient’s needs and curb healthcare costs."

The service would help reduce the flow of patients with normal cold and flu cases, as well as suspected COVID-19 cases to health facilities.

"From assessing the case and consulting the doctor, to providing medications and medical laboratories, we are currently in the process of upgrading the service to cover a wide range of medical consultations. Chronic diseases patients can also use the platform to follow-up on their cases without visiting health centres," he noted.

Dr. Haifa Fares, Head of PHC Programme Section, said, "The Virtual Doctor Platform aims primarily to reach a wider segment of society and bring them closer irrespective of physical distancing to offer them the health awareness and care through our smart technologies."

"Additionally, the interactive service aims to assess the caller’s health conditions via specific questions about their disease history and symptoms, to provide health consultations or guide them to visit the health centre," she added.

As part of raising awareness about the Virtual Doctor Service, MoHAP has installed a podium at the Dubai Mall. The podium, which will work until 23rd August, 2020, includes interactive screens displaying various disease categories. Having selected the desired category, the user can speak with the medical staff.

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