Healthcare service for coronavirus (COVID-19) now goes digital in Qatar as the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has activated a set of remote access channels for medical assistance.

The said facility is deployed in Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). It was mobilized in collaboration with TASMU Smart Qatar, MoTC, Hukoomi and Qatar Post along with notable digital solution providers.

According to MoPH:

"The new virtual healthcare services have been developed to ensure the safety of everyone."

How Does the New Virtual Health Care Service Work For You?

• Schedule an appointment with health care by dialing 16000.
• Have a virtual consultation with your health care provider.
• Receive medical advice.
• Have your sick leave.
• Get your medicine delivered to your doorstep. 

​Amid COVID-19 crisis, MoPH and TASMU Smart Qatar in collaboration with key stakeholders introduced digital healthcare solutions.

The nationwide new remote healthcare service initiative primarily targets three medical instances: 

Virtual Consultations

How it works?

• If you require PHCC services, dial 16000 and choose the PHCC option.

• You will then be routed to a PHCC Community Call Center 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.

• If you access to this service, expect a video or telephone consultation with a physician that will provide you with advice, diagnosis and offer prescriptions.

• The service will assess you with routine conditions providing guidance. 

Urgent Consultation Service

HMC has launched an innovative Urgent Consultation Service to enable patients with non-life threatening conditions to speak to a specialist physician over the phone.

How to do it?

• Dial 16000 and you will then 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 such as:

- Urology

- Cardiology

- Orthopedics

- General medicine

- General surgery

- Dermatology

- ENT

- OBGYN

- Dental

- Pediatrics

• 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.

Virtual Clinic for Patients

HMC’s Department of Geriatrics has also launched a virtual clinic for patients to:

- Enable elderly patients to receive consultations in the comfort of their own home

- To protect elderly residents in Qatar who have been advised by MoPH to stay at home unless absolutely necessary.

Issuing sick leave certificates remotely:  

This service applies according to the following conditions:

• If you are given care through a video or telephone consultation with you healthcare provider
• If you require a sick leave certificate
• You will be issued sick leave electronically through the e-Jaza system, you can then download the sick leave certificate through this link: https://www.qchp.org.qa/en/Pages/ValidateEJaza.aspx available on the MOPH website, using QID/HC Number.

Medication refill delivery to patients home:

HMC and PHCC are working in partnership with Q-Post to have medications delivered to your home to ensure you can receive your required medications without having to attend the health centers or clinics. This started with a segment of patients on 25th March and be will rolled out in phases to the rest of the population accordingly.  

Call centers Nesmaak at 16060 and Hayak at 107 will remain as is for routine calls but will add a capability to route calls that require urgent attention to 16000.

Chatbot Through Websites

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.

MoPH added:

"Enhancing remote access to healthcare at the time of COVID-19 crisis will help curb the rapid spread of the disease. MoPH, MOTC, MoPH and TASMU in collaboration with key stakeholders will continue providing quality medical care to the people of Qatar in a timely and accurate manner."

16000 will also continue to provide a 24/7 call centre service for all enquiries in relation to the COVID-19.