Staff Repoter ::  Considering the ‘COVID-19’ outbreak, Save the Children in Bangladesh is piloting a free Telemedicine consultation services in Bangladesh. This services will initially be provided under its ‘Emergency Response for COVID-19 Outbreak in Bangladesh’ project in partnership with ‘Hello Doctor Asia’ for the next two months as a pilot initiative. Any individual can receive the video consultation services through ‘Hello Doctor Asia’ mobile application. SCI plans to extend the service with the changed context of COVID19 later.

Dr. Shamim Jahan, Deputy Country Director, Save the Children in Bangladesh stated that “Due to ‘COVID 19’ situation, getting medical consultation is quite difficult now. In this situation for chronic patients and other patients with general health conditions like fever, cough, running nose, asthma; it is nearly impossible to receive medical consultation in many places. Globally, telemedicine has become a suitable tool for providing medical consultation services in COVID-19 situation. In Bangladesh Sastho Batayan is becoming popular to provide teleconsultation to the patients. We started a further advanced tele plus video consultation (an App based service) to talk to the doctors through a video conversation in a limited scale.. We look forward about the service effectiveness and reach to the unreached and hope to expand the service for the hardest to reach communities.”

Md. Mostak Hussain, Humanitarian Director, Save the Children in Bangladesh has said that “Due to ‘COVID 19’ we are passing through a challenging time. We have to continue healthcare services with the support of innovative technologies. In addition to emergency health needs, there will also be growing demand for online consultation for general health. It is therefore important to find suitable service to cater to that need, and also focus on child health, maternal health and geriatric healthcare services. With this initiative, the scope for online video consultation becomes much easier to access.”

Md. Fakhrul Hasan, Chief Operating Officer, Hello Doctor Asia stated that they are very much thankful to Save the Children because this is a time demanding initiative and many people will be able to receive free Telemedicine consultation services through this partnership.The ‘Hello Doctor Asia’ mobile application can be downloaded from the Play Store on https://bit.ly/2X7NS1O or from this Link. Also Bangladesh Government’s Health Call Centre 16263 is available for any COVID19 related information and services.

BDPressRelease/ MM / 20  April 2020