Fazeena Saleem | The Peninsula
Though number of COVID-19 cases have started to drop, Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Urgent Consultation Service will continue to provide telephonic consultation with physicians to patients with medical queries related to non-life threatening conditions.
“The Urgent Consultation Service centre has seen a large number of referrals during the last four months. We will continue with the virtual clinic for some time,” Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, Medical Director, Hamad General Hospital told The Peninsula.
The service offers patients access to 13 specialities and designed to be more convenient for patients and reduce unnecessary patients’ visits to the hospitals. “In the past months it has benefit many patients and ensured their safety,” said Dr. Al Maslamani.
The Urgent Consultation Service operates from 7am to 10pm, seven days a week and offers patients access to specialities, include urology, orthopedics surgery, internal medicine, general surgery, dermatology, cardiology, ENT, obstetrics and gynecology, dental, pediatrics, neurology, mental health, hematology and oncology.
“Depending on the patients’ condition we decide if it’s necessary to see them. For example, if the patient has a hernia related problem, we will have to call him to the clinic and examine. But in case of dermatology cases, doctors can see them through the camera and decide on their condition,” said Dr Al Maslamani.
Patients can call 16000 hotline and chose option 3 where their call will be triaged by a doctor to determine which speciality they should be referred to. The call will then be put through to one of the senior consultants who can access patients’ medical files and consult with them about their case. And get their medicine delivered to their doorstep.
Dr. Al Maslamani, also the Director of the Qatar Center for Organ Transplantation, said that a separate patient pathway has been implemented for patients who have undergone organ transplant. “The immune system of those undergone transplant can be weak. We have a strict policy for such patients, who come to the hospital for any consultation,” he said.
For early stage kidney patients or transplant recipients, it is thought that they are at increased risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19 and it is very important that they particularly stringent in following the physical distancing measures. P2
Credit: The Peninsula Qatar
URL:https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/05/08/2020/Hamad-Medical-Corporation-to-continue-Urgent-Consultation-Service?fbclid=IwAR1FyEahJRjg74aJ18zJD6eV7U5kGw-6FSbkZCK9Znlb8KWElheOkDP3Qt0