Nepal’s first teleconsultation centre to bridge barriers in treatment

Established at Bir Hospital with funds from EU Humanitarian Aid (EHCO), the centre will help enhance the capacity at the COVID-19 Unified Central Hospital.

People can call the 24x7 toll-free number and receive medical advise from licensed doctors and nurses for COVID-19 related queries and seek assistance on other ailments. Additionally, people can also get information related to vaccines and vaccination services from the toll-free number.

Initiative to help overcome barriers

“Teleconsultation services play a vital role in making services accessible, affordable, and equitable,” said Dr Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav, WHO Representative to Nepal. "Most health facilities in Nepal are concentrated in urban areas making access difficult and expensive for the rural population. The establishment of teleconsultation centre at Bir Hospital is aimed at bridging barriers and making consultations by trained health care providers, be it for COVID-19 or otherwise, through a free telephone call a reality in Nepal."

Teleconsultation services are expected to help reduce the patient load in the health facilities, decrease the risk of exposure during the ongoing pandemic, and provide adequate health information and appropriate counselling related to COVID-19.

Easy to access, especially for the elderly, people with disabilities and those in rural or hard to reach areas, the teleconsultation service is also a safe way to triage patients, identify suspected/mild cases of COVID-19 and provide early diagnosis and treatment.

How does the centre operate?

The teleconsultation centre at Bir Hospital, Bagmati Province, Nepal; Photo Credit: WHO Nepal/A. Maharjan

The National Teleconsultation Centre operates through toll-free number 1133 or 16600100029 or 01-5970109. This is aided by the customer relationship management software which records all calls, details of the patient, and the provided treatment.

One coordinator, one supervisor, eight medical doctors, and four nurses are currently deployed at the centre. They work in shifts lasting eight hours. Each shift has two doctors and one nurse.

The staff at the centre has been trained and oriented on a number of issues such as variants, home isolation, post-COVID syndrome, vaccination, and treatment modalities.

As a regular practice, paramedics/nurse on duty calls up patients for a quality check of teleconsultation service.

Max queries about vaccination, booster doses

As many as 613 calls were received on the toll-free number in the first two weeks of its launch with most queries being about vaccination centres, booster doses, and the cost of RT-PCR tests for COVID-19.

A 31-year-old female, Deepa Pun, one of the callers, said “This service is very effective for us to get authentic information about COVID-19. I stay in the rural part of the country and there is a lot of misinformation and I got correct information from the free teleconsultation service.”

“I like this service, I got information about vaccination sites. It's a reliable source of information for us”,” said Ramesh Rana Magar, 41, another caller.

More centres in the pipeline

There are plans to integrate teleconsultation with the existing 8 telemedicine centres in the country. WHO has recently supported the MoHP to establish 7 provincial telemedicine centres and one central telemedicine centre.