Healthcare | Saturday 28 March, 2020 3:18 pm |

The Ministry of Health (937) Service Centre has received over 1.4 million calls in just over a month, as part of its functions in answering health queries by the citizens and expatriates in general and on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in particular, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said Saturday.

At the MOH (937) Service Centre, over 1,000 employees including doctors and client service specialists are providing nonstop 24/7 services via various channels.

These include calls to the unified No. 937, via the center’s Twitter account @saudimoh937, or via email messages to the email 937@moh.gov.sa or through immediate conversation (chatting?) on the Ministry of Health official website.

The Center is scheduled in the near future to launch many advanced digital channels and services that are based on the latest technology.

According to the classification at the center, the calls received have been categorized into medical queries 496,185 calls; reports 82,934 calls; appointments 452,049 calls; queries on coronavirus 108,148 calls; medical queries on coronavirus 216,584 calls; and general queries 281,541 calls.

The questions received by the MOH (937) Service Centre on coronavirus focused on: “What are the measures for self-quarantine at home?”, “Can the virus be transmitted via cargo and goods?”, “What are the symptoms for coronavirus infection?”, “If one mingles with a person infected with the virus or someone who has arrived from a journey, what should I do?”

According to the methodology of the MOH (937) Service Centre to provide all the health services to the beneficiaries including consultation services by competent qualified doctors, booking appointments at the primary healthcare centers and at the anti-smoking clinics, medical transfer services and requests for treatment.

The Center’s role is not restricted to calls on medical queries, but it receives complaints and reports, follows them up and ensures all procedures have been exhausted until the file is closed, general queries service, following up paperwork; receiving suggestions and creative ideas; and measuring the level of satisfaction; and forwarding proposals for improvement.

This is aside from data analysis and providing statistics and recommendations to ensure improvement of services, providing the best services, and supporting electronic applications provided by the Ministry of Health.