COVID-19 integrated home-based care solution administers over 100,000 patients

The COVID-19 integrated home-based care solution, conceptualised and implemented effectively by the Health Ministry, announced successful administration of care to over 100,000 home-quarantined COVID-19 patients last week. 

This initiative was supported by the World Health Organisation, Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) and powered by Dialog Axiata PLC, Bank of Ceylon and Wavenet International (Pvt.) Ltd.

The 1390 toll-free trilingual hotline and patient management system was launched to support the patient management efficiently by implementing an integrated digital platform to manage the home care of PCR/RAT positive patients. The toll-free 1390 hotline and all connectivity requirements are sponsored by Dialog Axiata PLC. The patient management system is sponsored by Wavenet International (Pvt.) Ltd and the call centre is sponsored by Bank of Ceylon. The patient management was led by specialised consultants and over 600 trained medical doctors were deployed with the coordination of the GMOA under the guidance of the Health Ministry to provide individual care. 

The successful execution of the 1390 integrated home-based care programme has also reduced the burden to hospital care systems during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the spread of new variants of the virus. The solution was also successful in reducing the workload of the front-line healthcare providers by providing a platform to manage asymptomatic and non-critical patients remotely. The solution was quickly adopted by the healthcare workers, which aided in digitising the manual process of patient data management, record keeping and turnaround time in administering home-based care to patients.

Under the guidance of the Health Ministry, the toll-free 1390 trilingual hotline has now been extended to the public to register to the ministry database, if they have been tested positive for COVID-19, thereby creating a central hub for COVID-related patient administration. 

If patients, who have tested positive, are yet to be registered with the local PHI or medical officer, they can call 1390 and register with the home-based care solution to be treated from the safety and comfort of their own home, as per the guidelines by the Health Ministry.