In April 2020, the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MOH) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with several online health services companies for its “Online Appointment” and “Webinar for COVID-19” initiatives. These initiatives aim to lessen the volume of patients at hospitals and clinics, encourage social distancing and provide the latest health-based information during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “Online Appointment” system is collaboration between MOH and four Malaysian-based major online health services companies, namely QueueMed, EncoreMed, BookDoc, and DoctorOnCall. Through this initiative, patients can choose their appointment time to seek treatment at the health clinics, speak to doctors via phone or video call, order and receive prescriptions safely, and access Medical content in Malay and English languages.
For the “Webinar for COVID-19” initiative, MOH is working with BookDoc, a Malaysian startup that connects patients with Medical care professionals through a mobile application, to channel accurate health information relating to the pandemic. The webinars will feature public health specialists and MOH Medical officers participating to web-based question-and-answer sessions. In addition to these initiatives, MOH also rolled out a mobile app called MySejahtera to encourage self-assessments of COVID-19, and understand testing services available at private hospitals and clinics for people who do not fulfill testing criteria at public healthcare institutions.
(Sources: Malay Mail; The Edge Markets)
