Through this application,the government of La Paz seeks to track the symptoms of patients with possible coronavirus contagion.
The Departmental Health Service (Sedes) of La Paz, Bolivia, presented the WhatsApp chatbot of whatsapp for mobile devices, SamiBot, which aims to provide online medical care to people with COVID-19 symptoms.
To access the chatbot, the user only has to enter the following link: http://bot.com.bo/. It will then provide a questionnaire on geographic data and the symptoms that the patient has presented so far. After answering the questionnaire, the system filters the user's responses and generates a link to offer a medical consultation online.
Ramiro Narváez, technical director of Sedes, reported that if the patient develops the symptoms of COVID-19 he will receive treatment. The protocol will be reviewed by a doctor to prevent patients from self-medication, to avoid complications that this may cause.
In addition, Narváez explained the doctor-patient connection if it were a suspicious case. "We're going to interconnect doctors from anywhere in the department with the people to ask questions instantly."
The team has so far 200 doctors who will serve the population through this digital channel. Narváez said that they will rely on universities to have more doctors on duty.
In addition to this digital health and telemedicine platform, Sedes reported that it enabled three phone lines in a call center specialized in attending consultations related to COVID-19: 2-2156261, 2-2156263 and 2-2155754.
