Telehealth in Pakistan Helped 6000+ Patients During Lockdown After the COVID-19 Outbreak in the country, the supply chain has become a major challenge for the public as well as the government. From food items to medicines, everything is becoming difficult to access due to lockdown. Meanwhile, InstaCare came forward with an initiative called InstaCare Corona Response Unit – ICRU to help people by making healthcare services accessible and efficient. The platform has made online doctor checkup possible at your home by the use of telehealth in Pakistan. InstaCare is also taking online medicine orders with free delivery across Pakistan. You can even request an online lab test booking with free home sampling services through the platform. For the people who are concerned about medical issues during the pandemic, you can avail of free telehealth in Pakistan. So now lets discuss what is ICRU. What is the InstaCare Corona Response Unit – ICRU InstaCare has been known for its amazing work and contribution to introduce the services of telehealth in Pakistan for past many years. When COVID-19 Strikes Pakistan, 12 team members at InstaCare volunteer themselves to help the country to make healthcare remain accessible even in the hard times. While the company was closely studying the global as well as local stats so it was very much obvious that Pakistan will have to embrace lockdown in order to save lives but Team InstaCare was planning how to deliver care at doorstep during such time. Response unit that was started with 12 members started spreading all over Pakistan when some amazing doctors, organizations and healthcare workers joined the unit. Doctors from all 4 provinces volunteer themselves for this great cause. Organizations such as Sehat Karwan, ElajZone , Khyber Medical University (KMU), Pathodont Clinics and Akram Medical Complex played a vital role to provide relief to the patients anytime anywhere with telemedicine. Akram Medical Complex and InstaCare Started Telemedicine to help patients during COVID-19 CEO, Akram Medical Complex, Dr. Shehla Javaid came forward as hope to thousands of patients when she decided to make AMC a telemedicine center during the pandemic to help patients. InstaCare supported the vision by offering its best telehealth system. Khyber Medical University (KMU) and Government of KPK Started Telemedicine in Pakistan in collaboration with InstaCare Khyber medical university, A leading medical institute in Peshawar formed a telemedicine center with 50+ doctors to offer free online doctor checkups in KPK. Governer KPK , Announced the news on his official twitter handler: More than 50 doctors will be available on telephone & internet from 9AM to 6PM. Helpline No’s for Patients: 03171777516 & 03179797297 or can use KMU website. https://t.co/sK9qNjcCCY 2/2#PakistanFightsCorona #StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/gh0C9RbpWp — Shah Farman (@ShahFarman_PTI) March 26, 2020 Shah Farman, KPK Governor Inaugurated the telemedicine center at KMU, Peshawar: ICRU 10 Days Progress In just 10 days after the announcement of ICRU Free Services, People started responding. The response was massive so InstaCare called more volunteer doctors and medical students. Today ICRU is a family of 300+ People serving the nation with their best capabilities, following stats explains the progress of our team’s 10 days efforts: How InstaCare telehealth services work: You can visit InstaCare.Pk, a web portal where patients can instantly get online medical consultation with telemedicine. You can call at helpline number 03171777516 to talk to doctors if you have any medical related queries. You can download the InstaCare App from Google Playstore to order medicines or lab tests. Subscribe Youtube Channel for Live Sessions with Doctors so you can share your concerns with doctors while staying at home. Follow Instagram and Facebook for live updates and useful content. Read the blog to make yourself more aware of the situation and how to take better care of yourself and your loved ones. Prof. Dr. Javed Akram, Vice-Chancellor University of Health Sciences Reviews about InstaCare Dr. Javed Akram is a known medical professional with years of experience and is always known for his research work and dedication to enable the digital healthcare ecosystem in Pakistan. He praised the efforts of InstaCare services in telehealth in Pakistan as: Media Praising about Telehealth in Pakistan
How To Prevent Coronavirus COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease caused by a coronavirus that spreads from person to person via their respiratory droplets. The spread of coronavirus can be prevented by exercising some tips. In this article, we will discuss safety measures to prevent coronavirus and why are they necessary. It is important that along with the safety measures, we understand why are these measures necessary and what’s the logic behind these. For any further questions, leave a comment below. Washing Hands Frequently Wash your hands frequently, especially before eating, after blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing and when you come back home from outside. Wash your hands properly for at least 20 seconds because the soap requires at least 20 seconds to kill the virus and bacteria. Wet your hands with running water, then apply soap, scrub all the parts of your hands, rinse them with running water and then dry them with tissue paper or a clean towel. Use can also use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer on the go. Make sure it has at least 60% alcohol because high alcohol content helps in killing bacteria and viruses. Always wash your hands with soap and water, if they are visibly dirty. Washing your hands frequently is necessary because the coronavirus can stay on surfaces for a long time. If an infected person coughs or sneezes on that surface, and you touch that surface, you can easily catch coronavirus. Avoid Touching Your Face It is a part of human nature to touch the face, eyes, nose, and chin unconsciously. You should avoid touching them because hands touch many surfaces and can carry viruses and bacteria. This habit makes you prone to coronavirus infections, you can transmit the viruses and bacteria to your face that you have caught from surrounding or by touching other people. If you need to touch your face, make sure to wash your hands properly and then touch it. Stay At Home It is so important to stay at home, especially if you are having any flu-like symptoms or if you have a travel history of the past 14 days. It is beneficial for you and others as well. If you have traveled internationally, there is a chance that you are infected and your body is not showing any symptoms. You can infect others in this period, so it is necessary to quarantine yourself for at least 14 days to protect others from getting infected. Apart from any symptoms and travel history, it is good to stay at home as much as you can. Avoid exposure to crowded and closed places. The more you stay at home, the more protected you will be against coronavirus. Maintain A Social Distance Maintaining social distance is one of the most significant measures to prevent Coronavirus. You should maintain a distance of 3 feet (1 meter) from people who are having flu-like symptoms. Coronavirus is highly contagious, there is a high chance of getting infected if you are in close contact with someone who is suffering from it. A graphical illustration of social distancing is given below: Disinfect Surfaces Coronavirus can reside on surfaces. It is recommended to clean and disinfect high touch surfaces like doorknobs, switchboards, keys and cell phones, etc. There is a fair chance of transmission of coronavirus through these surfaces. If anyone touches them with contaminated hands, your hands can get contaminated too. You should also try to disinfect the products you are bringing home from the outside. You never know who has coughed, sneezed or touched them with contaminated hands. Cough And Sneezing You should cover your mouth with tissue paper while coughing and sneezing or cover it by an elbow. Throw that tissue paper in the dustbin and wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Wear A Face Mask It is necessary to wear a face mask if you are having an interaction with an infected person, or suffering from flu-like symptoms. It will protect others from getting infected. By wearing a face mask you would not transmit your infected respiratory droplets that would protect against coronavirus spread. Avoid Shaking Hands Stop shaking hands to greet people, instead, you can nod, bow or wave a hand to greet them. It is a tip to keep yourself and other people protected. Shaking hands can cause transmission of coronavirus from one’s hands to another. Conclusion Prevention is better than cure. You should exercise all the above-mentioned tips to protect yourself from catching a coronavirus infection. Everyone has to play their role to stop the dissemination of this coronavirus outbreak. You should take precautionary measures even if you are healthy because you can transmit it to someone with a weak immune system, an elderly or someone asthmatic. To them, it would be lethal, so everyone needs to take these safety measures to protect other people. If you need more information regarding coronavirus, you can visit InstaCare health articles for it.
Social Distancing – Why It Is Important To Stop Corona Virus? Pandemics do not stop on holidays just like us. So, there are some terms that are repeating on media and social media. You will be using it for a long time. Who knows when will this COVID-19 stops. Social Distancing Social distancing is increasing the physical space between persons. The minimum distance that you should maintain is 6 feet/ 1.8 meters. Examples of social distancing Cancellation of large gatherings and sports like PSL 5. Working from home. Closures of educational institutions. 14 days lockdown These precautions can help in reducing the number of coronavirus victims. Isolation Isolation is a health term that means remaining away from the people who have any contagious disease and virus e.g coronavirus(COVID-19). Self-Quarantine Self-Quarantinemeans put yourself in isolation, particularly for 14 days. Quarantine generally means that separation of the person who has exposed to communicable disease. But he himself has not shown any symptoms of that disease. The medical experts from all over the world including Instacare.com.pk say that 14 days period is enough for showing the symptoms of coronavirus. Flattening the Curve Flattening the curve means a reduction in an increasing number of victims of coronavirus. The numbers are increasing in direct proportion with time. By quarantining yourself, this curve will decrease. From above, we came to know the most trending terms on social media. Social distancing is the way that we can flat the curve and can reduce the spread of coronavirus. Coronavirus has become pandemic now and it will cost many human lives just like other pandemics of human history like Spanish Flu, Congo virus, and Plague. According to WHO, Spanish Flu kills almost a quarter of the world e.g 50 million. If it is not stopped then after some decades it will be added into the list of pandemics and one of the most deadly diseases in the history of humankind. Measures to stop coronavirus(COVID-19) Social Distancing Self-Quarantine Isolation The immediate action is set in ascending order and it depends upon the severity of the disease. Social distancing is an important and basic step that everybody can do to stop this pandemic and save oneself. If you feel any illness and have started to see symptoms of coronavirus, then immediately contact your nearby health center or contact here for counseling online. While Social Distancing, You can Read books Teach your kids as schools are closed Home Gardening Family Activities Stay in touch with loved ones through Skype e.t.c. Try new recipes of other cultures Walk but not in parks and crowded places While Social Distancing, You can not Arrange gatherings at your place Arrange unnecessary meetings Go for dinner outside Do unnecessary traveling Work out at public gyms Visit relatives especially elderly relatives like grandpa and grandma Study in an educational institution The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guides the public on their household plans during this lockdown. While creating a plan for this time and you can do the following: Talk with those who need to talk Talk with your family members because everybody has different interests. Plan activities by keeping in view the interests of every family member. Plan ways if your loved ones become ill “Expect good and prepare for the worst” thing applies here because if your family member falls ill. In case, you did not think about it then it will create panic and could cause great loss. Create a list of organizations For this, create a list of organizations that can properly guide you on what to do in that situation. For this purpose, the government of Pakistan created a helpline for the guidance of individuals. You can call on 1166 to ask for more details on coronavirus. Instacare is providing free counseling on this high time for serving the community. You can call on 0310-000-2273 for guidance from medical experts. Wash Hands Wash your hands frequently with soap for 20 seconds. But take care of natural water resources, you should not waste it for other calamities. Use sanitizers for outdoor purposes where water is not available. Understand how it spreads Coronavirus spreads from person to person but not from person to person who is 6 feet away from each other. Take necessary precautions like sneezing in your elbow and wear the, you will be safe. Protect Others In this state of crisis, it is an obligation to care for your loved ones but take care of other members of the community as well. If you are exposed to this disease or having symptoms of it then take precautions to protect yourself and your community. Social distancing is the basic and necessary step that can save millions of lives. No doubt, it is necessary to stop coronavirus. We can only stop it with social distancing because it’s vaccine not found yet. Here, we discussed a few steps that can help you do easily. We covered a few activities that you can do at this time to utilize this time in a productive manner. After this crisis will end, you will be happy to use this time for yourself and your family.
Mr. Bilal Amjad Founder & CEO InstaCare along his team met Mr. Zafar Iqbal Federal Minister of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination Government of Pakistan. Dr. Zafar Mirza served WHO as the Director of Health System Development at the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. He is a medical doctor with post-graduation in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a clinical stint in mental health. Both, Bilal and Dr. Zafar talked on a common vision of Accessible, Efficient and Affordable Healthcare Services in Pakistan to facilitate its people.
