Nearly 500 patients receive their medicines at their doorsteps daily as part of a new initiative launched by the Health Ministry, it has been revealed.
However, daily as many as 1,000 patients are seeking to receive their medication through the home delivery service introduced on April 30 amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The system, aimed at ensuring the health, safety and comfort of patients and visitors, has received positive response from patients and their families, said the ministry.
It said the figures are proof of the success of the move aimed at reducing the number of visits to healthcare facilities.
“We initially aimed to limit the number of patients allowed to register at each health centre, with 30 to 50 applications per day,” said primary health pharmacy department head Professor Wejdan Saleh yesterday.
“Subsequently, we increased the permissible ceiling to 100 applications per day for each centre, so that all patients are covered.
“We see requests for medicine deliveries ranging from 350 to 900 requests per day at health centres.
“The number of patients registering for delivery requests increased dramatically due to the quality of service, especially with the presence of volunteers who facilitate the registration process for patients, the elderly and their families.”
People suffering from chronic illnesses can register their medications for home delivery on www.moh.gov.bh/services/pharmacy.
The medicines will be delivered to the patient according to the date specified in the service by the receiver.
Upon receiving the electronic request, the pharmacy staff at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) will collect the medicines depending on the prescription registered under i-Seha, the national health information system, and then dispatch them to the patient.
SMC pharmacy head Professor Rehab Al Nuaimi added that an automatic renewal service for receiving medicines has also been introduced to further ease the facility.
“Patients are required to register on the link provided on the ministry’s website,” she said.
“The SMC pharmacy has created an automatic renewal service for receiving medicines, so that when the patient clicks on this feature in the online link, medicines are delivered monthly without the need to re-register, until the expiry of the prescription period.
“On an average, SMC delivers medicines to about 500 prescriptions per day.”
The ministry said the service which aimed at the health, safety and comfort of patients and visitors received positive feedback and praise from patients and their families.
“The service is for people who take medicines from SMC or health centres and it saves them the trouble of going to the hospital or health centre, especially during the pandemic, which requires social distancing,” it said in a statement yesterday.
“The pharmacists perform their duties remotely with professionalism and ability, to reach the prescribed medicines to the patient at his home.
GOALS
“Many patients and their families interacted positively as the service saves time and effort, and has achieved its desired goals of strengthening prevention, reducing overcrowding in hospitals and health centres, and reducing the frequency of chronic disease patients’ visits to hospitals and health centres,” it said pointing out that such patients were “considered as the most vulnerable to infection”.
The free delivery service, except for restricted drugs, is available to citizens, insured residents, patients with chronic diseases, telemedicine patients, and patients who are in home quarantine.
A person has to show identification to receive the medicines, and prescriptions can be renewed through 80007000 for the health centres, and 17285000 for SMC.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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