People can avail the video consultation service through ‘Hello Doctor Asia’ app on their smartphones. 

SCiBD Deputy Country Director Dr Shamim Jahan said, “Due to the coronavirus outbreak, getting medical consultation is quite difficult now. In this situation for chronic patients and other patients with general health conditions it is nearly impossible to receive medical consultations in many places." 

He noted that telemedicine has been established as a viable and even suitable tool for remote provision of medical services globally. 

"We started this advanced tele and video consultation (an App based service) to allow patients to consult doctors through a video conversation on a limited scale across the country," added Dr Shamim.

She added that SCiBD seeks to expand the service gradually aiming to bring it to the ‘hardest to reach communities’.

Hello Doctor Asia Chief Operating Officer Md Fakhrul Hasan lauded the approach and mentioned that many will be able to receive free Telemedicine consultation services through this partnership. 

Consultation services will initially be provided under SCiBD's ‘Emergency Response for COVID-19 Outbreak in Bangladesh’ project in partnership with ‘Hello Doctor Asia’ for the next two months as a pilot initiative.

The organisations plan to extend the service in accordance with the evolving context of the  COVID-19 outbreak. 

The  ‘Hello Doctor Asia’ app can be downloaded from the Google Playstore for free on any Android phone. Data costs with operator may apply.