Some months ago we commenced our planned expansion of our telehealth services to Ukraine. Like all our new market launches, it was a busy and exciting time for our medical team with interviews, onboarding and training new physicians on our system so they could begin to provide our first Ukrainian language service.
Then came the invasion and everything, of course, changed almost overnight for so many people. Many of our Doctors were displaced along with members of the public.
Our founding vision was – and still is – to make healthcare radically accessible for all. So we moved quickly to open up our Ukrainian service direct and free to all Ukrainians, refugees and those who could not leave.
The scale of the human impact is hard to fathom for those of us have not experienced it first-hand. How are our efforts progressing in Ukraine? To date we have handled over a thousand questions and the numbers are rising continuously. First of all, we should pay credit and recognise our physicians. They have happily participated in providing virtual care even though they too are personally impacted. They tell us they are glad to be able to provide advice this way. Since the invasion began, according to the latest WHO statistics, there have been 191 attacks on healthcare resulting in 75 reported deaths and massive disruption to healthcare services(1).
In terms of the kind of cases we are handling, the majority fall under the category of general practitioner queries. They are the normal everyday queries many would have had appointments for with their regular GP in normal times but can no longer do so safely. The next major categories are gynaecology at over 33% and dermatology at 23%.
The most recent UN estimates are now that 5.7 million Ukrainian refugees have been forced to flee their homes and seek safety as a result of the invasion. This figure is still rising.This is one of the largest and fastest refugee movements in Europe since the end of World War II.
We hope our service and those of our colleagues in the telehealth industry are helping in some way to provide some support for those affected.
Please do share our free service access details below accessible 24/7 via Telegram, WhatsApp & Viber.
Декілька місяців потому Abi Global Health було запущено в Україні локальну версію сервісу Абі з медичних мікроконсультацій. Ми вирішили надавати цю послугу безкоштовно усім українцям, які знаходяться на території країни та за її межами.
Сервіс Абі з медичних мікроконсультацій пропонує цілодобовий доступ до лікарів через Telegram, WhatsApp і Viber. Ви можете ставити будь-яке запитання стосовно здоров’я, включаючи можливість відправляти зображення, та отримувати відповідь від лікаря через декілька хвилин.
Щоб почати користуватися Abi безкоштовно, надішліть слово “почати” на каналах Абі у WhatsApp, Telegram або Viber:
Telegram
https://activate.abi.ai/telegram/почати
WhatsApp
https://activate.abi.ai/whatsapp/почати
Viber
https://activate.abi.ai/viber/почати
The Abi medical micro-consultation service provides 24/7 access to doctors via Telegram, WhatsApp & Viber. You can send any health question, including images, and get an answer from a doctor in a few minutes.
To use Abi for free, just send the word “почати” in the Abi WhatsApp, Telegram or Viber channels:
Telegram
https://activate.abi.ai/telegram/почати
WhatsApp
https://activate.abi.ai/whatsapp/почати
Viber
https://activate.abi.ai/viber/почати
Source: 1.
WHO’s surveillance system for attacks on healthcare
