‘Covid-19 Telehealth Centre’ of the a2i has won prestigious World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Award 2023 of the United Nations (UN) for its remarkable contribution during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Bangladesh.
a2i Project Director Dr Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir and Chief of e-Governance Strategist, Digital Service Accelerator of a2i Forhad Zahid Shaikh received the award on Wednesday at a grand ceremony at the headquarters of international Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland, said a press release.
The WSIS award of the UN is considered as the highest recognition in the information and technology sector.
The a2i in association with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the ‘Covid-19 Telehealth Centre’ on June 13 in 2020 to deal with the Covid-19 patients over telephone to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The centre rendered the healthcare service through the number 09666777222. It has been able to give treatment to 99 percent of the patients keeping them at their homes while only five percent patient was referred to hospitals.
The telehealth centre provided 15,61,068 kinds of health services to 7,04,890 patients from its inception to November 2021 during the pandemic period.
Like the ‘Covid-19 Telehealth Centre’, a number of digital innovations of the a2i have got the prestigious WSIS award in the recent years.
