The Help Me! Project was recently launched to connect IT engineers and over 150 volunteers in Vietnam and around the world to support Vietnamese people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was created under the National Technology Centre for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.
From the end of July, Ho Chi Minh City allowed asymptomatic patients to be quarantined at home. Realising the urgent need of tens of thousands of patients in need of telemedicine support as well as the pressure facing the medical force, the Help Me! project was developed to serve the community for free.
The project not only responds to people’s need for prompt support and advice but also pioneers applying technology to connect people who can help with those who need help, a news report noted. The volunteers can provide support around the clock. Bringing into full play the time and expertise of consulting volunteers across Vietnam will significantly reduce the load on the national health system in general, as well as medical facilities in pandemic-hit areas, in particular. The project is still calling on volunteers who are doctors, medical professionals of all specialities and ages across the country to join its work.
The National Technological Centre for Covid-19 Prevention and Control also launched another tech platform that takes testing samples and offers the test results online. The platform is being used in nine provinces and about 26 localities plan to implement it soon. A report found that by 19 August, the total number of samples entering the platform had reached 559,000, while the total number of test results given via the Bluezone app was 544,000. Bluezone is a Bluetooth, low-energy solution that can be installed on smartphones. The platform can provide services like remote medical consultation, remote surgery consultation, remote training, and remote tech transfers, among others.
The new platform assists medical workers in managing and taking samples for testing. It helps ease the workload on medical staff and frees them from manual operations. Under the old procedure, before having a sample taken, people had to fill in a form and then medical workers entered the information manually. The process was time-consuming and expensive as medical workers had to use protective suits and gloves. Further, the information provided by people on the form might be insufficient and inaccurate, and errors could occur during data entry.
Regarding the test results, under the old method, people needed to go to medical facilities to get results on paper. The large-scale testing also led to the gathering of many people at medical facilities. The results were late by several days. These problems can be addressed once medical facilities use the technological platform.
People need to install the Bluezone app and health declaration apps to get a QR Code. When they arrive at medical facilities, they need to show the QR Code. Medical staff will scan or use a smartphone with an installed tracing platform to scan the barcode on the test tubes, and then scan the QR Code to match the people who need to have samples taken.
