‘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 here today.
‘Covid-19 Telehealth Centre’ has been recognised as the Champion under the category of ‘ICT Application: Benefits in all Aspects of Life.
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.
Of them, Digital Centre won the award in 2014, National Portal in 2015, 'Service Process Simplification' (SPS), Online Clearance of Department of Environment (DOE), Shikkhak Batayan and Krishaker Janala in 2016, Multimedia Talking Book, Telemedicine Project of Dhaka University, Use of Social Media in Citizen-centric Innovation and e-Nothi in 2017, ‘Muktapaath’ and Police Clearance Certificate Management System in 2018, Shikkhak Batayan and Mobile Based Age Verification and Marriage Registration Project in 2019; and ‘ekShop’ under the e-business category and skills, employment and entrepreneurship based integrated intelligence platform got the award under the e-Employment category in 2020.
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha