The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine caused enormous damage and destruction to Ukraine’s health care system. According to Viktor Liashko, Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine, during the first five months of War “The Russian terrorist state already damaged almost 900 health care facilities, including 127 hospitals that were completely destroyed.”
In these challenging times, Ukrainian doctors are tasked with saving lives of millions of Ukrainians: under artillery fire and in bomb shelters, in military and civilian hospitals, on the front line and in the rear. Many doctors have been forced to relocate, resulting in a shortage of primary care physicians and subspecialists in many areas. In order to strengthen the quality of medical care in Ukraine, our organization Global Medical Knowledge Alliance (GMKA) together with the Empat Startup Studio created a unique mobile application HealUA, to facilitate peer-to-peer consultations for Ukrainian physicians with each other and with physicians in other countries. The application facilitates effective virtual communication and remote consultation between medical professionals about diagnosis and treatment of Ukrainian patients.
What is HealUA?
HealUA is a mobile application for physicians that was developed to facilitate peer-to-peer consultations for Ukrainian physicians with each other and physicians in other countries.
Who can join?
Any physician from anywhere in the world who would like to support Ukrainian colleagues by providing advice about diagnosis and treatment of patients in Ukraine can join HealUA.
What is the main purpose of HealUA?
To unite Ukrainian doctors and their colleagues from all over the world in one platform in order to strengthen the quality of medical care and improve health outcomes for Ukrainians. HealUA provides an opportunity to exchange experience between Ukrainian doctors and their colleagues from abroad. The application allows for submission of patient cases with questions about diagnosis and treatment and receipt of expert advice from doctors registered in the application.
How did the idea to create HealUA come about?
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian physicians faced a new reality of treating patients. Due to shortages of medical professionals, doctors are often forced to deal with cases outside of their specialty area. Pictures of the only anesthesiologist in the bomb shelter delivering a baby and a family medicine physician in occupied territories performing minor surgeries circled the globe. These stories prompted the GMKA and Empat teams to create an app where doctors would be able to provide informal physician-to-physician consultations and advice remotely.
How to join?
This application works on both IOS and Android. The application is available at the following link: http://onelink.to/healua
What language is the application in?
HealUA has an interface in both Ukrainian and English.
Does HealUA cost anything to use?
No, the HealUA application is absolutely free and can be downloaded from the App Store/Play Market via the link: http://onelink.to/healua
Is it possible to consult patients in the application?
No, the HealUA app is designed exclusively for physician-to-physician consultations. Only a doctor can give advice to a doctor about the treatment of a patient.
How is patient confidentiality protected?
Users are asked to confirm that they will not share any information that identifies individual patients, including names, pictures, dates of birth, addresses, location, or other identifying information that can be linked back to the patient.
User verification
Doctors from the USA are automatically verified through the NPI number. All Ukrainian doctors at the registration stage undergo verification through the “Diia”—Ukrainian e-government application. We check and verify doctors from other countries manually based on specific licensing requirements of each country. This makes it possible to create a certain filter against bots, etc.
How does HealUA work?
How many doctors have joined the HealUA app?
As of 24 October 2022, over 1500 physicians from Ukraine have already joined HealUA, with robust discussions about complex patient cases.
Is the consulting physician responsible for the patient’s treatment?
No, when working with patients, only the requesting physician should make the final decision.
Where can I read the “privacy note”?
The “privacy policy” and “terms and conditions” are written by the Pro Bono law firm. You can find them inside the app: go to your profile → scroll down → find “privacy policy” and “terms and conditions”.
Attention!
- HealUA was created exclusively for the exchange of experience and knowledge between doctors.
- When working with patients, doctors must independently make final decisions.
- Other users and developers of HealUA are not responsible for the medical decisions, diagnosis and treatment you make.
Contacts:
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