COVID-19 Telephone Consultation by Iranian Traditional Medicine as an Integrative Medicine: Benefits and Challenges

Abstract

The COVID-19 disease started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and spread across the world, including the Islamic Republic of Iran. Due to the high prevalence of this disease, it resulted in worry in many people and has led to several unnecessary visits to medical centers which may have increased the risk of infection. Preventive measures are necessary to control outbreaks and decrease disease burdens. Telemedicine such as telephone consultation is an efficient and safe platform to control disease in times of infectious epidemics by reducing the communication between people and the presence of non-infected people in medical centers. Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) as integrated medicine, is a collection of scientific principles and methods for the prevention and treatment of disease. The Nobaan’s telephone consultation system was set up by ITM specialists to provide consultations for COVID-19. A total of 43 ITM physicians have been consulting health seekers every day from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. based on national guidelines for COVID-19 and a specialized guide from academic resources of ITM. From 18 March to 17 April 2020, the doctors received a total of 2778 calls and provided a total of 11221 minutes of consultation. In total, 50% of physicians answered more than 90% of the calls and the average length of each call was 4.5 minutes. Finally, it seems except few limitations compared with face to face patient visit, this newly consultation by ITM specialist may provide considerable help to prevent and manage COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.