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Daman and Microsoft release COVID-19 “health bot” across UAE

A leading national health insurance company in the United Arab Emirates has joined forces with Microsoft to release a bilingual “health bot”, it has emerged.

The newly-released Daman Health Bot is an AI-powered tool designed to help users conduct a self-assessment on COVID-19 symptoms, directing them towards the appropriate level of care or action required. Available in English and Arabic, the tool works by asking a patient a defined set of questions, offering “patient assessment for the disease, triage and symptom checking, general medical information,” as well as making medical recommendations.

It also is able to determine whether a user requires to connect with the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (DoH), UAE Ministry of Health & Prevention (MOHAP), or the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) for further assessment.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Daman Health Bot is the latest in the health insurance’s company’s mission to invest in digitalisation, having already been utilising AI for administrative tasks, including claims management, it said in a statement.

“We have a very important social responsibility to play during the pandemic crisis and protect the health and safety of people. The Daman Health Bot speaks to that effort by addressing queries and reducing person to person engagement,” said Daman CEO, Hamad Al Mehyas. “Partners such as Microsoft are empowering us with the right technology to better engage the public and provide the right level of guidance. The Daman Health Bot will reduce patient visits to hospitals, lessen workload on call centres, enhance patient experience and encourage them to proactively manage their health condition.”

The company added it aims to “distribute” the health bot to its network of over 2.5 million members via the company website and mobile app.

Meanwhile, looking ahead, Daman and Microsoft plan to continue working together to integrate the health bot to other consumer services, such as digital consultations and general lifestyle-related advice.

ON THE RECORD

“Technology is playing a key role in helping patients assess their situation quickly and conveniently,” said Sayed Hashish, general manager of Microsoft UAE. “Our Healthcare Bot service empowers organisations like Daman to build and deploy AI-powered conversational healthcare experience at scale.

“With our mission to empower every person and organisation to achieve more, Microsoft is committed to bringing its tools and innovations to support healthcare organisations [and] provide the best possible care.”

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