Verbal Screening of Household Members through PHC Network in the IR of Iran: The First Phase of the National Mobilization against COVID-19

In late 2019, the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, with symptoms similar to the common cold or severe respiratory illness, created a global public health crisis. In order to control and manage this disease, countries and the World Health Organization have adopted various strategies and decisions. This study aims to describe the initial measures of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the focus on the Deputy Minister of Health in the framework of the national mobilization plan to combat COVID-19.

A mixed method study including reviewing the documents of different departments of the Deputy Minister of Health in the management and control of the COVID-19 epidemic (qualitative) and descriptive cross-sectional (quantitative) study was conducted between March 2020 and April 2020. In this study, data and information related to all 63 universities / medical schools in the country were collected from the electronic health record systems and the portal of the Network Management Center and analyzed using EXCEL software.

In the first step of the national mobilization against COVID-19, about 1200 selected comprehensive health centers of COVID-19, salamat.gov.ir self-assessment system and COVID-19 distance counseling and training telephones (406-190-1666) were launched. About 98% of the people registered in the electronic health record systems (78,315,029 people) were orally screened and evaluated, of which 6,220,603 were elderly, 262,717 had diabetes, and 3,356,131 had high blood pressure, 29,201 obease people, 517,696 pregnant mothers and 2,722,659 foreign nationals. Another important result of the implementation of the first step of the national mobilization was a significant reduction in the burden of hospitalization and management of outpatients in the first level of the health system (primary health care).

The COVID-19 epidemic created a crisis in the world, the management of which became the top of the world's health activities. The health sector of Iran, using the capacity of the health network system structure and service providers, developed appropriate policies for the management and control of this disease. One of these policies is the verbal screening to combat COVID-19, which has led to the optimal management of this epidemic.