Professor introduces remote patient routing system

Doha, Qatar: In a significant revolution for the healthcare sector, Prof. Ridha Hamila, Professor of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering at...

Doha, Qatar: In a significant revolution for the healthcare sector, Prof. Ridha Hamila, Professor of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering at Qatar University (QU), has introduced an innovative system for remote patient routing to medical facilities. 

This groundbreaking development promises to streamline patient scheduling and reduce the inefficiencies that currently plague healthcare systems worldwide. Traditional patient scheduling methods, whether independent across hospitals or dependent on patients’ choices, often result in human interactions that cause delays and suboptimal outcomes. 

The current systems frequently lead to long queues, extended waiting times, and increased risks for patients. The need for a more efficient, automated solution has become evident, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems globally. Professor Hamila’s system introduces a unified framework designed to distribute patients across various medical facilities efficiently. 

This system employs advanced algorithms to minimize the total expected service time and the probability of service delays.  The system features a processor in communication with a memory that receives scheduling requests from patients’ devices over a network. 

It gathers real-time information from multiple medical facilities, including current patient loads, occupancy states, and availability. Using this data, the system determines the estimated service time for each patient, including travel, waiting, and consultation times.