You took a self-test or a rapid antigen test and discovered you have COVID-19? You live with someone that was in contact with a positive case? These are only two of the multiple situations and doubts that trouble nowadays thousands of Portuguese, and which not always get a swift and unequivocal answer. But now all they have to do is access “ COVID-19: e agora? (COVID-A19: and now?) – an interactive tool, in a straightforward language, created based on the guidelines of the General Directorate for Health (DGS) – and learn quite easily what to expect and how to proceed. This free tool and available to the general population has just been created by UpHill, a start-up that Luz Saúde is a shareholder of. In just five days, the platform registered over 150 thousand users. “COVID-19: e agora?” provides all the information necessary for any citizen to understand his particular situation and learn how to act, whatever the case may be. The initiative has arisen in the sequence of a request launched by family doctors, unable to respond every contact from patients and users with doubts on what to do, in view of the exponential rise of the number of infected by COVID-19, associated to the spreading of the Omicron variant that is putting pressure on the different health services. David Rodrigues, UpHill representative, explains: “Although two years have elapsed since the start of the pandemic, many doubts remain, the information is dispersed, there are multiple exceptions, and the language used is not always clear to the common citizen. On the other hand, the rules change frequently, as a result of the scientific knowledge continuously generated, contributing to create even more confusion”; “At UpHill, we are always in contact with health professionals and they have been reporting to us that many of the doubts that people have could be clarified with information already existent, but to which they have no access or cannot understand”. The quality and timeliness of the recommendations included in the platform are ensured by the team of physicians from UpHill. All the information is grounded in the guidelines from DGS. UpHill: Is a company that develops medical software and content to support clinical decision taking and quality analysis in hospital and other health institutions. Was founded in 2015 by three physicians and maintains a consolidated presence in the hospital sector in Portugal, besides participating in projects with pharmaceutical multinationals and also at international level, in Greece, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Has signed recently a protocol with the General Directorate for Health for the modernization of the process of creation and dissemination of clinical rules, and announced a pilot-project to improve the efficiency of three public hospitals, taking place this current year.
