Background: The mental health and wellbeing of whole societies have been severely impacted by this crisis. Psychological distress is at the high level due to fear of infections, death, isolation, deep uncertainty about the future, wellbeing and national economics. Objective: The aim of this paper is to analyse resources, human and technological for installation of tele-health as a first step to minimize mental health consequences of the pandemic. Methods: In this paper we describe how experts from the Medical Informatics at two universities (in Sarajevo and Zagreb), worked on adapting psychological tele-counselling and its application during the COVID-19 and make healthcare system faster and safer and better responding to the chalanges. Results and Discussion: More than 90% professionals included in the research use Viber or WhatsApp are using those applications in private relations, but only 15% of them for official communication healthcare related. Less than 10% mental-health and social care institutions have proper ICT user support or monitoring tolls and methodology in place. Research discovered that 85% of professionals in the institutions involved consider continuous training as a must for delivering proper tele-care. Conclusion: Providing psychological first aid is an essential care component for populations that have been victims of emergencies and disasters, before, during and after the event.
Key words: e-health, telemedicine, tele-mental health, COVID-19.
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