More Chinese hospitals have launched free online medical consultation services to relieve pressure on hospitals and reduce the chance of cross infection amid the novel coronavirus spread.

General practitioners from the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region provide online medical consultation services. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)

Tongji Hospital affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan was one the them. On the first day the services were launched, about 400 experts from the hospital provided services through its official app and WeChat account for over 10,000 people. So far, more than 41,000 people have received online services from the hospital.

More than 10 senior experts from the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China in east China’s Anhui province are providing free online medical consultation services.

Ningbo Cloud Hospital in east China’s Zhejiang province has launched the services through its platform, with nearly 6,000 respiratory practitioners and physicians from hospitals on the platform.

Meanwhile, internet platforms have launched similar services. China’s internet giant Alibaba began providing the services through its mobile payment app Alipay and its flagship platform for medical services AliHealth on Jan. 24. It has also established a special channel for central China’s Hubei province, where the epidemic is most severe.

Wang Wei, president of Tongji Hospital, said the model of “staying home for quarantine and online medical consultation services” can effectively curb the spread of the epidemic.