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Good practice Imported

Dr. R.O.S.A. — Panama's WhatsApp AI Chatbot for COVID-19 Screening and Its Quiet Shutdown

Panama · Panama City · See the Panama profile · See the Panama City profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 74% 47/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Panama's Health Ministry launched Dr. R.O.S.A., a WhatsApp/phone AI chatbot that screened citizens for COVID-19 symptoms and logged 10,000 consultations in its first 72 hours — then quietly shut down its WhatsApp channel two years later with no published performance data since.

10,000 consultations
Consultations in first 72 hours (March 2020 (first 72 hours))
8,800 consultations
WhatsApp consultations (of the 10,000 total) (first 72 hours)
1,200 consultations
Phone consultations (of the 10,000 total) (first 72 hours)
Dr. R.O.S.A. — Panama's WhatsApp AI Chatbot for COVID-19 Screening and Its Quiet Shutdown

Details

Maturity
Discontinued
Promoter
Ministerio de Salud (MINSA) de Panamá, with the Autoridad de Innovación Gubernamental (AIG)
Period
March 2020 – June 2022 (WhatsApp channel discontinued)
Keywords
health chatbot, COVID-19 screening, WhatsApp, public health emergency response, citizen triage

Context

Panama's Ministry of Health (MINSA) launched Dr. R.O.S.A. in March 2020, an AI-based virtual assistant reachable via WhatsApp and a dedicated phone line, built on WHO symptom-screening protocols. It asked citizens structured questions about possible COVID-19 symptoms and exposure, then routed them to home-care guidance, testing, or emergency dispatch. A companion bot, Dr. N.I.C.O., separately handled negative-test notifications.

Results

PAHO/WHO reported 10,000 total consultations within the assistant's first 72 hours of operation (about 8,800 via WhatsApp, 1,200 by phone). Two years later, MINSA announced the WhatsApp channel would be suspended effective June 22, 2022, with no stated reason and no continuity plan. No outcome, accuracy, or satisfaction data was ever published beyond the initial 72-hour count, and no data confirms continued meaningful use on the service's other claimed channels.

Conclusions

A real, credibly documented citizen-facing AI tool that handled genuine pandemic-era volume, but one for which no outcome or accuracy data was ever published beyond its early usage count, and which was wound down without a stated continuity plan.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Built on WHO screening protocol via WhatsApp/phone line; no published budget or vendor cost figures.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Launched within weeks of the COVID-19 emergency declaration (March 2020); WhatsApp channel discontinued June 2022 after roughly two years of operation.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Health (MINSA) with the Autoridad de Innovación Gubernamental (AIG) built and operated the tool

Conditions for success

  • Rapid deployment during an acute pandemic emergency created strong immediate citizen demand

Common failure modes

  • WhatsApp channel suspended after roughly two years with no stated reason or continuity plan
  • No outcome or accuracy data published after the initial 72-hour count, limiting ability to assess sustained value

Where it fits

Governance type
national ministry-led
Scale
national
Income level
upper-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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