The World is facing the impact of coronavirus plague which is not only affecting human health but also the economies. Coronavirus disease is spreading rapidly around the globe and countries with advanced medical facilities have become helpless. The World Health Organization is working to help countries to cope with this fatal disease. People and communities are suffering due to disease and lockdown. Travelers are not allowed to go to their destinations, the bread earners of the family are not allowed to work outside due to this lockdown. Every single person is fighting their battle differently. In this unprecedented healthcare crisis, technology like telehealth is bridging the communication gap between care receivers and caregivers.
What is telehealth?
Telehealth is a service or favor for health-related issues via telecommunication. In a situation such as a coronavirus pandemic, doctors are looking for easy and best ways to cure patients. Telehealth is a way to treat patients who cannot come to the doctor’s office to receive clinical services. The prime tools of telehealth are video chat, conference calling, and remote monitoring of vital signs.
Advantages of Telehealth in COVID-19 Cure
Everything has its pros and cons. The main advantage of telehealth is that you do not have to sit in a waiting area for a doctor’s appointment as we have to avoid the crowded place in the current scenario. You can consult your doctor directly through phone or video conferencing. The doctor can immediately give you medical advice without coming to his office. Telehealth is very effective especially for patients with chronic diseases.
Telehealth services are especially helpful in minimizing clinical visits. The telehealth services in the UAE are playing a vital role during this pandemic. No one is allowed to go outside during the current lockdown. If anyone is feeling any kind of symptoms of coronavirus disease so they can contact telehealth service providers online. Telehealth covers the distance between patients and providers. Another advantage of telehealth in UAE is that if a person doesn’t have access to go to doctors or they do not have hospitals in their surroundings, the telehealth service providers can reach to those patients as well.
Another utilization of telehealth is the availability of doctors. If the same doctor which you have consultation earlier is not available at a particular time so you will have to consult with any other doctor. In the pandemic, if the regular medical services are not available then telehealth can help.
Telehealth has proven helpful in COVID-19
A prominent physician, Dr.Ahmad Salah said, initially people were hesitant to use online medical services but now we have 150 appointments per day. He also said that we have the patient’s online record and we give prescriptions by checking their previous record. Dr.Alisha Moopen said, we have noticed that a large number of people are requesting to access telehealth. She said that we have 200 consultations per day. Another provider, Dr.Antony Oekeke, who is a medical specialist at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai said if a person needs laboratory tests, we provide the home care service as well. The technicians collect the sample of blood and we share the reports online. Aster offers a “Lab at Home” service as well. After witnessing all the reviews about telehealth, we can say that it is playing a significant role in coronavirus cure.
In the circumstances, where residents cannot go out or they are home quarantined, they are social distancing. People cannot move even for groceries except for the timings given by authorities. Telehealth services are accessible to everyone. We hope that in upcoming days UAE telehealth services would be in easy access to everyone.
Telehealth technologies have been in use for a reasonable time now. Almost 20 years back the very use of telehealth came to center stage and gradually its usage became mainstream. Today a growing number of healthcare organizations and providers are looking for ways to offer telehealth services to patients. Especially in the current scenario when a fatal pandemic has jammed everything and everyone is going through a stressful time. In such a situation if you have already access the services of your family doctor online and all the health documents are digitally available which means that telehealth is playing a big role during coronavirus. Many countries have relaxed the regulations around telehealth due to its effectiveness in pandemic and which has boosted its demand.
On one side we are experiencing incredible demand for telehealth services and on another side, we are observing a rapid evolution in telehealth due to incentives offered by the governments and growing support by health technologists and entrepreneurs. As a leading provider of telehealth solutions, you can contact our experts to equip your organization with telehealth.