Telemedicine allows health care professionals. i.e. Doctors. To evaluate, diagnose and treat patients using telecommunication technology. It is a way to treat patients through a distance. During early days, the practice was used to connect doctors treating a patient at one place to specialists at another location; which proved to be useful for rural areas where specialists are rarely available. The equipment necessary for conducting remote visits remained complex and expensive, so while the use of approach was growing, it remained limited. The rise of internet age brought changes in the scenario. Availability of high-quality video transmission through smart devices opened up the opportunity of delivering remote healthcare as an alternative to a person to person visits.
As Coronavirus outbreak took place in India, the India council of medical research (ICMR) allowed doctors to take recourse to telemedicine. It is a modern healthcare practice around the globe. Telemedicine is provided by the doctors since 2000 in India but as the COVID-19 outburst took place it has received the necessary statutory support. The state medical councils revoked the ban on telemedicine which led to it being fully legal and beneficial for the patients and the doctors. The step became necessary despite the fact of whether the healthcare teams and patients were ready or not.
On 7th July 2020 Niti Aayog made a statement on twitter- A study shows that 50 million Indians have accessed online healthcare and in-person doctor visits are down by 67 per cent. What a feat!
BENEFITS OF TELEMEDICINE
Telemedicine gives the patients to make decisions and teaches them self-care. For example, in the case of diabetes patients visit doctors once in 2-3 months to get advice on change in the dosage of medicines. Such visits can be skipped. The patients can get in touch with a specialist of their choice located in another city through video calls or other mobile applications. We have various communication platforms like WhatsApp, mail etc., the time has come to adopt all these technologies. Some of the benefits are-
- Reduces healthcare Costs- It helps to reduce healthcare costs by avoiding transfer of patients from one location to another, reduction in hospital costs etc.
- Improves quality health-care delivery- It can help improve the quality of delivery with both mental and physical conditions.
- Enhances traditional face-to-face medicine- The practice of telemedicine should support the traditional practice rather than replacing it. The medical practitioners shall pay a visit to patients from time-to-time while still providing convenience and flexibility of seeing patients remotely.
- Provides engagement and satisfaction- The practice makes it easy for patients to maintain their health while engaging in the practice of taking care of themselves.
- Provides access to care- The time gap that travels brings between care providers and patients can create a hurdle in access to care. It can be beneficial for people in rural areas and locations with undermined facilities.
DISADVANTAGES OF TELEMEDICINE
- Lack of Personal relationship– If a patient prefers a face-to-face relationship with their doctor or a more intimate treatment, then telemedicine might not the option for them. The patient may never meet the doctor in person.
- Availability and Cost- For health care providers, it can be difficult to set up and maintain the process. It can be very costly for small healthcare clinics.
- Insurance- Not all countries allow insurance coverage for telemedicine. Currently, only 26 states require insurers to cover or reimburse the costs.
- Protection of data- Hackers can access the medical information of a person, especially when the patient uses a public network.
- Delay in Care- In case of requirement of emergency care, accessing telemedicine first may cause a delay in treatment because a doctor cannot provide life-saving tests or laboratories digitally.
AVAILABILITY OF APPS FOR TELEMEDICINE CONSULTATION
These applications are need of the hour now, we must be careful while using them as we cannot avoid them completely. Nowadays most of the urban patients keep blood pressure machine, thermometers etc. with them, but when these apps are connected to the apps the information goes to the doctor directly which can help him advise the best treatment. Some apps have diagnostic centres attached to them, the information goes to the doctor and the patient is provided with the timely and best advice. Smart-phone parameters help to maintain a record of patients which helps in tracking the changing health parameters, it is an elaborate and trendy way to provide help to the patients.
HOW DIFFICULT CAN IT BE TO ACCEPT THIS CHANGE?
In the last few decades, people have adapted themselves to many technological changes. It is time that we learn to live with the novel coronavirus. The doctors have made themselves ready for it, now the patients need to get accustomed to this practice too; so that crowd, long queues at doctor’s clinic can be avoided. Hospitals will always be available for emergencies but consultation from home is the best option in current times. Primarily developed for providing assistance in rural areas, it has found a fresh lease of life during this pandemic.
The fear is running high which is making it easy for people to get people on board with telemedicine. Based on a study of 5 crore people who accessed online healthcare between March and May by Health tech platform Practo shows how virtual appointments increased by 500% out of which 80% were first-timers, signalling a possible shift in healthcare delivery. The older people might find it difficult to accept these changes given the fact that they are not familiar with smartphones and the digital world.
CONCLUSION
Despite being in existence for decades now, the telemedicine was not an active practice given the ambiguities around it. The uncertainty of rules and legislation that came along with it, made it a risky practice and patients, as well as the doctors, choose to stick to the forever-old practice of in-person treatments. However, pandemic changed the situation. From the past few months, given the amount of risk around the world people became ready to divert to remote healthcare practices. While it has its own pros and cons, the practice is the need of the hour.
