5,000 use NCRHA's telemedicine service

OVER the past five weeks, 5,000 patients have been attended to in the North-Central Regional Health Authority via its telemedicine programme.

This was revealed by NCRHA manager, primary care services Dr Abdul Hamid, who added that the country's elderly population has been appreciative of the authority’s telemedicine initiatives. He was speaking at the Health Ministry’s virtual press conference on Wednesday morning.

Telemedicine refers to remote or virtual consultations with medical professionals, for instance, a doctor’s appointment or consultation occurring over a video chat. Asked how the elderly population has been responding to such initiatives, Hamid said it has been “the biggest success story.

“The appreciation for the older persons who can’t come out their houses or depend on somebody else to get transport – they have been extremely appreciative.

“They have a relative who will be contacted as well, and we have been counselling the relatives as well to take care of the older persons at home. So it’s very, very successful in terms of our elderly population.”

He said almost daily, the elderly patients commend the doctors, saying, “They didn’t know something so revolutionary could have existed in TT.

“So it’s something we really want to move forward with as a national policy because of the impact it can have.”

One of TT’s biggest problems, he said, is access to medication and compliance. But he said he has observed that more people are collecting their medication and taking it, which lessens the chances of the patient ending back up in the hospital.