Telemedicine is the exchange of medical information from one location to another using electronic communication.
As hundreds of millions of people in the country are staying home right now and will continue to do so over the next few weeks to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, it seems telemedicine is suddenly getting attention from healthcare providers.
Public health experts said that although this is not a recent phenomenon, the technology based service has now emerged as a way for health practitioners to keep general patients at home and ensure that they, especially those whose lives are at risk due to coronavirus infection, receive the necessary treatment without needing to come out of their homes.
It helps doctors ensure security for themselves and also for patients who might go to hospitals for the flu or other common ailments.
Health experts said if the country sees a sharp peaking of Covid-19, it would need many more free facilities readily available. Also, if patients are treated at an early stage, it would help the authorities to have more space at hand.
With telemedicine, patients would also get more timely healthcare services.
Telemedicine in Bangladesh
A 1924 Radio News magazine issue featured a picture of a doctor attending to a patient by video call. At that point, it was only the editor’s fantasy yet to materialize..
However, from the 1940s to the 1960s, countries like Canada and the United States developed this idea of remote communication between a doctor and a patient.
Telemedicine came to Bangladesh in the early 2010s. It received a boost from the government when the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) took some measures in 2012 which came into effect through the Information and Communication Technology Division on a limited scale in 2015.
As the government wanted to popularize the service on a massive scale, the ICT division with its 'Info Sarker' project, launched 25 Telemedicine Centres in different upazila health complexes on January 10, 2015, to provide healthcare facilities to rural people.
DGHS sources said at present, 94 facilities in the country, including 9 government specialized and medical college hospitals, 11 district hospitals, and more than 50 upazila level hospitals, have equipment to provide healthcare by videoconference.
The government could not make it very popular in the 2010s. But it seems that telemedicine is getting a new life due to the ongoing situation.
The government received some 2.45 million health related calls in the last two months—mostly in late March and early April.
Almost all the tertiary hospitals in Dhaka, previously had telemedicine facilities in name only.
The government introduced it in a more organized fashion, soon after the coronavirus outbreak became a global issue.
This was done in order to curb the spread of the virus at hospital outpatient services and keep physicians safe, so that doctors and hospital facilities are available if the outbreak occurs on a larger scale.
Several physicians’ associations, doctors’ rights forums, and even politically aligned doctors’ associations are currently offering telemedicine facilities.
The importance of telemedicine during the pandemic
Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital Director, Dr Uttom Kumar Barua, said that for the time being people should avoid visiting doctors for common complaints.
Healthcare professionals need to be focused on people suffering from Covid-19 symptoms right now, he commented.
He remarked that telemedicine will help maintain social distancing and keep patients from infecting other patients.
He added that telemedicine will provide convenient and cost-effective medical care.
DGHS Additional Director General Sanya Tahmina advised people to not visit hospitals without consulting with doctors beforehand, and urged people to call government telemedicine hotlines 16263, 333, and 10655, or 01944333222 for health related queries.
National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Resident Surgeon, Asraful Hoque Sium, said cardiac patients need immediate and frequent treatments, but going outside of their homes is very risky for them.
“This is why the hospital authorities have launched a hotline number to provide telemedicine service to them,” he added.
