Due to the impact of COVID-19, telemedicine industry has found new growth opportunities and is becoming more prevalent among society. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia, telemedicine can be defined as “medicine at a distance”. To put in simpler words, patients do not have to travel physically to hospitals or clinics for treatment. Currently, it has become a new norm in society as face-to-face consultations between physicians and patients may pose a risk of virus transmission to both parties.
In Malaysia, some private hospitals such as Sunway Medical Centre Velocity (SMCV), Pantai Hospitals, and Gleneagles Hospitals have provided this service, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19 and the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) which restricted movement of public. Consultations are given to patients through video conferencing using laptop or phone without paying a visit to hospital. This service benefits both parties as physicians can consult more patients in a day and patients can save time on transportation.
However, this service is not applicable to all medical conditions as there is a presence of certain limitations. Teleconsultation is mainly directed for patients with common medical problems such as headache, sore throat or back pain, remote control of chronic diseases and patients who require second opinions from health care providers.
To sum it up, telemedicine is projected to grow rapidly in short period of time. However, it is just an alternative for patients and cannot replace face-to-face consultation. Therefore, patients are advisable to seek opinions from their physicians whether they have to attend physically at hospital for follow up.
