With COVID-19 being declared a pandemic, fear and anxiety associated with it has also increased. The anxiety and fear will now increase the footfalls to emergency rooms and clinics.
Not all of those will actually be suffering from COVID-19. These visits, however, would have the potential to leave both the medical personnel and other patients who may already be unwell at risk.
The spike in visits to clinics and emergency rooms would not only increase the possibility of contracting the pandemic infection, it would also keep away those who may need medical attention for problems not related to COVID-19.
Patients with milder symptoms can be better treated and monitored at home by telemedicine systems. This would also prevent the spread of the disease further and also leave the facilities free for more serious cases that require urgent medical attention.
Singapore-based healthcare start-up Lucep has come up with a solution VirtuaQ, which helps prevent the spread of COVID-19 and helps provide better medical attention to those who require it the most.
Lucep CEO and co-founder Kaiesh Vohra told Asia Insurance Review, “VirtuaQ is part of our effort to provide support to healthcare providers, as recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
The CDC has suggested that healthcare providers should consider ways to prevent patients from coming in person if they can be provided the care they need without having to leave their home. Specifically, the CDC suggests identifying and separating patients with respiratory symptoms from the rest, and then leverage telemedicine technologies for their treatment.
Mr Vohra said, “This (VirtuaQ) helps the medical community - doctors, clinics, healthcare providers and insurers – to get their patients into a digital line, where they have already provided their contact number and vital information such as whether they have any respiratory symptoms.”
If required, the system facilitates online health check-ups via WhatsApp/Facetime or other video conferencing or telemedicine platforms.
“Doing this will ensure that clinics and hospitals don't have crowds of patients waiting to be seen by doctors, and each patient gets a phone consult first. Only if found necessary, they can then come to the healthcare facility in person, just in time for their scheduled appointment.”
Certain advanced features of the system, such as pooled queues enable patients to be automatically and quickly moved through an array of tests required during health check-ups. The patient is sent to the next test where medical staff is currently available, instead of having to wait in line.
The system not only saves the time of both, the medics and also the patients, it also safeguards them from any infectious situations.
Mr Vohra said, “Tracking patients from the time they get in line, to when they arrive at the doctor’s clinic, and all the way through multiple tests and the final diagnosis and treatment, helps reduce costs for the patients and the hospital, and for the insurance companies that will be bearing the bulk of the costs of this pandemic.”
He said, “The system is being provided to doctors and hospitals on a no-cost basis to provide assistance to medical professionals under strain from this serious healthcare crisis caused by COVID-19.”