By Indira Aryal
Kathmandu, Sept. 21: As the coronavirus outbreak has hit all health institutions across the country, online medical services have become a valuable means for connecting patients and doctors without any stress to visit the doctors in person amid the risk of virus transmission.
People in urban centres as well as those living in the rural areas are now enjoying the online medical consultation for their problems.
Telemedicine has made it possible for people in some of the remotest parts of Nepal to get specialist consultation and, in many cases, local treatment for emergency cases during the time of the pandemic.
Shyam Basnet (name changed) from Palpa is using online medical services for each member of his family. The whole family is now in home isolation as they all tested positive for the coronavirus. They are consulting at least five doctors with a different specialty.
“I am consulting with a pediatrician from London for my child and various other doctors from Norvic, Star Hospital and from the US. I talk to them at least once a day and that conversation is giving me hope to fight against the virus,” he said.
The demand for psycho-social counselling is also increasing as the people are staying indoors and most of them have lost their jobs.
Rekha Dahal from Dolakha, currently staying in Kathmandu, said that her symptoms of anxiety had developed five years ago but she has been tackling it by doing yoga and some exercise regularly. But after the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, she had to stay home the whole day, which worsened her problem further.
She said that she once visited Bharosha Hospital in New Baneshwor for her check-up. But now she has been consulting with the doctor online or by mobile phone.
Consulting through phone is easier than visiting a doctor at the hospital in this situation, Dahal said.
Psychiatrist Dr. P.P. Sharma said that he received at least one call a day from home and abroad for psychological counselling. “Since the country imposed its first lockdown on March 24, the number of psychological patients has been increasing in the country. Most of them visit the hospital but some seek online services due to fear of transmission of the virus,” he said.
Their problems include job loss and family disputes due to economic crisis, he said.
Joint-secretary at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sameer Adhikari, said that people seeking health facilities through phone, internet and SMS have been increasing rapidly during this time. There is no exact data on how the number is increasing, but consultation with different private and public hospitals about the services has been growing and the ministry is well known of the increasing factor of online medical services, he said.
Bir Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals in Nepal, receives more than 500 calls a day through its toll-free number. Officials at the hospital said that most of the calls are for appointment for operation, asking about the Out-Patients Department (OPD) services, and some of them asked for doctor’s consultation.
Dr. Adhikari said that the services have been very useful for the patients with chronic diseases, they just had to ask for medicine and some consultation. However, this is not useful for the emergency patients who need emergency surgery or for the COVID-19 patients.
Gastroenterologist at Norvic International Hospital Dr. Sandeep Raj Kunwar said the hospital received at least 40 calls a day asking for consultation with different doctors. He said the service was not useful for emergency cases, however, online consultation during this time of pandemic is more important as hospitals may become hotspots for the transmission of the disease.
“Patients can get any kind of consultation from their desired doctors staying at home, and this is the best practice provided by the hospitals to their patients,” Dr. Kunwar said.