Quick medical care: from screen to surgery
Apps that make health-care practitioners available to patients at the click of a few buttons are increasing in SA
Covid-19 has taken the doctor’s visit from the consulting room to platforms such as WhatsApp, Zoom and Google Meet. The pandemic had the unintended effect of forcing medical professionals and their patients to adopt technology quickly, as people concluded that avoiding close contact with strangers included staying far away from the doctor’s rooms.The tech innovation didn’t stop there. For one, Discovery Health has launched its own Covid-19 service for users to book a video consultation with a doctor through the company’s website or mobile app. The Discovery DrConnect service is free to members of the medical aid, and its benefits include access to a worldwide network of over 140,000 doctors from 200 countries across 147 specialities.Similarly, Netcare’s Medicross launched a telehealth platform at the end of September for virtual consultations. The Netcare VirtualCare includes video consultations via mobile devices and computers or a dial-in function for those who don’t have an inte...
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