Materia Medica Malaysiana

Online healthcare service launched

JOHOR BARU: Rural folks in Johor and Sarawak can now look forward to being treated by specialists without having to leave their hometowns, thanks to the online healthcare service provided by the Health Ministry.
The Teleprimary Care (TPC) service, which took nearly nine years to develop, was jointly launched yesterday by Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman and Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek at the Kempas Health Clinic near here.
Dr Chua said 28 clinics in Johor and 17 in Sarawak had been chosen for the pilot TPC project.
He said the Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru and the Sibu Hospital would be the referral centres.
“Much time and money will be saved with this service as one does not need to go to the referral centres just to get consultation or even treatment from specialists.
“All a patient needs to do is just go to the nearest clinic that has the TPC service and health problems which require specialists attention will be taken care of using the online service,” he said.
Dr Chua said the service would also enable patients to enjoy follow-up checks by specialists.
“It uses a borderless system which we dare say is the first in the region. However, we are being pragmatic about the public's response as Malaysians are still not responsive to online services,” he said.
Dr Chua also said about 800 medical personnel had been trained to manage and provide the service.