SINGAPORE: REMOTE CARE: A growing ageing population, shortage of doctors and nurses are leading to change
HOSPITALS in Malaysia should consider investing more in telehealth to improve healthcare delivery and efficiency in the country.
Telehealth or telemedicine involves the use of proprietary software and electronic devices with audio and visual capabilities to assist in the provision of medical care to patients.
"With only 30 intensivists (intensive care unit specialists) in Malaysia, remote areas with less developed healthcare facilities, for example in East Malaysia, can capitalise on the expertise available in the peninsula by centrally managing patients across the nation.
"This would help improve the overall healthcare quality across the whole country," said Philips Healthcare Asia Pacific senior vice-president and commercial leader Wayne Spittle in an interview during a healthcare session at the Philips Asia Media Summit here recently.
Spittle said telehealth solutions would not take away the personal interaction between patients and hospital staff as it still provides the human touch through its audio and visual capabilities.
"There is immediate medical attention throughout the day, unlike the standard mode of operation today, where patients need to wait to receive medical attention because of travel time between wards and across the entire hospital."
Several countries have begun capitalising on telehealth.
At a general hospital in Orange, New South Wales, Australia, beds have been linked to a clinical information portfolio computer system to give staff immediate access to patients' conditions from a central location.
Singapore hospitals have invested in ICU IT solutions to enable critical care medical staff to actively monitor patients in ICUs from remote locations.
The Hanh Phuc International Women and Children hospital in Vietnam has a central maternal-fetal monitoring station as well as wireless foetal monitoring solutions which provide clinicians with vital information to track patients throughout the labour and delivery period.
Surgeons at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, the United States, use a robotic system controlled from a remote location to unblock the arteries of patients with blocked peripheral arteries. Using video and integrated medical devices, medical experts are now providing services to communities in the most remote areas.
Industry analyst Datamonitor estimated that this year, the global spending on overall telehealth market (including home telehealth) will exceed US$6 billion (RM18.4 billion).
Spittle said with a growing ageing populations, the rise of chronic non-communicable diseases and the shortage of doctors and nurses, hospitals would lead the shift to telehealth solutions.