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One of Bahrain’s leading private hospitals, American Mission Hospital (AMH), has launched its Telemedicine service to give patients an opportunity to connect and book virtual consultations with their doctors from the safety of their homes.
Telemedicine will be offered via a cloud-based English application, separate from the AMH’s current mobile app which is available on Android and iOS.
In a statement, the 117-year-old hospital and first modern healthcare operation in the kingdom, announced: “We are all rethinking how we deliver healthcare, based on lessons learned in these last few months with the Covid-19 pandemic. Like many healthcare organisations, AMH turned to Telemedicine to extend care and meet community needs during this time of physical distancing. We realise that Telemedicine is the need of the hour, especially when the world is facing unprecedented challenges with the coronavirus pandemic.
“The main features of Telemedicine are allowing the patient to connect with AMH and book virtual consultations with our doctors. To allow patients to keep a complete digital record of their health on the application and to allow patients to upload any medical records they think are relevant and want to discuss with the doctor. Patients are able to obtain valid medical e-prescriptions after their appointment is over, which they can use at AMH pharmacy to obtain medicines.”
Interested patients can use the service by contacting AMH’s call centre and booking an appointment based on the doctor’s availability.
Patients are also able to connect medical wearable devices and record vital measurements which can be used by physicians and medical staff to triage, screen and remotely diagnose cases.
Patient information is secured in the cloud and medical history can only be accessed by patients and the associated medical practitioners.
The hospital added: “With Covid-19 contributing to higher fatalities among immunocompromised people like chronic diseases and comorbidities, it can be used to avoid virus exposure by the means of reducing hospital visits. In addition to, it can reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission among health care professionals those working tirelessly in the frontlines by keeping all the significant infected patients out of hospital. Telemedicine can be used to triage more patients, screen and diagnose remotely. According to Infectious Diseases Society of America, it also supports cost effective care by keeping patients to unlikely visit to emergency department and face to face consultations.”
Currently, Telemedicine is available for Surgical, Internal Medicine, ENT, Paediatrics, Dermatology, Psychiatric, Anaesthesia and a part of the General Practitioner (GP) departments, with plans to expand to other services.
AMH’s separate existing app enables patients to find a doctor, book appointments, call ambulance and view their medical accounts remotely, and will be complemented by the Telemedicine application.
At this time, the hospital is not offering remote fulfilment of prescriptions and home delivery of medication, to ensure that patient queries are addressed and appropriate explanations are given with the prescription by the associated pharmacist.
AMH’s chief executive and chief medical officer Dr George Cheriyan told GulfWeekly: “Virtual health is here to stay, the Covid-19 pandemic has just accelerated this change. Digitised healthcare will continue to disrupt traditional models of delivery of care that is patient centred in the community. Tele-health is one part of the spectrum of virtual health that will enable the patient to stay connected with their healthcare providers at different levels in accessing healthcare.”
For more details, call 17177711.
