When the fifth wave of the epidemic was the most severe, there were a large number of confirmed cases in the community. In order to reduce the risk of infection, citizens tried their best to avoid going out and maintain social distance.
At that time, telemedicine service happened to be a "good helper" for the HA.
We have set up a medical enquiry support hotline and a Chinese medicine consultation hotline. People in need can get advice on medical or Chinese medicine just by calling.
In addition, we have also launched a "Telemedicine Support Service Station" to handle cases referred by the HA's support service systems such as "Nursing Bell" and "Isolation Nursing System". Medical enquiries during community quarantine, and advice on infection control and telemedicine.
Dr Tang Yiu-keng, Director of Network Services, Hospital Authority
Different methods, such as telephone, video consultation or consultation, have been widely used since the outbreak.
Patients do not have to come to the hospital at every turn, reducing the risk of cross-infection.
Even if the epidemic situation has stabilized now, the technical and administrative support of these remote medical services will not be abandoned.
Rather, they are invaluable experiences that will help us develop better in the future.
In fact, patients have built up a certain level of acceptance of telemedicine during the pandemic.
In my opinion, the role of telemedicine in the public healthcare system still has considerable room for development and potential.
Currently, we are piloting a pilot project to provide telemedicine services to the elderly in rural villages in the New Territories.
Through the HA mobile app "HA Go", the elderly can follow-up visits by video in the original area, avoiding the need to travel long distances to the clinic for treatment.
We hope that this program will bring us practical results and enlightenment, and make telemedicine useful in different departments and treatments.
In the future, we may also implement a larger telemedicine pilot program in hospitals, so that patients in need can receive timely follow-up or treatment without leaving home.
The HA has been committed to promoting the sustainable development of the public healthcare system in order to serve the most patients with limited resources.
In terms of human resources, we have adopted various measures to recruit and retain manpower; in terms of hardware, hospital reconstruction or expansion projects have already been launched, and the development of smart hospitals has also been integrated into our operations.
As for telemedicine, I believe it will be another area that will drive our service improvement and the sustainable development of public healthcare services.
"Hong Kong 01" "01 Clinic", in cooperation with the Hospital Authority, publishes a column "Garden Tour" written by medical staff every Wednesday.
Apricot Forest.
"Xinglin" comes from the story of Dong Feng, a famous doctor in the Three Kingdoms period. Later generations praised medical care as "Xinglin". Four people from Xinglin from the Hospital Administration led the garden to visit Xinglin Grand View Garden. A little bit of reason.
Looking at the epidemic from history