Why a Strong Telemedicine Network is Necessary Worldwide

The Need for More Virtual Healthcare

I talk about the liberating power of the telemedicine video call online a lot. That’s because it’s an awesome power, worthy of repeated mention. Having worked in the healthcare industry for a long time, I know the worth of that power. But that’s not the only advantage telemedicine provides. Telemedicine is about a lot more than just helping doctors be freer and keeping patients from waiting in line in crowded offices.

Telehealth and virtual medicine are about saving people’s lives, and improving their quality of life through video conferencing software. Telemedicine has done a lot for people long before the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic simply highlighted that. There are a number of reasons the world needs a stronger telemedicine network, and today we’re going to talk about some of these reasons.


1. To Improve Healthcare in Remote Areas

From the deserts of Arabia to the snows of Antarctica, from the sands of the Sahara to the Tundra of Alaska, there are many areas in the world where the nearest doctor isn’t “near” by any means. Nor is the nearest nurse, pharmacist, physical therapist, psychotherapist or any other type of healthcare provider. Now sure, there are medical motorcades that visit some remote areas to get the locals taken care of every now and then, but ultimately, there aren’t enough of them that go to enough areas.

The areas that do get these medical motorcades don’t get them frequently enough. On the other hand, telemedicine virtual meetings have brought virtual medicine and virtual healthcare into many of these communities which do not get enough physical medical attention. Even still. The virtual clinics servicing these communities are not enough. And this is where building a stronger video conference based telemedicine network for virtual health care comes in.

The main impediment to a stronger, video call based, telemedicine network is the number of healthcare providers who do not yet offer telemedicine video calls to their patients. The next impediment is that those who do offer their patients these options are not licensed to practice in all the communities which lack healthcare providers. But these are not all the impediments.

To make telehealth video calls, both healthcare providers and patients need equipment, reliable internet connections, and the patients in particular need rooms equipped with the correct lighting and camera adjusting surfaces to show doctors their ailments. Building a stronger telehealth network based on video calling would entail equipping more virtual communities and their virtual clinics with any missing tools to build the aforementioned stronger telemedicine video call network.


2. To Assist Temporarily Inaccessible Areas

There are many reasons some areas become temporarily inaccessible. Natural disasters alone account for a great number of reasons. Earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, volcano eruptions, forest fires, to name just a few. When things like that happen, they fly medical personnel in to the nearest point they safely can, build all sorts of temporary field solutions for providing healthcare, and generally try to mitigate the damage.

But there’s so much more need for medical personnel than the ones they can typically spare during these situations, particularly in areas that aren’t particularly well developed from an economic perspective. Because of that, a video call from the right medical personnel can save multiple lives in these tragic situations. Because the medical needs of people stuck in disaster zones exceed those of emergency medicine, which requires the physical presence of trained healthcare professionals.

There's a lot that a telemedicine video call over the internet can help some patients with. I realise you may be thinking that internet connections in these conditions are usually not ideal on the ground, but this is not universally true for all disasters.

3. To Assist in Conflict Zones

Sometimes the shortage of in-person healthcare providers in an area comes from an inordinate degree of risk in being present at a particular location. I’m not talking about areas under siege; these also classify as temporarily inaccessible areas. No. Lots of conflict zones are very accessible most of the time but are too volatile for visiting medical professionals to come assist.

But they can video call. All sorts of visiting medical professionals can video call you in a conflict zone if you have the equipment and your telecommunications are in order. Of course, that’s not always the case with the telecom and the equipment but that’s precisely the point of building a stronger telemedicine network based on video calling and virtual meetings. To make it more likely to be accessible for residents of areas affected by anything from conflicts to disasters.

Those were just three of many reasons that a strong video calling telemedicine network is necessary worldwide. Ultimately, telemedicine means a lot for our future, and will be a big part of everyone’s life in the next two or three decades. If you want to start ahead of many other people, we can give you the opportunity to try Banty Virtual Clinic without charge, for a free trial period.

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Abdallah Al Alfy

Alfy is a content writer of 17 years, writing in multiple literary and content disciplines, and translating professionally since his early teens. Full name of Abdallah Al Alfy, he is also a licensed pharmacist in multiple countries. Alfy’s pharmaceutical background has often been an asset in scientific and medical writing.