Health | New ‘virtual hospital’ solving 85% of non-coronavirus cases, says official

Restrictive measures applied to public hospital visits due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus has led to the cancellation of a large number of medical appointments with several specialists. In response, the Health Bureau (SSM) is said to have put in place a system in which the physicians conduct as much follow-up as possible remotely, contacting patients via phone calls or video calls.
Although is not clear how many appointments were conducted like this, the SSM informed the Times that the disruption of the normal operations in the consultation arm of the public hospital has seen an average of 2,000 medical appointments canceled per day.
From this number, the health official said that “85% are being handled by remote means.”
The SSM informed that follow-up on these cases began after the resumption of the basic government services earlier this month.
The same source informed the Times that most of the remaining 15% are contacted for follow-ups in person, scheduled for a later date.
Separately, the coordinator of the accident and emergency units of the Conde de São Januário Hospital Center (CHCSJ), Chang Tam Fei, told the Times, “certain cases have been postponed because the patients didn’t want to visit the hospital,” as well as in the cases where “remote consultation was not suitable because they are cases in which either physical check-up is crucial or the patients need to undergo diagnosis tests, such as X-ray or blood tests.”
On this topic, a source close to the SSM had previously hinted to the Times that the reason for the delay in the rescheduling of the medical appointments of those in need of the physical examination or complementary diagnostic tests could be because some services were being used to test the patients suspected or confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19.
Although there were several attempts to clarify the current progress of the medical appointments canceled or postponed, as well as which clinical specialties were most affected by the suspension of services by the CHCSJ, it was not possible to obtain a clear answer from the health authorities.
It is also not possible at this point to ascertain the degree of satisfaction and opinion from the patients that experienced remote consultation.
Macau has registered a total of 10 cases of infection with Covid-19, from which seven patients have already been discharged from the hospital, with only three remaining under treatment and observation.
Yesterday was the 22nd day with no new cases of infection reported in the region.