<The necessity of instituting telemedicine>

The global interest in health and medical care has increased due to the pandemic of COVID-19. But telemedicine between patients and medical staff is legally prohibited in most countries. Meanwhile, among various countries around the world, China is actively using remote medical treatment in responding to COVID-19. The Korea government hasn’t adopted this system yet, I think instituting telemedicine will not be a problem and is necessary in some aspects.

The reason is, first, Korea has many medically neglected areas like a mountainous areas or isolated islands. In that place, it is pretty difficult to get the right treatment on time. If we use remote medical treatment, we will be able to provide better care and treatment for the underprivileged people. We can take the example of telemedicine with “CART(Cardio Tracker)” of Sky Labs. SkyLabs is a company that devloped a medical device for diagnosing arrhythmia by incorporating Korea’s information technology into the bio industry. If we wear CART on our fingers, we can continuously monitor our heart in daily life. The measured data can be checked in real time through a smartphone application. If the doctor can check the condition of the patient with the smartphone application and prevent diseases before becoming an emergency, this can also be an advantage of telemedicine. Moreover, Koreans who live in other countries are often lagging behind medical welfare due to local policies, language, and traffic barriers, so many people of them spend a lot of money and time to receive medical treatment in Korea. If we adopt telemedicine, they can receive medical services without limitations of time and space.

Secondly, management of patients who have chronically illness becomes easier. For instance, patients can easily refill their prescription after measuring their own blood pressure and blood sugar, and they can manage their health more easily such as picking up medicine at a nearby pharmacy or receiving medicine by courier. According to the results of confirming the clinical effect of remote monitioring, which observes chronic patients such as hypertension, diabetes patients in 2015, the patient group who received the intervention was statistically significant compared to the patient group who did not receive the remote monitioring intervention. Compared to the control group, in the group which received telemedicine, hypertensive patients had a lower systolic blood pressure of 4.7mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 1.9 mmHg, diabetic patients had a 0.4% lower glycated hemoglobin, and heart failure patients had a lower overall risk of death. Telemedicine was analyzed to have clinical improvement effect.

Lastly, the institution of telemedicine does not necessarily mean the use of telemedicine technology alone. We can give patients two choices. First the patient can still go to the doctor for treatment as before. And, the patient can also be treated by telemedicine. Whether or not a patient receives remote medical treatment is the freedom of the patient. So, we can provide face-to-face health care as in the past to the people who have suspicion at the effect of remote medical treatment.

For these reasons, I agree with the institution of telemedicine. There is no reason to object to the institution of telemedicine in an era where technology is increasingly developing. The telemedicine need to be instituted quickly for people who want convenient telemedicine.