More than 40% of the virtual consultations correspond to patients who used the service for the first time.
Telemedicine offers alternatives to health systems to continue monitoring and caring for patients from different specialties. During the pandemic, it has been an important modality to continue monitoring patients and to avoid crowds in hospitals.
In Paraguay, the telepsychiatry project, promoted by the Polytechnic and Artistic University of Paraguay (UPAP) and the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) is focused on improving mental health and access to treatment for patients.
Dr. Nicolás Ayala, main collaborator of the project, highlighted the importance of this kind of services during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can cause alterations in people’s mental health: “Suddenly the contingency or isolation measures that we are having or even the fear of the disease itself can lead to some small alterations”.
The project has the participation of 15 doctors specializing in psychiatry and psychologists. In total, until mid-September the UPAP had carried out 2,104 remote consultations in telepsychiatry, 41.7% correspond to patients who made their first consultation, 42% to monitoring, 7% to psychological consultations, 5% to child and teen psychiatry and the remaining 4.3% corresponds to the Department of Mental Health. In addition, according to Ayala, the most requested consultations were to treat anxiety and depression.
To schedule shifts they use the line (0962) 440-001, available 24 hours a day through a chatbot on WhatsApp.
