Since April, this COVID-19 Telemedicine Centre (CeTec-19) has been set up in the province of Buenos Aires to provide information and follow-up to suspected cases of the disease and the general population. As of November 9, 217,473 people have been cared for.
The CeTeC-19, were created by the Health Systems Strengthening Unit of the Ministry of Health, thanks to the collaborative work with the Undersecretary of Digital Government of the province of Buenos Aires. Since its inception in April, the first CeTeC-19 has provided more than 217,000 telephone inquiries.
Following the success of the first center set up in April, more centers were opened in the various health regions that had greater epidemiological relevance and positive contagion at the time. In total, six centers have been installed and an average of 400 calls have been made daily, however, in August they reached a maximum of 2,500 calls in a single day.
“In April, when we started with headquarters, the percentage of cases dropped corresponded to 45%, this number today was reduced to almost 15% due to the improvement in the work processes of line 148 and a more sensitive case definition according to changes in protocols,” explained Sebastian Crespo in charge of doctors at the Central Telemedicine Center.
CeTeCs operate Monday through dominoes from 9 AM to 6 PM, currently served by 188 health professionals who were trained for this task. Patients are cared for via telephone line 148, by filling out a form via the internet and a mobile application.
“The platform where CeTeC staff upload teleconsultation information sets priorities, because it is not the age of the person with symptoms, if he lives alone, the discomfort he manifests, and neither if he works in a health facility, or in a geriatric,” Crespo explained.
Through the CeTec, the government of the province of Buenos Aires has timely detected cases of COVID-19 in search of avoiding contagion. And in this way providing guidance on how to proceed with symptoms or positive cases of COVID-19 for the people in Buenos Aires.
