Since the start of the pandemic in March of last year, public telemedicine services have provided more than 100 million care services, according to the Colombian Ministry of Health.
In 2020, digital and remote health services such as telemedicine and virtual consultations achieved a huge growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the lockdown and social distancing measures. In Colombia, this type of services increased their demand just one month after the first COVID-19 infections were reported, according to the Ministry of Health (Minsalud).
The Minister of Health and Social Protection, Fernando Ruiz Gómez, explained that between March 2020 and January 2021, public telemedicine services have provided 101,249,764 services in the following categories: home visits, prenatal care, home delivery of medicines, laboratory tests, remote health counseling and teleconsultations.
He also acknowledged that orientation through telemedicine has become an important tool for the health care of the population in the current context. In the same period, he explained, they have provided more than 19 million care services focused on COVID-19 and 82 million care services that are not related to that disease.
In March 2020, Minsalud reported close to 1 million 200 thousand telemedicine attentions, and the growth in ten months, as of January 2021 was 867%, that is, more than 10 million attentions only during the first month of the year, an important statistic, which reflects the population's adoption of telemedicine services.
“This is a revolution and an innovation: 2.3 visits per Colombian. In addition, it is important for those who do not have COVID”, added the minister. He also acknowledged that these statistics are very relevant since the last ten months have been a process of adaptation of Colombians to these new modalities of health service delivery.
