The modality of remote medical attention through technologies reached its highest point during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medical care through teleconsultations has increased in Brazil since the beginning of the pandemic. According to the Brazilian Association of Telemedicine and Digital Health Companies, more than 7.5 million telemedicine consultations were carried out. The good response to this type of modality led to the approval of legislation in favor of telemedicine and remote medical care.
In 2020, telemedicine care was initially authorized as an emergency measure due to the health situation related to the pandemic. In this way, remote health care services were an alternative to reduce the risk of contagion and to monitor infected patients remotely.
“Telehealth can save lives. Because you can be in a very distant place, without the possibility of face-to-face medical attention, and have a consultation through telemedicine, which can solve the problem or indicate what type of professional to look for and what the urgency is," says the professor from the Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Mina Gerais, Rosália Morais Torres.
In this way, in Brazil, public and private medical centers and clinics have taken advantage of telemedicine to mediate medical care processes, generating benefits in patient care and in the investigation and prevention of diseases.
Despite the fact that more than a third of the 7.5 million telemedicine visits corresponded to first consultations, this managed to close gaps in access to remote health and break paradigms on this type of service that favor digital transformation.
