The Ministry of Public Health of the province of Tucumán formed a multidisciplinary team to provide treatment to patients who have overcome COVID-19 and suffer sequelae from the disease.
The Post-Covid Program was launched by the provincial government in August 2021, and consists of five basic specialties so that patients receive comprehensive follow-up. The specialties are: medical clinic, pulmonology, cardiology, rehabilitation and mental health, additionally they can add other specialties such as physiatry or otorhinolaryngology.
For patients to enter this program they need to download the TucSalud mobile application, available for Android, and schedule an appointment there. Subsequently, Central Telemedicine communicates with patients to begin monitoring. On the other hand, in the case of patients hospitalized in public hospitals, when they are discharged they are channeled to Central Telemedicine to start monitoring.
“When the program was born, at that time we had three developed nodes, but 26 in total are planned. There are currently 20 nodes operating throughout the province. They have been provided with training on the process, allusive posters were provided to promote the program, technological elements such as tablets so that they can manage shifts for patients who do not have the Android system, and also with gym equipment and even spirometers in many of these nodes”, explained the program coordinator, Martín Petersen.
In this way, until January 2022, the program counts more than 11 thousand patients who received follow-up. The most demanded specialty was medical clinic, which provided more than 2 thousand consultations.
The Post-Covid Program is a free service of the Tucumán Health System and does not require patients to be insured or enrolled in any social work. The only requirement is for people who have been infected with COVID-19 and who have sequelae. "Our mission is to give the patient back the quality of life after this disease, do not stop consulting, it is free and comprehensive," Petersen explained.
