The telemedicine service of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in Sinaloa has streamlined patient care during the pandemic.
The telemedicine program at IMSS in Sinaloa began operating in July 2017, four years ago, and during the COVID-19 pandemic it has been of the utmost importance to continue providing services remotely and avoid contagion in patients and medical personnel.
Currently the telemedicine program in the state operates in 14 IMSS medical units in Sinaloa. And it went from being a complementary service to being key for clinics and medical units.
Dr. Manuel González Fernández, is in charge of the Auxiliary Coordination of the First Level of Care at the IMSS in Sinaloa, and explained that the speed of care, the reduction of risks for patients and savings by patients are the main results of the program.
At the moment they work under a scheme of three care modalities, explains González Fernández: "The first and the one that began in July 2017 is focused on greater problem solving, we are talking about a highly specialized medical unit, a third level. The second modality is digital, through video calls, the aim is to serve people who for some reason cannot go to a medical unit.
The third option is the telephone consultation, which was implemented as a result of the pandemic. Through telephone consultations, they have managed to serve more than 3,000 patients in a week. "This option arose due to the pandemic, difficulty for people to move due to risk, through the call a monitoring of the patient's health is carried out," concluded the person in charge.
