The Uruguayan Ministry of Public Health (MSP) reported that telemedicine services will be reactivated due to the increase in infections of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
At a press conference, the Undersecretary of Public Health, José Luis Satdjián, announced that, given the increase in cases of the omicron variant in the country, remote medical care and telemedicine services will be resumed, with the purpose of avoiding crowds in Medical centers.
Previously, during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and also at the beginning of 2021, the provision of the MSP was to implement remote medical consultations and suspend face-to-face consultations and non-urgent or oncological surgeries, as preventive measures to avoid COVID-19 infections. 19.
These provisions were applied from March to May 2020 and subsequently from October to December of the same year. And last year from January to February it was again necessary to suspend these activities in hospitals. This time the MSP seeks to avoid these situations and achieve better management of available resources.
The new strategy proposes to provide telemedicine services for patients who only require consultations, and in hospitals to give priority to patients who require surgery. “We are having a very high viral circulation, which is why we prefer to attend through telemedicine those calls or patients that can be attended through that mechanism,” explained Satdjián.
Similarly, the undersecretary explained that care through call centers It will be reinforced to improve remote care services and resolve doubts about the health status of the population, detect COVID-19 infections and provide information on treatment.
Faced with a new wave of infections, the Uruguayan government seeks to make the most of the available resources and not close any hospital department so as not to harm patients who are awaiting surgery "There are departments that are complying in a timely manner with the attention, with the swabs, with the tracking. There are others that have more overload, especially in departments on the coast, that's where we have to manage resources," he explained.
