The Telemedicine project, "I Take Care of You" implemented by Telesalud University of Caldas, the Territorial Directorate of Health and the Government of Caldas, was born from the detection of the first cases of COVID-19 in Colombia, and has provided remote care and monitoring to the inhabitants of the region.
The University of Caldas reported that since the detection of the first case of COVID-19 in Colombia, the joint telemedicine project with the Health Territory and the Caldas government has managed to benefit more than 1 million people thanks to the agreement with different providers of services, and 300 thousand people thanks to the collaborative services of the three parties involved in this initiative.
Telemedicine services have included care and support on COVID-19, telepsychology, remote monitoring of patients recovering from COVID-19 from their homes, among others.
In addition, the telemedicine plan in Caldas has been strengthened thanks to the Telemedicine Route strategy, which aims to bring specialized care to the most remote areas of the department of Caldas. In this way they prevent people who live in remote areas from making long trips to health centers in the cities of the department.
Esteban Granada, director of Telehealth, explained the importance that this service represents for the population of rural municipalities: "people from the countryside are the most benefited, those who have unbalanced pathologies and incomplete treatments, and thanks to the Telemedicine Route they have been able to access medical specialties such as internal medicine, psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics, nutrition, psychology and dermatology, among others, from their territories.”
On the other hand, on the Telesalud coronavirus platform, the authorities have managed to train 5,000 health professionals through online courses on topics such as dealing with COVID-19, palliative care for COVID patients, vaccination, among others. Additionally, nearly 600 people have taken the ABC training course for good living, which promotes the use of tools for the effective management of emotions and psychological first aid.
