Telemedicine

Most of the Pakistani population lives in underserved rural areas where there is a lack of medical personnel, sparse healthcare facilities, and a high cost of treatments. Telemedicine offers the possibility of providing medical assistance to patients in remote areas, and it has great potential in developing countries like Pakistan. Telehealth innovations have been complemented with the introduction and use of portable sensors and self-care gadgets such as glucometers, mobile blood pressure controls, pulse oximeters, and optical stethoscopes in conjunction with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic provided Pakistan with an unexpected opportunity to address many health issues through telehealth. It is time to make this kind of technology common among people living in every area of the country and to engage doctors, public-health experts, and IT professionals to consider the variety of obstacles ahead. The rapid increase in population combined with an unstructured healthcare system has led to an uneven distribution of doctors, which results in a chronic shortage of doctors in poor urban and rural areas. Many people cannot afford to physically go to a doctor. Though the government established basic health units and rural health centres at the local level, non-functioning and under-performing facilities limit the availability of high-quality care.

Hoor Un Ain Riaz

Rawalpindi