Telemedicine offers solutions to Hong Kong patients unwilling to visit hospitals for check-ups amid coronavirus crisis
- Some 32 patients have tried the service launched last month as non-emergency appointments were mostly cancelled amid pandemic
- But Dr Peter Ku says it is too early to say whether teleconferencing will help in solving the problem of a long waiting period to get medical attention
Kwok Hiu-tung, a 25-year-old woman, had undergone a cleft lip surgery in a public hospital in Hong Kong in January. She was worried the worsening pandemic would delay her follow-up consultations.
But like some other patients, she found a way out in telemedicine.
“The wound around my lips has been itchy and sometimes it turns red,” she told her attending doctor through an online consultation, “but I don’t have any other problems. I feel nice overall.”
Sitting at the hospital with his team, Dr Peter Ku Ka-ming answered all her queries through the laptop screen arranged by technicians.
“It is normal to feel a bit itchy, especially when the wound is healing, but try not to scratch it. When blood vessels grow, it is normal for the area to become red as well,” the doctor explained, asking for a closer look of her lips.
