Telehealth as a Panacea Amidst Global Pandemic (COVID-19) in Africa

Abstract

Technology is disrupting bringing up a better innovation and strengthening the healthcare services. Telehealth is one of these services. Telehealth can help in times of emergency situations as well as reducing morbidity caused by other diseases other than coronavirus and also constraining its spread as well as sustaining the country's economic development. Although, telehealth is a disruptive innovation, this article aimed to point out why Africa and rest of the world need telehealth to structure out the management of the three phases of health crises (pre, during and post-crises) that must be address to help in economic sustainability, increase accessibility to healthcare and increase in quality of life which in turn reduces costs and easy access to healthcare services either incommunicable, non-communicable, or disastrous situations in the African region. In fighting an outbreak such as this, our study finds that the government of African nations should guarantee all health experts get fitting instruction and preparing; present telehealth accreditation for wellbeing experts; give subsidizing which satisfactorily takes care of the expense of giving telehealth; overhaul clinical models of care; bolster all partners with a viable correspondence; and finally, change the board technique while setting up frameworks to oversee telehealth benefits on a standard premise.

Keywords

• Telehealth
• Africa
• COVID-19
• global pandemic
• coronavirus

Afrika’da COVID-19 Pandemisine karşı Alternatif Bir Çözüm Olarak Telesağlık Hizmetleri

Abstract

Teknolojide yaşanan gelişmelerin getirdiği inovasyon, diğer birçok sektörle birlikte sağlık sektöründe de sağlık hizmetlerinin kalitelendirilmesi konusunda kullanılmaktadır. Sağlık sektöründe uygulanan teknolojik uygulamalardan birisi de telesağlık hizmetleridir. Telesağlık hizmetleri acil durumlar başta olmak üzere diğer birçok hastalıkta ve son dönemde yaşamakta olduğumuz koronavirüs pandemisinin yayılmasını azaltmaya yönelik uygulamalar ile daha fazla gündeme gelmekte ve bu olumlu özellikleri nedeniyle de sürdürülebilir kalkınma süreçlerine önemli katkılar sağlamaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Afrika’dan başlamak üzere tüm dünyada uygulanan telesağlık hizmetlerinin pandemi öncesi, pandemi sürecinde ve pandemi sonrası dönemlerde neden telesağlık hizmetlerine etkin şekilde başvurulması gerektiğinin altını çizmektir. Gerçekten de Afrika’nın ulaşılabilen, ulaşılamayan ya da doğal afetler yaşanan birçok bölgesinde etkin, düşük maliyetli, yaşam kalitesinin yükseltilmesini hedefleyen sağlık hizmetlerine daha yüksek erişim sağlamanın yanında ekonomik sürdürülebilirliği de amaçlayan çok güçlü imkanlar sağlaması dolayısıyla telesağlık hizmetleri oldukça dikkat çekici şekilde uygulanmaktadır. Bu çerçevede bu çalışmamızda halen yaşamakta olduğumuz pandemi gibi salgınların yaşanması durumunda tüm Afrika ülkelerinden başlayarak sağlık çalışanlarının telesağlık hizmeti verme konusunda hazırlıklı olması; telesağlık hizmetlerinin tüm ülkelerde akredite olması; telesağlık hizmetlerinin etkin şekilde verilebilmesi için hükümetlerce sübvansiyonların sağlanması; klinik bakım modellerinin gözden geçirilmesi ve son olarak, standart telesağlık hizmetlerini denetlemek için tedbirler, kurallar ve regülasyonların oluşturulması süreçlerinde yönetim kurulu tekniğinin değiştirilmesi hizmetlerin kalitelenmesi açısından üzerinde durulan konular olmuştur.

Keywords

• Telesağlık
• Afrika
• COVID-19
• pandemi
• coronavirus

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