IHH Healthcare, Asia’s largest privately owned healthcare group, last week announced that it has rolled out telemedicine services in Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, India and Hong Kong. This rollout means patients are now able to “enjoy more convenient access to IHH’s full suite of services from consultation to doorstep drug delivery, with the option for a seamless transfer to the group’s brick-and-mortar facilities, if necessary,” IHH said.

In Malaysia, IHH patients can book virtual consultations with doctors at 11 Pantai Hospitals and 4 Gleneagles Hospitals. For Singapore, patients can book virtual consultations with doctors from Parkway Shenton clinics, via downloading the MyHealth Connect app and making an appointment to join a teleconsult session.

For Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia and the Netherlands, virtual consultations are available at all 21 Acibadem hospitals. In India, the virtual consultations are available at 23 Fortis Hospitals, 5 Gleneagles Global hospitals and Continental Hospital. For Hong Kong, the service is available at Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong. 

According to IHH, Fortis has conducted more than 12,600 teleconsultations since it launched the service across 23 of its hospitals in India on 27 March and sees an average of more than 370 patients online daily. In Turkey alone, more than 1,300 teleconsultations have also been conducted at Acibadem hospitals since its Doctor Online platform went live on 31 March this year.

THE LARGER TREND

Researchers from a recent Frost & Sullivan study predict that the pandemic will continue to reshape care delivery – and open big opportunities for virtual care in the near-term future. The study also forecasts a sevenfold growth in telehealth by 2025 – a five-year compound annual growth rate of 38.2%.

Dutch giant Philips also notes that telehealth capabilities and digital technology that allow virtual care and remote patient monitoring are on the rise, particularly in the context of the pandemic.

Earlier in March, IHH had also invested in Singapore-headquartered telehealth startup Doctor Anywhere. Last December, the group led a Series A funding of $20 million for genomic medicine startup Lucence, which offers blood-based screening and treatment monitoring solutions for oncology patients.

Parkway Pantai in Singapore under IHH partnered with health start-up UCARE.AI to offer fixed prices for certain medical procedures in four hospitals operated by the group, Healthcare IT News reported. 

ON THE RECORD

“While our hospitals, medical centers and clinics have implemented the most stringent infection control measures to protect our patients’ safety and health, we understand that many patients cannot or may choose not to visit these physical facilities in person now. Our planned integration of telemedicine into our brick-and-mortar services is therefore coming at a timely juncture as our patients can now enjoy peace of mind and access to uninterrupted quality medical care whether from their homes or at our facilities,” said Dr Kelvin Loh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IHH Healthcare.