Sunway Medical Center, a private healthcare provider under Malaysia’s Sunway conglomerate company, has launched a Command Center for Telemedicine Services in early 2021, the private tertiary hospital recently announced. The Command Center is located at the main hospital at Sunway City in Kuala Lumpur. Sunway also has a medical center in Velocity in KL and in the neighboring country of Singapore.

WHAT IT DOES

The first phase of the Telemedicine Command Center provides first level healthcare advisory services to patients. The center operates on a 24 x 7 basis, and patients can either call in, email or reach out through social media platforms i.e., Facebook and WhatsApp. 

Once the enquiry is received, the attending nurse or medical officer will provide advice or make recommendations to consult a specialist at Sunway Medical Center. If the patient agrees, the team can also assist in making an appointment with the respective consultant.

Future plans include connecting the Telemedicine Command Center to other hospitals, universities, or other world-class research centers for medical related education programs. Major medical related discussions, meetings and conferences can also take place digitally for education and consultation purposes.  

THE LARGER TREND

Private healthcare groups in the region have stepped up their telemedicine service offerings, especially given the ongoing current COVID-19 pandemic with examples including the Columbia Hospital Group and IHH Healthcare. 

Given the recent surge of COVID-19 cases and growing clusters in Malaysia as well as the upcoming Movement Control Order (MCO) across the country, telemedicine will continue to play an essential role in providing remote care for patients. 

ON THE RECORD

“In April 2020, the UK’s Royal College of general practitioners reported that doctors were seeing just 7% of their patients face-to-face, compared with 80% in 2019, proving that the demand for telemedicine is growing significantly. Even countries closer to home such as Indonesia and Thailand have adopted telemedicine to reach patients. With social distancing becoming the new norm, we foresee this trend increasing exponentially. On our end, we will continue enhancing our Telemedicine Command Center to keep up with this growth,” said Dr Seow Vei Ken, Medical Director, Sunway Medical Center.

Bryan Lin Boon Diann, Chief Executive Officer of Sunway Medical Center said, “We believe that necessity is the mother of innovation and as the healthcare industry evolves, we too must move in tandem to meet these growing needs. The needs of our local and regional patients and customers have encouraged us to set up this Command Center. And we pride the credibility of our Telemedicine Services as all medical or clinical enquiries will be attended by a certified nurse or medical officer.