Virtual Doctor: a core part of modern healthcare?

May 15, 2018 by The Sting's Team Leave a Comment

Dr. Juan Manuel Romero, a cardiologist at a hospital in Ciudad Obregon in Sonora, Mexico, engages in a pre-op consultation with Alma Guadalupe Xoletxilva and her doctor, Edgar Cuevas, who are 400 miles away in La Paz, Baja California. Besides enabling doctors who are geographically separated to hear and see each other while consulting, patient information such as charts and scans can be shared in seconds. Intel Free Press story: Virtual Medicine Extends Care Anywhere. Telemedicine carts help deliver care to patients in rural and remote locations across Mexico. (Intel Free Press, 2011)

This article was exclusively written for the Sting by Ms Sereen Afza Hussain, a final year MBBS student at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College & Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is affiliated to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA). However, the opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one. “Hello. I’m Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.” It is an introduction of Baymax given by itself which is a healthcare robot in the Oscar wining animation movie Big Hero 6. Now imagine this robot can scan or assess a person’s health status, connect to a doctor or hospital, and can give primary live saving management on the basis of Doctor’s instruction; this can be a boon to the people of remote area. In this era of modern technology still there are many remote areas especially in underdeveloped or developing countries where healthcare facilities are poor and not easily accessible. Not only remote areas or villages, healthcare instructions or advices can be needed anywhere and in any case. For urban people, it is sometimes tiresome to wait for a long time in doctor’s chamber or they may need a second opinion besides their current treatment process. A remote doctor to serve patients can definitely use technology now-a-days. Telemedicine is definitely not a new name. Although there were distant precursors to telemedicine, it is essentially a product of 20th century telecommunication and information technologies; mentioned in Wikipedia. To provide healthcare services from distance by using technology is termed as telemedicine. Telenursing, telepharmacy, teletrauma care and specialist care such as telecardiology, telepathology, telepsychiatry, teleradiology, teledermatology are some of the services used in it. If a doctor sitting in a specialized hospital in Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh wants to serve a patient in another city, Rangpur, he can accomplish his job with the help of telemedicine or we can say Virtual Healthcare. The advancement in telecommunication has lots of more surprises for us. There are tele-gadgets like tele stethoscope, tele ECG, tele ophthalmoscope, tele thermometer etc. but the most incredible thing is that we have real life Baymax, Telepresence. Telepresence robots are used to allow off-site medical professionals. A medical robotics company In Touch Health in California launched robots like RP-VITA (Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant) and The Companion, Robodoc, which was used at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, United States. Robodoc resembles a big vacuum cleaner with a flat television screen on top and allows the doctor to communicate with a patient via a mounted camera, speaker, screen, and broadband connection. Even our government, the government of Bangladesh had launched 25 Telemedicine centers at different Upazilla Health Complexes under the project Info Sarkar. There are thousands of examples that will prove that the concept of a remote doctor is becoming popular day by day. Instead of waiting days or weeks for a healthcare professional to travel to a remote area or travelling to a hospital and waiting for an appointment, Virtual Healthcare provides instant services. For consultations on simple health issues or follow-up on existing conditions, remote consultations can vividly improve the patients’ experience while improving the economics of rural hospitals. About the author Sereen Afza Hussain, a final year MBBS student at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College & Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh, lives in the same city with her family since birth. Currently she is waiting for the results of her Final exam after passing which she will be a doctor. She completed her schooling from one of the renowned schools in Dhaka, Viqarunnisa Noon School & College and from there passed higher secondary too. She excelled in all her board exams and finally succeeded to be a student of a government medical college. She is an Ambassador of Bangladesh in AMBOSS, a medical learning platform. Her thoughts about studying medicine was featured by AMBOSS_Med (Instagram & Facebook). She likes reading books, listening to music and travelling. Besides, being a medical person she wants to connect with people through her writings.

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Countries adopted on Saturday a new global blueprint for tackling rapidly evolving forms of crime, as the UN’s largest gathering on crime prevention and criminal justice opened in Abu Dhabi with a call for stronger international cooperation. The Abu Dhabi Declaration was adopted by acclamation at the opening of the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, bringing governments together around challenges ranging from cybercrime and fraud to the growing criminal exploitation of digital technology. The Declaration highlights an increasingly complex landscape in which services, infrastructure and technology can be exploited by criminals, including emerging trends described as “crime as a service” and “violence as a service”. At the same time, countries committed to making greater use of technology themselves, including by digitalizing justice systems and harnessing artificial intelligence in criminal justice responses. The Declaration stresses that safeguards must accompany those changes, including human oversight, transparency, due process and data protection. ‘Justice cannot be a privilege’ In a video message to the Congress, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said the meeting was taking place at a time of profound change. “Justice cannot be a privilege. It must protect every person, uphold every person’s rights and leave no one behind,” said Ms. Mohamed. “This Congress is an opportunity to renew our shared commitment to justice and the rule of law, and to translate that commitment into action.” Countries are already being encouraged to put the Declaration into practice through the voluntary Pledge4Justice initiative, under which participating governments are announcing concrete, time-bound actions on crime prevention and criminal justice through 2031. The Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre with its curved glass tower and surrounding buildings reflected in calm water at dusk. UNODC The Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre where the 15th UN Crime Congress is set to take place. From Kyoto to Abu Dhabi Opening the Congress, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Monica Juma framed the gathering as both a response to a changing criminal landscape and a test of international cooperation. “Today, the world convenes in Abu Dhabi to reaffirm that the rule of law and criminal justice are essential to the safety and security of people and the planet,” said Ms. Juma. “At a time when confidence in multilateralism is faltering, let Abu Dhabi be a testament to international cooperation.” Five years after the previous Congress in Kyoto, Japan, Ms. Juma said the world had reached another “inflection point”, with technology and artificial intelligence advancing at extraordinary speed. The same platforms connecting billions of people can also connect criminals, she warned, while digital currencies can conceal illicit profits and digital tools can be used to deceive, manipulate and exploit. Technology, she argued, is not simply accelerating crime but changing its character, while organized criminal networks increasingly exploit weaknesses across borders and institutions. Tweet URL Protecting people as the ‘north star’ Behind those broad trends, Ms. Juma urged delegates to focus on the people most exposed to harm, including children recruited by gangs, women facing violence at home or online, people unable to obtain legal assistance and young people lured into scam networks with promises of a better future. “Protecting these people must be the measure against which we judge our efforts over the coming week,” she said. “It must be our north star.” She called for laws and institutions capable of keeping pace with changing threats, greater access to justice and legal aid, and technology that serves as “a force for good” rather than an accelerator of harm. And while welcoming the Abu Dhabi Declaration as a starting point, Ms. Juma stressed that its impact would ultimately depend on implementation. A week focused on justice Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the Congress runs through 1 October under the theme Protecting People and Planet in the Digital Age. Some 119 countries are represented, alongside more than 40 justice ministers and other senior officials, with over 5,100 participants from governments, civil society, academia and the private sector. Plenary meetings, workshops, side events and exhibitions will run throughout the session. Organizers are also billing this as the most youth-inclusive Crime Congress yet. Young people are participating in workshops, contributing to follow-up efforts and taking part in a dedicated Youth Lab and art exhibition, following a Youth Forum held ahead of the Congress on 24 and 25 September. UNODC serves as secretariat of the Congress and will support implementation of the Abu Dhabi Declaration.

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