Dr Saira Siddique
INFORMATION and communication technologies have great potential to address some of the challenges met both developed and developing countries in providing accessible, cost effective high quality healthcare services. This is particularly beneficial for rural and underserved communities in developing countries – groups that traditionally suffer from lack of access to healthcare. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has shown that it’s about time that healthcare sector is digitized not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. This model of healthcare delivery not only helps treat moderate patients of COVID treated at home but also reduces the burden on hospitals which should only serve the critically ill patients. Additionally, the patient suffering from chronic diseases that require regular treatment but are at the risk of catching infection from hospital can be easy treated at home. While in Pakistan’s First Virtual Hospital “mediQ: Smart Healthcare” fills health gaps during Covid-19 pandemic in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. As more digital solution becomes a reality during Covid-19, mediQ: Smart Healthcare proved that virtual hospitals are much more needed in developing countries than developed one. Though virtual hospital is a concept already functional in many parts of the world for quite some time now, however mediQ: Smart Healthcare made it a reality for the first time in Pakistan. Simply speaking, a virtual hospital acts as a facilitator and provides the conventional hospital services to patients without them having to leave their homes by connecting them to their doctors via technology.
MediQ is the Pakistan’s first “Virtual Hospital” providing you complete range of Healthcare Services at your doorstep, through a digital platform developed by bringing multiple sectors including health-tech, fin-tech and health service providers. mediQ provides aggregation of all health care services into a single touch point through mobile and web applications supported by 24/7 hotline which is manned by doctors who guide the customers. mediQ – Pakistan’s First Virtual Hospital in Islamabad got registered with SECP in 2019 and started initially rolling out operations in May 2020 in Rawalpindi & Islamabad with plans to expand nationwide soon. As the CEO Dr Saira Siddique can be quoted mediQ works on the simple principle “Let The Hospital Come To The Patient” and make healthcare facilities “Patient-Centred instead of Hospital Centred”. The service got an exponential surge in its use during Covid-19 when conventional health infrastructure around the twin cities struggled in their ability to serve all citizens.
Islamabad has just over two dozen fully equipped and functional hospitals with resident population of over one million people. Even with great connectivity and good management of growing pandemic numbers as compared to any other part of the country, the city struggled with providing all of its citizens with adequate healthcare during Covid-19 pandemic. The elderly and more vulnerable population was especially at risk during this period which is a clear call to action for innovative solutions from the private sector to take over. As per the stats shared by Dr Saira Siddique, during the most crucial time in the pandemic, the expert teams of doctors, nurses and technicians at mediQ treated 388 patients of Covid at home with only one patient requiring hospitalization. These patients were mainly treated in June and July followed by a decline in number of daily reported cases. Dr Saira tells that after early September there has been an upward trend again in the number of Covid cases with more than 38 patients under their treatment.
The growth in use of Virtual Hospital facility mirrors the growing global trend of usage of technology based health services. According to estimates by a research firm the worldwide market of such products is poised to reach $25.4 billion this year. With growth projected to average 17% a year, the market is forecast to swell to $55.6 billion in 2025. According to WHO reports, technology-backed services like virtual hospitals will help address some of the challenges in health sector of developing countries by providing accessible, cost effective, customized and high quality healthcare. mediQ is staffed with the same expert doctors and paramedics already working in various hospitals of twin cities. When a patient needs medical attention or desires to go for a check-up, all he/she has to do is to make a phone call to mediQ’s hotline manned by doctors or contact the service via app & give some basic details about their health condition to a medically equipped call centre.
According to the requirements a team of health professionals including senior doctors and specialist & medical/nursing staff is dispatched to the patient’s location in a fully equipped ambulance. The major services provided by mediQ include doctor/specialist home visit, home nursing care, home medicine delivery, home laboratory services, tele-consultation, home imaging services, cardiac function profile, geriatric care, maternal and child health care, ambulance services, rehabilitative services and home haemodialysis. The provision of haemodialysis services at the doorstep is another milestone achieved by Pakistan’s First Virtual Hospital. This brings quality haemodialysis services to the bedside of the patients through use of state-of-the-art haemodialysis machines under the supervision of expert team of nephrologists, dialysis technologists, nursing staff and dieticians for treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease.
—The writer is freelance columnist.
