Online doctor consultations to fight COVID-19
Globally, telemedicine has proved invaluable in the management of COVID-19, with many governments and healthcare systems advocating virtual consultations first, as a primary means of healthcare consultations. Virtual healthcare tools can help to identify people who need referral to hospital, reduce overcrowding at clinics and doctors’ rooms where there is greater risk of infection, and protect healthcare professionals.
Discovery and Vodacom have partnered to deliver a free virtual healthcare platform for the benefit of all South Africans during the COVID-19 pandemic. We leveraged our DrConnect digital healthcare capability, which was previously only available to Discovery clients, and extended it to all South Africans to access online healthcare professional consultation and medical advice. As part of this partnership, Discovery and Vodacom have created a COVID-19 Healthcare Fund to pay doctors for the first 100 000 consultations that are provided free to any South African.
At the launch of the initiative, 5 200 doctors were signed up and trained. Discovery Health specifically approached a diverse demographic of doctors so that people using the service can connect with a doctor who speaks their home language.
The platform is zero-rated for Vodacom customers, meaning that they can access it without data or airtime. Vodacom customers without smart phones can access the service via USSD by dialling *111#. Users on other networks only pay for data to access the service.
It’s a powerful partnership. We have quickly scaled up Discovery’s front-line telemedicine platform, DrConnect, due to the national imperative of treating COVID-19. The process is currently limited to COVID-19, but we’ll learn what’s possible. I expect that telemedicine will become ubiquitous in managing disease in the future.
- Adrian Gore, Discovery Group CEO
In the United Kingdom, Vitality UK opened access to telephone general practitioner advice line services to support all its members across VitalityHealth, VitalityLife and VitalityInvest during the COVID-19 outbreak. The service ensures members have access to information and support, with doctors providing clinical guidance and advice on managing the virus, alongside directing members to any NHS support or testing where a member may need it, all in keeping with official UK Government advice.
All the general practitioners on the service have received additional training on COVID-19, including testing eligibility, who should be self-isolated and why, the mental and physical impact of self-isolation, and when to admit someone to hospital for more extensive or urgent care.
Our Vitality general practitioner advice line is a key feature of our health proposition and we’re pleased to be able to extend this service out to all our members at a time when many will have concerns around their health and Coronavirus.
- Dr Keith Klintworth, Managing Director of VitalityHealth
Members are able to access the service through the Vitality Member Zone, open seven days a week and 24 hours a day. VitalityHealth has offered a doctor advice line to its members for over a decade, with its popularity and usage growing consistently year on year. The Vitality Member Zone is also being kept up to date with the latest information available on COVID-19 and direction to NHS services as appropriate.