Public Health boasts telemedicine reduces visits to hospitals

The Public Health Ministry has announced that its telemedicine system has been successful in reducing the number of outpatients at public hospitals.

The success of the telemedicine measures was revealed on Sunday by Opas Karnkawinpong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health. He added that the telemedicine initiative notably reduced the number of outpatients during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Opas provided the following figures as evidence:

• Hospitals with centre status for other hospitals: In 2022, there were 23,022 outpatients. This number dropped to 15,490 in 2023 and 13,341 in 2024.
• General hospitals: In 2022, there were 29,299 outpatient visits. This decreased to 20,303 in 2023 and 18,709 in 2024.

Opas stated that his ministry plans to use telemedicine and health rider systems to deliver medicines to homes and issue health certificates, aiming to reduce overcrowding at public hospitals by at least 5% by September this year.

He further assured that the Public Health Ministry would ensure that its health clinics or hospitals are fully equipped to provide telemedicine services. Opas also reassured the public that the Digital Health Platform and Mor Prom app have cybersecurity measures in place to protect patients' personal information.