Page 35 - 158 varsity ebook

/ 33

many doctors are not familiar with conducting video con-
sultations. Now the platform has 38 doctors.
“In the future, we plan to add more features to the app
such as autonomous health management platform and
selling health products,” he says.

Present and Future of Telemedicine in Hong Kong
Dr. Daniel Tong King-hung founded Hong Kong Tel-
emedicine Association (HKTA) in 2016. He sees telemedi-
cine as one of the applications of technology in the practice
of medicine, not a replacement for the traditional medical
consultation.
“Using technology appropriately in different situations

Customers started using our

app because of COVID-19. But

what keeps them using is its

convinience.

can reduce medical costs and cut down waiting time for
patients... It does not take away doctors’ professional re-
sponsibilities, instead, it provides easier access for patients
to receive medical services,” Tong adds.
“I used to work for HA, where I saw the shortcom-
ings of the health care system in Hong Kong, so I founded
this association. Hong Kong should have a more effective
method to run the health care system,” he says.
Tong thinks the development of telemedicine in Hong
Kong is lagging behind, comparing to other countries.
Health department under the Australian government
launched “Telehealth Pilots Programme” in 2012 to subsi-
The Hospital Authority has developed an applica- dize successful pilot project proposals to develop and de-
tion for patients who opt for telemed service. liver telehealth services.
ID-19. But what keeps them using is its convenience, com- In December 2019, the Hong Kong Medical Council
paring to consulting doctors in physical clinics,” he says. laid down the "Ethical Guidelines on Practice of Telemedi-
For the elderly, Wong says they need help from fam- cine" that stipulates some generic principles for medi-
ily members to have video consultations. “They have video cal practitioners who substitute telehealth for traditional
consultations through Zoom and WhatsApp video call, modes of medical care delivery and/or advice.
but not our app, as it is too complicated for them,” he adds. “Everything has to start somewhere. Though slowly,
Wong recalls difficulties they had when developing the we can still create things perfectly step by step. Even Hong
application. Kong is lagging behind, we may take reference from oth-
“We wanted an app with many functions, just like an- ers’ practices and apply them into suitable aspects, I believe
other Zoom. But the cost is quite high. It took about HK $3 telemedicine would develop pretty well here,” Tong says.
Edited by Laurissa Liu
million for invention and maintenance,” he says. Edited by Laurissa Liu
Wong says it took them a year to recruit 22 doctors, as Sub-edited by Bonita wong
Sub-edited by Bonita wong