Could technology be the key to ensuring we have enough hospital capacity if a second wave of COVID-19 hits?
One GTA doctor thinks so.
Dr. Al-Karim Mawani says with people still putting off going to the doctor because of the pandemic, chronic health conditions will worsen, and patients are already presenting with complications.
"For example diabetes has to be carefully monitored or it can lead to complications with eye, kidney damage, heart disease and other such things, so that's the kind of things I've been seeing in practice over the last few months, is people not accessing follow up for care that they should be," Mawani says. "It's detrimental for patients of course because they're delaying their care and leading to complications, but it's going to put more additional strain on our healthcare system."
Mawani says most of the patients he sees don't need to be treated in the office. So there's been a push for more virtual care.
"We also know... about two-thirds of people, 65 per cent are comfortable with using virtual care to access medical services, and feel that they would be comfortable using that solution," Mawani says. "They can access non-urgent care in a timely manner, they can get prescription renewals, investigations, blood tests can be done, even referrals to specialists can all be done through the app, so this is a convenient, easy-to-use method for patients to get some care."