Telemedicine eases suffering of elderly in pandemic times

KOCHI: Even in the difficult times of Covid, when patients requiring palliative care struggled to access medical care and advice, telemedicine and consulting facilities offered by hospitals and organisations came as a boon. The facility was helpful particularly for children of elderly, who could not reach their homes to take care of their parents, due to Covid restrictions. 

In August this year, the elder daughter of a 60-year-old woman contacted the telemedicine facility in Aster Medcity, Kochi, from London, following the distress her mother was going through. Her mother, who was staying with her younger daughter in Bengaluru, was a cardiac patient and was also diagnosed with breast cancer. However, she had decided not to go for any active treatment. 

After developing some discomfort, she was taken to a major hospital in Bengaluru, where she was placed on medications. Subsequently, she developed acute kidney failure, with fluid filling around her lungs and heart, and in the abdomen. She had to undergo dialysis to improve her condition, and was advised to continue only hormonal medications and to continue to do dressing for the breast lesions.  

Due to Covid restrictions, her elder daughter, who had gone to London for official purposes, could not return in time. Thanks to teleconsultation, however, all the medical details of her mother could be sent through email, along with photographs of the skin lesions, PET/ CT scan reports. It was through video consultation that she could finally meet the doctors and share her concerns.

“We coordinated with the medical team in Bengaluru to make appropriate medicines available. We could also instruct the family on how to do the dressing for the skin lesions without causing bleeding while removing the old dressing. The daughter called subsequently and said that her mother’s discomfort had subsided completely and that she was not complaining of pain anymore,” said Dr Ramkumar P, Pain and Palliative Medicine Department at Aster Medcity, Kochi.

In another instance, a 69-year-old Keralite cancer patient in Agra developed some discomfort and the family struggled to access palliative care. After telemedicine consultation, the patient was relieved of pain and is in a much better health condition.“In palliative care, it is not just medical treatment, but a kind of holistic approach that we should focus on. Through this facility of telemedicine, around 20 patients have called us so far from different parts of the world,” said Dr Ramkumar. 

Almost all government and private hospitals, and several NGOs, are utilising the telemedicine platform to stay connected with those requiring consultations and periodic medical advice. “We have also launched telemedicine facility for cancer patients as well. Usually, we do homecare treatment for these patients but due to Covid restrictions we are unable to do so. Therefore, with the telemedicine facility, we aim to get in touch with the patients requiring palliative care and assistance, and guide their family members to give proper care to the patients,” said Siby Paulose, coordinator at Carithas India, an NGO.