By Jornal da Band
Last year, more than 4 million people stopped going to hospitals and clinics and consulted virtually
Despite much controversy, telemedicine has become a reality in Brazil during the pandemic. This is shown by a survey by the Mercer Marsh healthcare consultancy, which analyzed the behavior of 2 million health plan users since the beginning of the pandemic.
According to the study, the use of telemedicine grew by 3,161,000 times during the period. Other data compiled by Saúde Digital Brasil shows that the online service prevented 4.5 million visits to the emergency room during the pandemic, an important move to prevent the spread of the virus.
The definitive regulation of telemedicine is under discussion in Congress, but faces resistance from the Federal Council of Medicine, which defends the authorization as a follow-up consultation – and not as a first consultation. The CFM also claims responsibility for making the regulation.
