Digital health to the rescue: the Brazilian case of telemedicine

Amid so many uncertainties about the future ahead of us, it is certain that digital health is playing a strategic role against the novel Coronavirus disease, or Covid-19, in Brazil and worldwide. For sure it has been noticed that the continuity of traditional health assistance and payment methods seems unlikely with the breakthrough of disruptive technologies in the Life Sciences and Healthcare industries.

Specifically during this pandemic situation, digital health presents a true arsenal to fight the Covid-19 public health emergency. In Brazil, the critical importance of social distancing exposed the urgent need for improvement of remote health care assistance. The Ministry of Health published on March 20 Ordinance MS 467/2020, regulating Telemedicine as a measure to confront Covid-19. Remote interactions can include pre-clinical care, support, consultation, monitoring and diagnosis through information and communication technology for both public health systems and private health care sector.

In addition, knowing that all health professionals are critical to operate a health care system, the Federal Councils of Medicine, Psychology, and Nursing also took a position regarding the possibility of offering health care at a distance.

Brazil presents significant opportunities to Israeli healthtech companies and related products, as it represents the largest healthcare market in Latin America. With a population of more than 200 million, Brazil also has a fast-growing consumer market, particularly promising in life sciences and healthcare industries.

Digital health allows a number of business opportunities, including education, research, promotion and prevention activities. In this sense, many technologies are likely to have a significant positive impact by making preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation services accessible in areas where health assistance is precarious.

If there is any positive outcome for this unprecedent situation, at least the drive for a new digital health is exponentially advancing. We hope it is always forward.

*This article was originally published in the Israeli daily business news site Calcalist, on May 11, 2020. Click here to access it.