How the World of Health and Tech is Looking at the Coronavirus Outbreak

In an interview with the New York Times at the beginning of March, World Health Organization (WHO) official Dr Bruce Aylward said China first reorganized its medical response to the outbreak by moving half of all medical care online.

In England, NHS bosses recently asked GP surgeries to start carrying out more remote consultations in an effort to mitigate risks.
MobiHealthNews recently reported on the rise in digital epidemiology tools, chatbot helpers and other technologies aiming to help stakeholders tackle the crisis.

Some have said that the coronavirus outbreak could be the ‘tipping point’ for nay-sayers to realize the potential of telehealth. Dr Ahmed warns that although this could prove to be an inflection point, it’s too early to tell how it will impact the implementation of new technologies to better care for patients.

Co-founder of VR education company Medical Realities, Dr Ahmed is an outspoken supporter for the use of technology in healthcare. Back in 2016, he became the first surgeon to livestream a surgical procedure in VR.