Difficult to Find Hospitals During Holidays, Suddenly Sick... Should You Try Telemedicine?

Published 09 Feb.2024 09:00(KST)

Holiday periods are joyful times when the whole family gathers together, but if someone suddenly falls ill, worries and concerns tend to increase. Since most medical institutions and pharmacies are also closed, unless it is a serious illness requiring immediate emergency room visits, people usually endure with over-the-counter medicine and wait for the holiday to end. This naturally explains why local clinics and hospitals are crowded with people from early morning the day after the holiday.

[Photo by Dr. Now]

However, with the recent expansion of the telemedicine pilot project, such concerns are expected to be significantly alleviated. Currently, telemedicine is only available through medical institutions where the patient has had at least one in-person consultation for the same illness under normal circumstances. For chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, there must be an in-person consultation history within one year, and for other illnesses like colds and flu, within 30 days. Only the elderly, disabled, confirmed infectious disease patients, or patients living on islands or remote areas are exempt from these restrictions.

However, these restrictions are lifted during public holidays such as the Seollal holiday. Since it is difficult to find open hospitals during holidays or nighttime (after 6 p.m. on weekdays and after 1 p.m. on Saturdays), the restrictions are relaxed. Thus, holidays become an opportunity for telemedicine to demonstrate its true value. In fact, according to the Remote Medical Industry Council on the 9th, a survey of about 50 days since the expansion of the telemedicine pilot project in December last year showed that 94.5% of all telemedicine consultations occurred during nighttime or holidays.

Telemedicine providers have actively promoted that their services will operate normally even during the Seollal holiday. Representative examples include Dr. Now and Meraki Place, which offers the 'My Doctor' service. In particular, Meraki Place is also operating its customer center normally during the holiday period to actively reduce inconvenience for users.

However, even if patients receive consultations through telemedicine services, they must visit a pharmacy in person to pick up prescribed medications. Only patients who have difficulty moving or those living on islands or remote areas can have their medications delivered. While family members, spouses, and their families can collect the medications on behalf of the patient, the inconvenience of having to find an open pharmacy during the holiday remains.

Therefore, telemedicine service platforms also provide pharmacy locator services in addition to telemedicine. To facilitate smooth medication pickup, they display pharmacy locator services on the main screen of their applications and make it easy to find 'holiday duty pharmacies,' 'nighttime pharmacies,' and 'year-round open pharmacies' even during holidays.

A representative from My Doctor stated, “If anyone needs medical services during the major national holiday of Seollal, we plan to support all medical needs not only through telemedicine but also by providing services to find open pharmacies and hospitals. We will do our best to ensure that no citizen experiences a medical service gap during the holiday period.”