THE state government, through PgCare Alliance, has launched the ‘PgCare Telehealth Service’ to provide medical consultation via video call or phone call for Covid-19 patients under home quarantine in Penang.
State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the telehealth services would be conducted using the platform hosted by DoctorTouch, a virtual care channel which is available in multiple languages such as Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin.
“PgCare’s Telehealth is one of Malaysia’s first public telehealth services for Covid-19 home quarantine patients, available daily from 9am to 10pm.
“Through this platform, Covid positive patients undergoing home quarantine can receive remote medical consultation through HD video or phone call, with a panel of volunteer doctors.
“The service caters to all layers of society, including the B40 and vulnerable communities.
“The state government will be absorbing the consultation fee of RM5 which means the service will be complimentary to use until end of December this year,’’ said Yeoh during the virtual launch of the telehealth service.
Yeoh said that the doctors on DoctorTouch are also authorised to generate ePrescription, which complements PgCare Alliance’s partnership with BIG Pharmacy that delivers the necessary medication to a patient within two hours.
“The ‘PgCare Telehealth Service’ has so far received 11 patient signups and eight doctor registrations throughout the past two days.
“We hope more doctors can volunteer their services and join us in this battle against Covid-19. We welcome doctors from all around Malaysia as the consultations will be conducted virtually.
“I hope this initiative will ease the burden faced by our current healthcare workers and provide patients an alternative option to obtain complimentary medical consultation,’’ added Yeoh.
Meanwhile, Dr Ngoo Seong Boon, a member of the PgCare Alliance, said the alliance has extended the scope of its assistance to a wider and multi-faceted manner, especially now with the number of people under home quarantine in Penang exceeding 8,000.
“This initiative is a timely medical care as it will help to ease state’s healthcare system.
“The patients can get their consultation by signing up and making appointments. They can also choose their preferred language,” Dr Ngoo said.
To get more information about the services, please log onto https://www.doctortouch.com/pgcare or call 04-6427777.
According to State Welfare and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh, the district health office would provide the state assemblymen with contact details of those undergoing home quarantine.
Phee said the officers in the assemblymen’s offices would then contact these patients to advise them on the necessary steps to be taken.
“They will call up the patients one by one to ensure that they have essential medical tools such as the oximeters.
“They will suggest the patients to register for the ‘PgCare Telehealth Service’ should they need any medical consultation,’’ said Phee.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Alissala Thian