Telemedicine is an important aspect of healthcare services amid COVID‐19 outbreak: Its barriers in Bangladesh and strategies to overcome

• Published in: The International journal of health planning and management Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 4 - 12
• Main Authors: Chowdhury, Saifur Rahman, Sunna, Tachlima Chowdhury, Ahmed, Shakil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-01-2021
• Subjects: Bangladesh - epidemiology; Barriers; coronavirus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - therapy; Delivery of Health Care - methods; Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration; Developing Countries; e‐health; Health administration; Health care; Health care delivery; health care service; Health Literacy; health policy; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; LDCs; Outbreaks; Pandemics; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; telehealth; Telemedicine; Telemedicine - methods; Viral diseases; Bangladesh; e-health; health care service; coronavirus; health policy; telehealth
• ISSN: 0749-6753; 1099-1751
• DOI: 10.1002/hpm.3064

The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID‐19) has been a global concern since early 2020, where the number of COVID‐19 cases is also on a rapid surge in Bangladesh with the report of a total of 276,549 cases after the detection of the first three cases in this country on 8 March 2020. The COVID‐19 pandemic has made a seismic shift in the healthcare delivery system, where physician offices have accelerated digital health solutions at record speed, putting telemedicine (i.e., telehealth) at centre stage. Amid the severely contagious COVID‐19, telemedicine has moved from being an optional service to an essential one. As the developing country, there are some barriers to get evenly distributed advantages of this approach due to the digital divides and disparities. In this commentary, we have described the importance of telemedicine service amid the outbreak of COVID‐19 in Bangladesh, the barriers and challenges that the country is facing to implement this approach and the strategies to overcome these barriers in this developing country.