PETALING JAYA: Taiwan’s telehealth technology presents another window of hope to healthcare providers, offering effective solutions, particularly during this Covid-19 outbreak.
Telehealth involves the use of telecommunications and virtual technology to deliver healthcare outside of traditional healthcare facilities. The telehealth industry includes telehealth management, telehealth nursing and telemedicine.
Taiwan External Trade Development Council (Taitra) president and CEO Walter Yeh said during this pandemic, many countries are delaying the treatment of non-emergency cases in their hospitals, including treatment for cancer patients.
“Hence, the technology used in telehealth reduces the risk and cost of infection and has become the best solution to treat patients with infectious diseases,” he said at a Taiwan Excellence press conference livestream today.
According to a survey by Global Market Insights, the global market value of telemedicine will increase from US$38.3 billion (RM167 billion) in 2019 to US$130.5 billion in 2025. It has a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2%.
“Taiwan integrates advantages in information, communication and medical strength. Taiwan is therefore equipped with the potential to develop the telemedicine industry. We want to combine artificial intelligence (AI) with big data and do what we can in the medical information system and image analysis,” said Yeh.
During the press conference, three Taiwanese telehealth company representatives gave a brief presentation on their products that helped reduce Covid-19 risks and medical costs for patients and medical facilities, expediting patient recovery and promoting active health management.
In terms of telehealth management, Leadtek Research Inc, which is a Taiwan Excellence enterprise, has created a body-mind health management platform combining a wearable bracelet with amour to monitor personal data.
This includes metrics like sleeping records, fatigue index, cycle index, and a physical stress index, which are then used to provide AI risk prediction, individual trends and relevant suggestions to boost self-management.
Products carrying the Taiwan Excellence symbol have been selected for specific Taiwan Excellence Awards based on their excellence in research & development, design, quality and marketing.
Leadtek manager Wayne Lee said one of Malaysia’s universities plans to use its device to conduct a trial involving Covid-19 patients in isolation. Prior to Covid-19, Leadtek had already cooperated with a Malaysian company to use its technology to enhance sleeping conditions.
In terms of telehealth nursing, the Rightest Precision Health Combined Care Circle, created by Bionime Corp, collects and analyses electronic data through digital health service stations and converts it into easy-to-read information charts.
The telecare nursing service provides professional medical hospitals and clinics with solutions for institutional care management, and follow-up care outside of the institutions.
Bionime senior regional sales manager West Yang said it is collaborating with Caring Pharmacy in Malaysia to market its Rightest mHealth solutions for diabetes patients.
As for telemedicine, the Horus Scope Digital Handheld Tonometer developed by Medimaging Integrated Solution Inc (MiiS) is available to physicians and optometrists. A tonometer is an instrument that determines intraocular pressure by measuring the resistance of your cornea to indentation.
Electronic medical records can be produced through digital photography or video recording, and the image can then be transmitted to a physician located remotely for diagnosis.
Taiwan Excellence will assist award-winning businesses to participate in the Asean Senior Care & Wellness Expo in Malaysia in August.
Taitra will continue to develop the medical industry in Taiwan and will hold the Taiwan International Medical and Healthcare Exhibition at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center on Oct 15-17.
