Colombia. Only four out of every 100 IPS in Colombia implement telehealth services, according to an analysis by the Ibero-American University Corporation with data from the Ministry of Education and on the occasion of the launch of its first specialization in Telehealth.
According to the study of the university institution, in Colombia 4.27% of the IPS authorized in the national territory (3,368) have telemedicine services, which are located in 370 municipalities of the 32 departments of the country.
On the other hand, with regard to the public care network, there are 331 IPS offices that provide telemedicine care, located in 20 municipalities and correspond to 9.8% of the centers that offer health services in this modality.
For Fernanda Sarmiento, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Ibero-American University Corporation, "there is a deficit in the country in Telehealth services caused by the lack of investment in technology, but also by the lack of professionalization of this field, which means that there are few professionals for it. This is something that is worrisome, especially in a country where, with its complicated geography, telehealth could provide greater access and opportunity in care."
Telehealth not only includes telemedicine (which is the provision of health services remotely through ICT) but also covers other topics such as teleeducation (remote training for users and communities in health), telesupport (support between health professionals) and teleorientation (counseling and advice to users for health promotion purposes, prevention, recovery or rehabilitation).
In the analysis carried out by the Ibero-American University Corporation, on the occasion of the launch of its Specialization program in Telehealth in virtual modality, it is found that despite the insufficiency in the offer of services in Telemedicine modality or mediated by other activities in Telehealth in Colombia, the country evidenced an important growth in Telehealth in the last 3 years, growing by 117% in the headquarters of providers that offer telemedicine and 192% in the services offered in this modality, mainly due to the pandemic. Of these, the five most telemedicine-enabled services were: internal medicine, psychology, nutrition and dietetics, dermatology and cardiovascular diagnostics.
The report also indicates that Colombia has 157 types of active health services, of which 95 can be offered under the modality of Interactive telemedicine, among which are general medicine, physical and sports medicine, pain and palliative care, nursing, physiotherapy, speech therapy and / or speech therapy, occupational medicine and occupational medicine. psychiatry, psychology, among others. Likewise, there are 94 under non-interactive telemedicine modality, 97 under telemonitoring and 152 under tele-expertise.
"One of the most visible barriers to the promotion of telehealth in Colombia is the lack of training and specialization of professionals in this area. There are shortcomings in the recognition of benefits of this modality and the use of ICTs, as well as the management of telemedicine platforms," said Sarmiento.
Telehealth Training
In Colombia there is no professional offer in the specific field of Telehealth or Digital Health, however, there are postgraduate options for different professionals in the area of health, engineering or other professions, to be trained in telehealth.
One of these options is the Specialization in Telehealth recently launched by the Ibero-American University Corporation and which is aimed at professionals from various disciplines with experience or interests in the field of information and communication technologies in the health sector, for the development of activities or the provision of distance services. For more information you can consult by clicking here.
