SEOUL, March 22 ― Kim Jin-woo, a 27-year old resident of Seoul battling Covid-19 and recovering at home under a new government policy, needed to see a doctor when his symptoms did not improve, but the nearest designated hospital was fully booked. So he picked up his phone.
“It was really convenient to get treatment via a phone call and have drugs delivered through a single process. I wish this can be expanded even after Covid ends,” Kim said. “Making a trip to the hospital can be burdensome when you're ill.” This gap in traditional in-person services has driven up business for local telemedicine players, like Doctor Now, Ollacare, Soldoc and Dr.Call, that help connect hospitals to patients located tens and hundreds of kilometres away.
“Although I had to wait hours in the virtual queue, still that's better than not being able to receive any treatment ... and I've got tonnes of work to do, which means I still wouldn't have made it to the hospital,” Kim told Reuters.President-elect Yoon, who takes office in May, has vowed to “make sure all Korean citizens can enjoy telemedicine”, fuelling hopes that the practice may become a permanent part of South Korea's US$203 billion health industry.
It expects the global telemedicine market to reach about $264 billion by 2028, from about $127 billion in 2020.
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