Startup joins fight against pandemic

Startup joins fight against pandemic

Precision Dietz, a local health tech startup, is offering its telemedicine platform to public hospitals for free to support home isolation for Covid-19 patients amid the rise of cases.

"We see an urgent demand for the home isolation scheme among hospitals since the number of Covid-19 patients has exceeded capacity," said Pongchai Petsanghan, chief executive and co-founder of Precision Dietz, the provider of the Dietz telemedicine platform.

The platform will be offered without charge to support hospitals' telemedicine services for patients who require home isolation, he said.

More than 50 public hospitals are now using the platform with over 5,000 patients receiving services, Mr Pongchai noted.

For those who already have the Dietz system, they can incorporate new modules.

"The system allows patients to input their oxygen level, blood pressure and temperature and ask for a medicine delivery," Mr Pongchai said. Patients can also seek consultation with medical personnel through hospitals' Official Accounts (OA) on Line.

For hospitals without the Dietz system, they will need to install the system via the cloud.

The system can help reduce repetitive tasks for nurses who can check data input from patients directly.

"We help hospitals transform digitally, ensure data integration with hospital information systems, and deal with reimbursement with the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the Comptroller General's Department," he said.

For private hospitals interested in using the system, they can pay one time until the pandemic ends, he noted.

The company is running a business to business to consumer (B2B2C) model, unlike other telemedicine platforms that focus on business to consumer (B2C).

The system reduces the docu‑ mentation process and possible data input errors while helping bolster productivity by at least 10 times.

It also helps ward off health risks among health officers who monitor data online.

However, if the NHSO pays public hospitals for telemedicine services at a rate such as 30 baht per time, the company would request to receive 10 baht.

According to Mr Pongchai, telemedicine usage has been escalating since the pandemic flared.

After the pandemic, telemedicine will become an integral part of hospitals' operations in dealing with patients with non-communicable diseases, he said, noting the Medical Council of Thailand also supports its use.

The outpatient market for private hospitals is worth 80 billion baht a year.

Telemedicine has the potential to grow and the company is aiming to complete a pre-series A funding by the middle of next year in a bid to broaden its customer base, according to Mr Pongchai.

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