ICMIF member and cooperative insurer Sancor Seguros (Argentina) has announced the launch of a medical platform in a joint action with the Municipality of Sunchales, the home city of the insurer, during the period of government enforced lockdown in Argentina due to the coronavirus pandemic. Argentina has been in quarantine since 20 March with no outdoor exercise allowed and police permitted to arrest people for breaching quarantine rules. The services of the virtual office “Call the doctors” now allow residents of the insurer’s home city to access qualified and immediate medical attention by video call, available 24 hours a day, every day and free of charge.
How will this work? Any citizen of Sunchales will be able to access the platform if they request it, simply by calling or filling out a form and they only need a cell phone, tablet or notebook connected to the Internet. Once inside the platform, the patient will be able to select the specialty they require, explain the reason of the call and their medical history so that a doctor can provide a consultation. At the end of the consultation, each patient will recive medical instructions on how to help themselves recover and an electronic prescription in their mailbox.
The idea for the platform came directly from CITES, the scientific-technological incubator and accelerator of Sancor Seguros. But “Call the doctor” is not the first contribution of CITES to society during the pandemic, as they previously printed 3D mask frames (for health professionals in the city) and replicated this action with Phylumtech, one of the first companies invested in and developed by CITES. Likewise, RadBio, another of the start-ups incubated by CITES, is working on the development of kits for the diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis, one of the next stages that the coronavirus can cause in the most critical patients. For his part, the Medical Manager of Prevención Salud (part of the Sancor Seguros Group), Matías Buffa, reported that the 11 professionals who make up the medical team of Sancor Seguros in Sunchales have made themselves available to the city’s Crisis Committee, thus also contributing to helping the population there.
CEO of Grupo Sancor Seguros, Alejandro Simón said: “The launch of the “Call the Doctor” platform in Sunchales is a solution that will undoubtedly contribute to avoid extra infections during the quarantine period. A suspected case can be identified during an online interview and it will also be possible to monitor the progress of any cases where people are isolating due to having the illness using video calls.”
The Mayor of Sunchales commented that the platform will reduce the anguish and anxiety associated with the situation and that a consultation from a distance will reduce the spread of the virus.
Sancor Seguros will fund the costs involved in providing this telemedicine platform and will transform Sunchales into the first city in the country to have an online medical consultation service that will cover its entire population.
