Introduction
The outbreak of the 5th wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong has left the city’s healthcare facilities stretched to the brink. The recent challenges faced by Hong Kong illustrated the important needs to establish reliable, resilient, and robust patient care and health services.
To this end, the implementation of telehealth and telemedicine services, which enable remote communication with patients without direct physical contact, will provide Hong Kong with a solution in response to the public health crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. From a broader perspective, the application of innovative technologies, including Blockchain and artificial intelligence (“AI”), contributes to the digitalization of the healthcare system which can function more effectively and efficiently.
In particular, the use of Blockchain technologies in this approach further enhances security, privacy and the immutability of patient records, while the AI-assisted detection or diagnosis is safer, more accurate, and faster than previous methods.
As such, it is crucial to look into whether Hong Kong’s existing laws allows for the practice of telehealth and the applicable data protection laws, as well as other significant legal developments around the world.
What is telehealth
Telehealth or remote health is the delivery of healthcare services in a setting where patients and providers are separated by distance, using information, sensors and other integrated communications technologies for the diagnosis or treatment of diseases and injuries.
Most importantly, Telemedicine enables healthcare professionals to remotely monitor, diagnose, and treat patients while mitigating the risk of exposure of physicians, staff, or patients to COVID-19.
Telehealth and telemedicine are by no means novel innovations and have been implemented in jurisdictions where long distance travel is a problem. It stands to be a significant asset especially in the face of COVID-19 where visitation to a…
