Acceptance of Telemedicine: A Perspective from the Doctors Working in the Tertiary Care Hospitals of Quetta

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID-19 forced the world to reduce the social interactions and push the world toward keeping destinations. During the pandemic, the need for online health services was profoundly felt also in Pakistan. Online health services saw a boost all around the country; however, there are still many challenges in the acceptance of the online services in Pakistan yet. Objective: To assess the acceptance and adaption of telemedicine services in three public sector hospitals of district Quetta during the pandemic of COVID-19. Methods: Questionnaire was designed and distributed among 385 physicians from Civil Hospital, Bolan Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Hospital and the results were interpreted with the help of the SPSS. Results: A total of 385 respondents were selected for the given purpose. 231 were male and 154 were female. 250 of the respondents said that only the urban areas were taking advantage of the telemedicine services while due to lack of internet facilities, the people from rural areas were devoid of the online services. The results also showed that 111 doctors had started telemedicine services since the pandemic. 235 of the respondents said that the youth were more inclined toward accepting telemedicine as compared to elderly. Conclusions: Telemedicine has not seen a large-scale acceptance and yet the people are relying on conventional methods of treatment and not switching to telemedicine as largely as they should have so had the doctors.