Digitalization in medicine. Kyrgyzstan phthisiatricians require less time to treat their patients

Bishkek, Feb. 4, 2019. /Kabar/. Tuberculosis medical institutions in Kyrgyzstan managed to solve the problem of great amount of time being spent on treatment of their patients by installing special video equipment for conducting medical consultations with the central office.

Representatives of the USAID's Defeat TB Project said that the introduction of such a communication system allowed doctors to halve the number of cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, which should be considered at the Central Consulium, leaving the regions for Bishkek.

Moreover, they noted that having the opportunity to promptly contact the specialists of the Tuberculosis Control Center of their oblast, district phthisiatricians began to actively use it for consultations on other cases of tuberculosis as well, thus, expanding their professional experience. According to experts, this has already led to an improvement in the quality of work of district phthisiatricians.

For example, according to Director of Jalal-Abad Oblast TB Control Center Burul Kadyrova, the most difficult cases of tuberculosis in the region are discussed every Wednesday at meetings of the expert committee – the Central Consulium, which meets at the National Center for Phthisiology under the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic. To do this, starting in 2016, phthisiatricians no longer have to travel to the capital, since it is enough to connect to a special video link.

“Drug-resistant tuberculosis has complex nature of tuberculosis strains and requires a more complex treatment regimen, for which physicians from the regions often need collective consultations from experienced colleagues from central medical institutions. In order to consider a complex case of tuberculosis at the Central Consilium, we had to travel to Bishkek, waste time, delay treatment of patients, despite the fact that it is very important to start proper treatment of tuberculosis as soon as possible”, Kadyrova said.

She added that the introduction of a modern system of consultations held online helped them to bring closer the consultation of the Central Consilium to the regions. Thus, the time between diagnosis and the determination of a complex individual treatment regimen has been reduced.