The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has welcomed the lift to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) ban on telemedicine which will now allow doctors and therapists to use video or phone calls to treat patients using telemedicine.
All forms of telemedicine was banned by HPSCA, however, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, they have relaxed the telemedicine clauses, making the decision recently this week. Doctors can only help existing patients via video call and psychologists can use video or telephone calls to counsel new patients.
Head of benefit and risk at BHF, Dr Rajesh Patel was happy with the decision, “Telemedicine is critical for enabling access to healthcare, and within the context of the coronavirus disease Covid-19, it will minimise the risk of contamination.”
Patel said the exemption should be extended beyond Covid-19 lockdown, to help the efficiency within the healthcare system in the future, adding that South Africa is still lagging in terms of its uptake of telemedicine.
HPSCA said that health practitioners must still uphold the ethical rules of conduct for health practitioners registered under the Health Professions Act, as these remain applicable during the practice of telehealth.
HPCSA will inform practitioners if this guidance will continue after the lockdown.
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