Online Medical Treatment: Make System User-friendly for Elderly People in Rural Areas

Editorial

15:49 JST, February 7, 2025

Online medical treatment, provided by connecting patients and doctors via the internet, should be an effective measure for rural areas where there is a growing shortage of doctors.

Also, a system should be established to make it easy for senior citizens to use.

Online medical treatment, provided via computer or smartphone screens, has expanded in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with such aims as preventing hospital-spread infections.

However, there is a large generational imbalance among users of online medical treatment. According to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey on the number of patients receiving such treatment during the pandemic, 70% were aged 40 or younger, and elderly people accounted for only a small percentage.

One reason is believed to be that the older people get, the more difficulty they tend to have with digital devices. Another factor may be the fear of not being able to receive adequate treatment online.

It is true that a serious illness can lurk behind even symptoms resembling a cold. Symptoms that may require emergency treatment, such as sudden chest pain or abdominal pain, are also not suitable for online medical treatment.

On the other hand, for example, patients who regularly visit medical facilities with a chronic disease, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, which is in a stable condition, might find it convenient to have online consultations and receive their medications by mail.

The ministry intends to ease restrictions on online medical treatment, which in principle must be received at home, to make it easier to receive it at facilities close to patients’ homes, such as community centers, post offices and train stations.

Until now, if community centers and other such facilities are used as places where online medical treatment is provided, these facilities are considered “clinics where doctors are not permanently stationed,” and they have to obtain permission for them from prefectural governments. However, the ministry plans to make such procedures unnecessary.

It can be difficult for elderly people who are not accustomed to using digital devices to operate them alone at home. It would be easier for them to use the devices if they had someone, such as a community center staff member, to help them.

However, if such a facility to provide online medical treatment is to be set up in a place where many people visit, it is essential to pay attention to privacy so that information about the patient’s illness is not leaked to others.

It is also vital to make arrangements in advance with medical institutions that will accept patients if their condition should deteriorate.

Online medical treatment also has the advantage of allowing patients in rural areas to receive consultations from medical specialists who are concentrated in urban areas, without leaving their local communities. In Nagasaki Prefecture, a trial is underway in which patients at hospitals on remote islands can receive online treatment from specialists at Nagasaki University Hospital in Nagasaki City.

It is hoped that the results and challenges of this pioneering case study will be shared and utilized in various regions.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 7, 2025)