”COVID-19 put telemedicine in the spotlight” – Blog Extract

ECPC Director Antonella Cardone shared her perspective on COVID-19 and the future of telemedicine as apart of  Med Tech Europe’s MedTech Week. Read the full blog here. 

”The pandemic brought digital health technologies to the fore and highlighted the obstacles facing telemedicine in Europe. As the pandemic unfolded across Europe, cancer patients were shown to be among the highest risk population of COVID-19. While it is too early to have definitive statistics, data from Italy during the beginning of the pandemic showed 20% of all COVID-19 mortality was among cancer patients.

As a ‘high-risk’ group, cancer patients have been advised to stay at home and avoid seeing their health care practitioner (HCP) unless absolutely necessary. We saw screening or follow up consultations suspended, generating psychological problems and distress among the cancer patient communities. This comes with serious consequences. A study by UCL, suggests that there will be a 20% spike in the number of fatalities in newly-diagnosed cancer patients due to late diagnosis or treatment. In short, the effects of this disruption will continue well into the future.”