The Covid pandemic has changed our society forever, on both the negative and positive sides. And, one of the things that has changed the most in the last two years is access to health. In our country, until not long ago, it seemed normal to have to waste a morning or afternoon going to the family doctor to renew prescriptions for a long-term treatment, to give an example. All of this is now done by phone – or by video call in some private clinics. And, although this way is not the way we patients like the most to communicate with our doctors when we suffer from some type of disease, everything indicates that things will continue like this for the next few months. across the pond, Amazon seems to be interested in this sanitary model, and have endowed Alexa ability to diagnose and prescribe medication for minor illnesses.
Alexa, I'm not feeling well.
Reality already surpasses science fiction. The latest addition to Alexa in the United States is a health Service wherein patient customer can get help only by using their amazon device. Jeff Bezos' company has reached an agreement with the telemedicine provider Teladoc Health. Thanks to this association, any person who has a brand device and who has a medical problem that is not an emergency, will be able to check with your voice assistant. If the person wishes, they can indicate to Alexa that they want talk to a doctor really. This will cause the system to make a call to Teladoc's 24-hour service, where the client will be assisted by a real person who can prescribe medication if necessary. Of course, for customers who do not have health insurance, the call will cost 75 dollars and will be billed through Amazon. Typical of the United States, wow.
In addition, drugs They can also be obtained through Amazon. Although this feature is not available in most countries, in the United States, customers can obtain medications through the service. AmazonCare, where the prescription of the medication must be provided if required.
As an added measure, Teladoc spokesman Chris Savarese indicated that Amazon will not have access to the queries we make to their doctors, nor will you be able to record, store or access any subsequent calls made by your doctors to our Alexa device.
Is this the future of medicine?
There are not a few large North American companies that are setting up in the telemedicine sector. In a country where healthcare is seen as just another business, it is not surprising that companies like Walmart or Amazon are betting heavily on this type of service.
According to some experts, these services that have become so popular in recent years They do not replace face-to-face medicine, but they can be of great help for mild cases, follow-up of post operative and people who have difficulties approaching a health center.