Conference
Apotex | Company Report | 7
Highlights
Telemedicine, Mental Health; How the Pandemic Changed Health Américo García VP and Director General | Apotex Latam
Rafael Enrique Maciel Martínez President | Asociación Mexicana de Genéricos (AMEGI)
Enrique Culebro Karam Director | Central Media
Edilberto Peña de León
C
OVID-19 exposed healthcare system failures but it also showed a new way of providing services due to the acceleration of the digital revolution. The pandemic is still going strong and continuously changing the health industry,
which will eventually help the population have greater access to healthcare services. However, these new opportunities carry big challenges, agreed industry experts. “With already 70 percent of the population with access to internet, the Mexico we live in has changed in many aspects, including in its approach to healthcare services. Nowadays, people inform themselves through social media, look for medical solutions on internet and turn to telemedicine. Some patients even take for granted that doctors should use digital platforms,” said Enrique Culebro Karam, Director at Central Media. Mexico is a limited country in terms of health access.
Director General | CISNE Mexico
According to OECD, the country is located in 34th place out
Iván Encalada Diaz
of its 37 members in doctors available per 1,000 inhabitants,
Vice President | Consejo Mexicano de Ortopedia y Traumatología AC
Leopoldo Cavazos Castro Health Regulation Consultant | MYC Asociados
places last in hospital beds available per 1,000 inhabitants and 35th in percentage of GDP used for health expenditure. Mexicans are more adapted to e-commerce, which will affect the business model of health companies, according to Culebro. Even when the pandemic ends, videoconferences will remain and change the way health services are provided. COVID-19 also shifted dramatically the mental health industry. “One of the positive aspects of the pandemic is that there is no return to the stigma people had about mental health. Psychiatrists became more important than ever after the lockdowns and other measures that COVID-19 brought,” said Edilberto Peña de León, Director General at CISNE México. About 70 percent of the global population changed their sleeping patterns during the pandemic and depressive disorders increased by 20 percent, he added. The digital transformation triggered by the pandemic also impacted the mental health industry, which became more open to telemedicine, according to Peña de León. Remote healthcare opened new possibilities for psychiatrists and doctors in general, who are now able to attend patients from different places. “Ten percent of my medical office’s patients are from different states and even countries,” said Peña de León.
