Expats come out in favour of virtual healthcare services

The results of a recent survey show the vast majority of expat respondents would prefer to have access to virtual healthcare.

For expats living and working overseas, accessing healthcare can be a stressful experience due to language barriers and cultural differences as well as high costs. The call for virtual healthcare facilities comes as no surprise, but what’s surprising is that a majority of the estimated 50 million or so of expats located across the world are still awaiting such a service. The survey’s question about virtual health services highlighted the popularity of several digital health and telehealth products, with the focus on Singapore’s expat residents’ use of the facilities. The total of expat respondents in the city state who said they’re happy to use virtual health services came out at 92 per cent.

In second place in the survey was the UAE, with 90 per cent of expat residents saying they’d use such a service were it available. Demographically speaking, younger expats between the ages of 30 and 49 as well as those with children are more likely to use such platforms, especially in determining whether symptoms would be better evaluated by a visit to a local hospital. Another reason was the cost element of using online services as against the cost of diagnosis and treatment at a private hospital, and being able to get a professional medical opinion before rushing to a local doctor or emergency room was also considered important.

Remote access to virtual healthcare services was considered essential by expats living in rural areas without fast transportation options to the nearest hospital, although many such locations may not have reliable internet access. All told, the possibility of being able to get trustworthy professional evaluations about medical issues is now of interest across a wide swathe of expat residents in developed as well as developing countries.