Covid-19: Quarantined doctors turn to video chats so they can see patients

A patient sits in the living room of her apartment in New York during a telemedicine video conference with a doctor. The use of telemedicine apps use had been growing before the arrival of Covid-19, and the virus is likely to push adoption higher. — AP

Marie-Pascale Schuller started feeling sick last week. The 57-year-old doctor specialises in respiratory illnesses, and she had a strong suspicion as to what her fever, cough and aches meant.

She wanted to keep seeing patients without the risk of exposing them to Covid-19, so she turned to Qare, a telemedicine app backed by French insurer Axa SA that she’d started using part-time a year ago which allows her to meet with patients via video. The French government is now reimbursing people who use Qare – usually a private service – to cope with a surge in demand for doctor appointments.