KUALA LUMPUR: Bayer Malaysia today announced it has launched a telehealth platform dedicated to endometriosis, in collaboration with Endometriosis Association of Malaysia (MyEndosis) and DoctorOnCall, a digital health platform by Health Digital Technologies.
"With a long history in women's health, we are delighted to be able to partner with MyEndosis and DoctorOnCall to encourage tech-savvy women to leverage teleconsultations to seek help on this medical condition", said Bayer Pharmaceuticals' Country Division head for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, Yamini Prakash.
As Malaysia's first-ever telehealth platform dedicated to endometriosis, the platform aims to encourage tech-savvy women to seek and to provide them with convenient access to OB-GYNs on endometriosis through teleconsultations.
MyEndosis founder and president, Surita Mogan said that telehealth platforms are powerful tools and avenues to educate women on endometriosis, empowering them to voice out their pain and seek treatment early by making informed decisions about their condition.
"We are pleased to be able to partner with Bayer and DoctorOnCall to champion this new teleconsultation avenue for women with endometriosis," she said.
The launch also kickstarts a three months campaign that will run from June, which enables women to seek advice for their endometriosis condition through free teleconsultations with obstetrician-gynaecologists (OB-GYN) on the DoctorOnCall platform.
"Endometriosis continues to affect up to 10 per cent of women of reproductive age worldwide. With the growing use of digital health platforms especially since the Covid-19 pandemic began and as more people become digitally savvy, we see the importance of tapping into telehealth as a resource to benefit doctors and patients to improve medical management of endometriosis," said Prakash in a statement the pharmaceutical company released to announce the launch.
Endometriosis is an inflammatory condition which occurs when the endometrium — a layer of tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus — grows outside the womb in other tissues or organs. Common symptoms include chronic pelvic pain, period pain, pain during or after sexual activity and infertility.
Through the dedicated telehealth platform, first-time site visitors or women who have no prior knowledge or consultations with OB-GYNs on endometriosis are encouraged to undertake an endometriosis risk analysis by answering 25 simple quiz questions on the platform. High scores on the quiz will indicate a higher likelihood they may be having endometriosis symptoms. For those who score 11 and above on the quiz, they will be directed to have a telehealth consultation with an OB-GYN via DoctorOnCall.
"Given that more women in Asia comparatively are affected by this condition, we see great significance in working with Bayer to launch this first ever dedicated endometriosis platform in Malaysia.
"Through this platform, women will have more convenient access to expert advice on endometriosis. They will be able to connect to the OB-GYNs on our panel to seek teleconsultations, just by using their mobile phones. This is also in line with our objective to support healthcare providers to deliver the best outcome for their patients, ensuring patients can seek the treatment they need early to live healthy, normal lives", said DoctorOnCall chief operating officer, Chiak Tang.
During the three-month campaign period, the first teleconsultation with the OB-GYN will be free of charge. This initial touch point is to enable women to learn more about the condition and clarify their concerns. If necessary, the consulting OB-GYN can subsequently propose a physical check-up to clinically diagnose that patient as having endometriosis. There are 10 OB-GYNs from various hospitals on the DoctorOnCall's panel who can provide teleconsultation on endometriosis.