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Telehealth is poised to play a big role in the COVID-19 fight but there are some areas of general medicine that will require a mix of both traditional bricks-and-mortar medicine and the Skype variety, says Dr Aifric Boylan, a Melbourne-based practicing GP and CEO of telehealth provider Qoctor.

Telehealth is great for a broad range of clinical services, she says, but it can’t replace person-to-person consultations.

Dr Boylan notes that an unplanned pregnancy in a pandemic “opens up a whole new level of stress to a patient” whom she says may already be facing long-term financial uncertainty and even indeterminate access to termination services should they need it.