Moscow (AFP)

On the screen, a gray haired Muscovite speaks from his apartment. Diagnosed positive for coronavirus, he said that he felt rather well to a doctor who advised him within the framework of a telemedicine program.

The young practitioner leading the consultation via video link, Sevana Mamedova, explains to her patient that he should bring a doctor home to check on his breathing problems.

Patients with Covid-19 but with mild forms have the right to stay at home. And since the opening of a new center in the Russian capital, they are monitored remotely by doctors who can recommend their hospitalization if their condition worsens.

Located in a huge school building, this center is one of the projects to counter the spread of the coronavirus launched urgently by the Moscow city hall, epicenter of the epidemic in Russia. Another major project underway is the construction of a hospital to treat patients with Covid-19.

In the telemedicine center, doctors in white coats are seated in partitioned offices, in front of screens and telephones. For the moment, the number of calls remains manageable.

"We are ready to increase capacity," says chief doctor Andrei Tiajelnikov, while the number of new officially registered cases is growing rapidly in Russia, currently at 8,672 and 63 dead, most in Moscow.

"The telemedicine center was created specifically for patients with coronavirus and whose condition allows them to be under observation at home," explains this doctor who ran a large clinic before the pandemic.

More than 200 doctors work in this new center. Most are general practitioners trained for the occasion, but there are also pediatricians who provide consultations for children with the help of their parents.

- "More useful here" -

"Every day there is more," says one of these pediatricians, Ioulia Youchancheva, about the cases of children infected with Covid-19, most of whom do not have serious symptoms.

"This whole project was created well in advance so that we can quickly manage calls when there are many," she adds.

Telemedicine also allows doctors to do more consultations than in offices. "I have decided that I will be more useful here than at the clinic," says Sevana Mamedova.

All patients at the center were first consulted by a doctor in person.

The video link then allows doctors to check skin color, an indicator of the level of oxygen in the blood, even if the most worrying symptoms are respiratory problems.

Doctors work 12 hours a day with breaks to eat and rest. The center is open 24 hours a day with approximately 15 minutes per consultation and more than 7,000 of them have been carried out so far.

According to one of the doctors, Lioudmila Berezkina, many patients using the service have no symptoms, although they have tested positive for the new coronavirus. They must provide two negative tests in a row to end their medical surveillance.

Originally, Moscow even hospitalized minor cases of Covid-19, but the available beds are now given priority to the sick in more serious condition. And doctors say it: patients with minor symptoms are better at home.

"At home, the walls take care of you," says Lioudmila Berezkina, citing a Russian proverb.

© 2020 AFP