BERLIN, March 25 (Xinhua) -- German startup Corevas has expanded the video chat system EmergencyEye to facilitate remote diagnosis by doctors during the coronavirus pandemic, telecom company Vodafone announced on Wednesday.
"In this exceptional situation, a quick and qualified initial medical assessment from a distance is of great relevance," Vodafone noted in a statement, adding "This conserves limited resources and protects people from infections in crowded waiting rooms."
The system was originally designed to allow medical staff to see accident scenes transmitted by smartphone cameras as well as to receive GPS data and would now be available free of charge for medical centers and doctors in the coming months, according to Vodafone and Corevas.
A separate communication channel was set up for the system in order to start the video chat as quickly as possible. Vodafone announced that there would be no network charges to people using the service.
With the support of Vodafone, Corevas had expanded the existing technology and "made it ready" for general practitioners, hospitals and special medical test centers to use for potential COVID-19 patients.
To use the system EmergencyEye, patients would only need to have a smartphone, while a special application is not needed.
