Good Doctor Technology Thailand (GDTT), a subsidiary of Good Doctor Technology (GDT), a regional health-tech company with the vision of providing ‘One Doctor for One Family in SEA’, and the theAsianparent Thailand, the largest parenting community in SEA with over 30 million users monthly, on 7 July 2022 announced the launch of their joint knowledge-sharing initiative aimed at educating, supporting and empowering new mothers.
With digital health technologies and access to telemedicine services powered by GDTT, new mothers and pregnant women will be able to provide better care for their newborns and themselves as they enter motherhood. This initiative has been developed in response to the joint recognition and acknowledgement that there is an increase in cases of postpartum stress, especially during the COVID pandemic with many new mothers left to self-navigate their journey. According to researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, pregnant and postpartum women may experience high levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and post-traumatic stress, some of which is directly or indirectly related to the COVID pandemic. Such high levels of distress may have potential implications for women and for foetal and child health and development.
Both GDTT and theAsianparent Thailand have responded to the need to help new mothers navigate their journey by focusing on spreading credible health-related information and educating them about leveraging telehealth services to speak to a credible healthcare professional about their medical concerns. Although many tech-savvy Thai women are ready to rely more on convenient digital healthcare services, telemedicine is still a new concept in Thailand. By using innovative solutions, GDTT and theAsianparent Thailand aims to democratise access to digital health services and credible doctors for all new mothers and mothers-to-be. By unlocking new knowledge about parenthood, GDTT and theAsianparent Thailand looks forward to boosting the health literacy standards of new mothers by empowering them with access to professional medical expertise in key aspects of parenting, including mental health and nutritional health related consultations. Through the GDTT application, parents can quickly receive professional answers to their queries — after successful account registration, they can get connected to GDTT’s in-house general practitioners, paediatricians and psychologists within 60 seconds, complete their virtual consultation and receive a diagnosis or treatment recommendation. Specific health demands of new mothers will also be met through inclusion of other medical specialists in maternal and paediatric health in GDTT’s telemedicine service offerings to ensure that their healthcare demands are catered for comprehensively.
“With the high digital penetration rates in Thailand, it is common for people to search their symptoms online in the hope of finding medical information to guide them in managing their condition. By increasing access to telemedicine services among more people in Thailand, especially new mothers looking for specific information to guide them throughout their motherhood journey, we can put people back in the driver’s seat of managing their physical and emotional health,” said Dr. Sudhichai Chokekijchai, Head of Medical Team of Good Doctor Technology Thailand (GDTT). “With the increased time commitments new mothers are faced with, telemedicine services can provide additional convenience for them to access the right care at the right time.”
The two companies kicked off their general public education initiatives earlier this year by hosting regular talks highlighting trending health topics among new mothers and pregnant women. Most recently, GDTT was invited to host a workshop during theAsiaparent’s "Central X theAsianparent Baby Fair 2022” where a team of GDTT doctors discussed depression and anxiety some mothers experience after giving birth or during pregnancy. The most likely causes were identified as hormonal shifts that happen around pregnancy and delivery and during breastfeeding. Early parenting also has elements related to poor mental health outcomes, particularly surrounding sleep. In addition to discussing mental health issues, GDTT unveiled its advanced telehealth services for new parents.
“When we were working on the concept of the ‘Central X theAsianparent Baby Fair 2022’, one of our goals was to provide genuine value to the mothers who attended the event,” said Ms. Nithinan Asawathorn, Executive Director of theAsianparent in Thailand and Vietnam. “We wanted to give them access to knowledge from expert doctors, and we saw that GDTT was the best partner for educating pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of two. In fact, every topic we discussed during the workshop was highly relevant to the mothers.”
GDTT and theAsianparent are already engaged in ongoing discussions to assess other areas of collaboration in order to increase access to digital health services among more mothers in Thailand.
“In the near future theAsianparent and GDTT will launch more collaborative projects to give mothers across the country quick and convenient access to specialist doctors,” concludes Ms. Nithinan Asawathorn, Executive Director of theAsianparent in Thailand and Vietnam. “Having such access is key to safe pregnancy and motherhoodwhich is the aim theAsianparent and GDTT both share.”
