The Covid pandemic has spurred the development of a variety of online services, with e-health platforms achieving great success. They are expected to remain in use, even after the pandemic ends.
After the pandemic prevailed, people were advised to stay at home and avoid unnecessary travel to stop the transmission of the virus. Hospitals, pharmacies and medical centers became hazardous places during the pandemic, as the risk of affected people spreading the virus there was extremely high. This is where e-health platforms entered the scene to help patients get online medical services and medicines without leaving their home, Peivast reported.
A patient could get an online appointment, visit the doctor, receive a certified prescription and get the medicine delivered at their doorstep only by using one or two applications.
The first-ever electronic versions of prescriptions were issued during the 10th month of the current fiscal year (Dec. 22-Jan. 20). As of this date, all physicians must issue only electronic prescriptions, except under special circumstances created by the spread of the Omicron variant.
E-health platforms are the cheapest and fastest way to receive medical treatment.
Pre- and Post-Pandemic Eras
Before the pandemic, many online platforms were active in the shopping and freight delivery sectors, but after the pandemic, the need for such platforms was felt in the health sector.
According to experts, developers designed and executed the needed platforms in two years of pandemic conditions what would have taken 10 years under normal circumstances.
Scientists have speculated that the lower mortality of the latest Omicron variant and widespread vaccination could weaken the virus and turn it into a flu-like virus. In other words, even if the virus’s lethality is reduced, it could remain with us in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, the pandemic has created “the new normal” that is likely to become people’s daily routine in the post-pandemic era.
Reports published by research organizations claim that a majority of telehealth technologies are going to be used by patients even after the pandemic ends. For instance, McKinsey’s report on telehealth shows that researchers believe 50% of these technologies will continue to be used by people in the post-pandemic era.
Online Businesses
With the expansion of internet access and curbs on social interactions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, people's preference for online shopping is growing worldwide, including in Iran.
E-Commerce Development Center of Iran has released the results of a seven-month (March 21-Oct. 22) nationwide survey on the status of online businesses, IRNA reported.
Faranak Abolmasoum, the head of E-Commerce Monitoring Office at the center, said 51.9% of online businesses are retailers and wholesalers, 20.5% are service providers and 27.6% are active in both fields.
According to the survey, 80.6% of online businesses take orders via social networks, in addition to their websites, 34.1% use mobile messaging apps and 26.8% have developed brand-specific mobile and web applications.
Instagram, the social networking service that accounted for the lion's share of Iran's e-commerce, was used by more than 86.2% of online shops. WhatsApp Messenger was the second most popular media tool for conducting online businesses (50.3%).
According to Abolmasoum, 75% of online shops used Iran Post Company's delivery services, 31.4% used intercity transit services, 30.4% used their own delivery channels and 25.5% used private postal services for delivering parcels to customers.
The survey showed men placed 62.9% of online orders while women accounted for 37.1%.
E-Commerce Development Center of Iran also found that 93.6% of the surveyed businesses used private investments for development.
Officials attribute these developments to the country's expanding ICT infrastructure and believe that Iran's e-commerce has the potential to grow further, if the necessary telecom services operate with a higher capacity.
The country’s ICT outlet, National Information Network, was launched in August 2016 as a tool for offering electronic and smart services as well as a powerful platform for the local internet.
Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technologies Isa Zarepour has declared that the integrated network project will be completed in four years.
“After around two decades of foot-dragging, it is finally time to give the initiative one last push,” he added.
NIN was first proposed in 2005 by the ICT Ministry as an alternative and independent network with content compatible with Islamic values to facilitate Iranian users’ access to indigenous content. After a long-running saga, the project was launched in August 2016.
Zarepour stated that to address obstacles hindering NIN’s expansion, public education about the network's possibilities, the creation of a rich content generation chain and the convergence of many sectors to use NIN in their activities would be extremely beneficial.
