The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Defence Classification of Telemedicine

Abstract

At the moment, telemedicine can be characterised as a field which lays on the border of multiple specialties, however, in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, it gained a special role and it appears increasingly as a stand-alone domain, therefore, the aim of the authors is to shed a light on its remarkable headway. The restrictions that arise from the nature of the disease as well as the simultaneously rising need of the population for healthcare collectively turned the focus of the healthcare system to telemedicine. As a result, the national lawmaker assisted the functioning of telemedicine with a legislative amendment on a regulatory as well as on a financing level.
In this study the authors seek to address the question whether, besides the conventional health, telemedicine can be seen as a stand-alone entity. If so, based on this, it will be suitable to be classified as a critical infrastructrure in the near future, which would mean that telemedicine could enjoy the protection of an increased defence priority.