Headed To Portugal? You Can Use The Uber App To Order Medical Care

Worldwide vacationers usually have a tough time getting medical recommendation once they’re away from dwelling. Even diagnosing and treating an unexplained rash or a bout of indigestion could be vexing when somebody is overseas. 

In fact, Within the case of a probably severe medical downside, vacationers are seemingly (and may) head to a hospital emergency room. For lesser issues, pressing care clinics are an alternate, though they might be laborious to search out, have lengthy wait instances, and is probably not a pretty choice throughout a pandemic. 

A brand new “at-home” choice

Diversifying from ride-sharing to meals, grocery, and alcohol supply (and extra), Uber is launching a brand new platform for medical care. Portugal is the primary nation the place vacationers will have the ability to use the Uber Eats app to order at-home healthcare, offered both by way of telehealth or on-site at their lodge or rental property. The service is offered 24/7, 12 months a 12 months.

In accordance with a current report in Medscape, the meals supply platform is looking its new service Medico em Casa (Physician at Residence). Customers can order any one in all three completely different providers—home calls, video consultations, and telephone consultations—all offered by basic practitioners. 

Priced at roughly $91, $23, and $23, respectively, the medical consultations are offered by a 3rd get together, Ecco-Salva Medical Services, that focuses on dwelling healthcare. Not but lined by most insurers, customers would seemingly must pay privately. The service is presently restricted to the Lisbon metro space however the firm hopes to broaden to different giant city facilities in Portugal.

Helpful for vacationers?

Anita Breland and Tom Fakler, intrepid vacationers who write about meals and wine, relocated to Porto, Portugal about six years in the past. They’ve discovered healthcare in Portugal to be of high-quality, readily accessible, and really fairly priced—each for residents and expats—who’re members of the nationwide well being system or who’ve good insurance coverage protection.

“In our six years in Portugal, we now have used the centralized 24-hour telemedicine line when staying in a lodge, and from dwelling to schedule Covid-19 vaccinations and to acquire our EU vaccination e-passports,” says Breland. “We’ve got direct entry to our private physicians, who’ve given us their cellular numbers and have been informed that some medical doctors make home calls.”

Nevertheless, accessing medical care out of the country once you’re touring, particularly should you don’t know the language, could be dicey. Breland and Fakler see the brand new Uber Eats Medico em Casa app as probably being a useful gizmo for worldwide vacationers, who might not have information of, or entry to, the national health line (which is in Portuguese). 

“This launch is ‘one other large step’ for the platform to go ‘past the varied restaurant, grocery store, comfort and different retail providers,’” stated Diogo Aires Conceição in a press release reported in The Portugal News.