Citation: Camacho-Leon, G.; Faytong-Haro, M.; Carrera, K.; Molero, M.; Melean, F.; Reyes, Y.; Mautong, H.; De La Hoz, I.; Cherrez-Ojeda, I. A Narrative Review of Telemedicine in Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Healthcare 2022, 10, 1361. https:// doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10081361 Academic Editor: Yiannis Koumpouros Received: 7 June 2022 Accepted: 18 July 2022 Published: 22 July 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). healthcare Review A Narrative Review of Telemedicine in Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic Genesis Camacho-Leon 1,2 , Marco Faytong-Haro 3,4,5, * , Keila Carrera 6 , Marlyn Molero 7 , Franhe Melean 7 , Yuliana Reyes 7 , Hans Mautong 5 , Ivonne De La Hoz 1 and Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda 5,8, * 1 División de Estudios para Graduados, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo 4001, Venezuela; genesisc23@gmail.com (G.C.-L.); ivodelahoz11@gmail.com (I.D.L.H.) 2 Division of Clinical and Translational Research, Larkin Community Hospital, South Miami, FL 33143, USA 3 Sociology and Demography Department, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA 4 Ecuadorian Development Research Lab, Daule, Guayas 090656, Ecuador 5 School of Health, Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo, Samborondón, Guayas 0901952, Ecuador; hmautong@gmail.com 6 Gastroenterology, Universidad de Oriente, El Tigre, Anzoátegui 6050, Venezuela; keilacarrera@gmail.com 7 Médicos Unidos Por Venezuela, Caracas, Distrito Capital 1000, Venezuela; marlynmolero@gmail.com (M.M.); franhe_m@yahoo.com (F.M.); yuli939@gmail.com (Y.R.) 8 Respiralab Research Group, Guayaquil, Guayas 090512, Ecuador * Correspondence: marco.faytong@psu.edu (M.F.-H.); ivancherrez@gmail.com (I.C.-O.) Abstract: Background: The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted traditional health structures, posing new challenges in an unprecedented health crisis. Telemedicine services were implemented in countries with robust digital platforms to reduce hospital attendance while continuing to provide medical care. This study aims to determine how telemedicine services have been used as a tool to en- sure the right to health in Latin America during the pandemic. Materials and methods: We conducted a narrative review in which words such as telemedicine, COVID-19, Latin America, access, and right to health, were searched on scientific medical datasets such as PubMed and SciELO. Additionally, we reviewed legislation in the Latin American health domain regarding the administration and trans- mission of digital data. Results and conclusions: Several countries have used telemedicine to reduce the saturation of healthcare systems and increase patient access. Issues such as broadband access for low-income populations and adequate legal regulations for transmitting and storing confidential data must be addressed to improve telemedicine use in Latin America. Keywords: telemedicine; COVID-19; Latin America; access to health; right to health 1. Introduction The healthcare systems in Latin America are fragmented between public and private institutions and demonstrate variations in regional numbers and access to healthcare facilities and medical personnel. To ensure healthcare coverage across the region, more resources and effort are needed to cover the Latin American populations’ needs. Beginning in November 2019, the rapid transmission of COVID-19 globally placed further burden on healthcare systems and constraints on populations’ access to appropriate medical care. Under these circumstances, telemedicine has emerged as a tool to reach out to more people and relieve hospitals overcrowded with COVID-19 cases [1–3]. Telemedicine has become more prevalent in Latin American countries, broadening access to care in both public and private systems, allowing patients to access care at a lower cost than an “in-person” visit to a medical office, and lowering the risk of contracting COVID-19 while in a hospital setting [2,4–6]. It has even been found to aid in early diagnosis of diseases and reduce recovery time [2]. Within Latin America, Ecuador, Chile, and Uruguay have been pioneers in the application of telemedicine services, including the development of legal frameworks to regulate its use. Healthcare 2022, 10, 1361. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10081361 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcare