Fearing Covid-19 infection, more Indians, prefer frontline tools — smartphones — to consult their doctors, instead of meeting them in person.
At least 46 per cent Indians have favoured telemedicine option, as per a survey conducted by online doctor consultation platform — Mount Virtual Hospital — done across metros covering Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Telemedicine entails delivery of health services from a distance using internet and it not only extends the reach of health services but also improves quality of health services besides saving time and money, according to experts.
The survey comes days after the Union Health Ministry said that its eSanjeevani telemedicine service has recorded 1 million consultations. In the wake of Covid-19 crisis, the Ministry approved the guidelines on telemedicine allowing any registered medical practitioner to treat Covid-19 patients remotely or by using telemedicine tools.
The data was collected from an age-group of 20 to 85 years. The total respondents in the survey were 2,406 which included 1,455 males and around 951 females.
The survey conducted by online doctor consultation platform Mount Virtual Hospital showed that about 70 per cent of the respondents who had diabetes, heart problems, blood pressure issues, cancer or kidney diseases, who are at increased risk of severe illness from the Covid-19, still want to get the consultation done with their doctors over call — be it for follow-up consultation or new consultation.
“With people using digital mediums to connect to doctors, we are observing behavioural change, and it will impact the health care sector positively in times to come,” Sanjay Singh, Founder of Mount Virtual Hospital, said in a statement.
According to the report, 60 per cent of the women surveyed in the age group of 18-45 years, wanted to connect digitally with their doctors for consultation related to dermatology, nutrition and diet and mental health issues, while 80 per cent of the men (45-85 years of age) still prefer to have online consultation due to fear of Covid-19 infection keeping their age in mind.
“We have observed almost 200 per cent jump in demand for online consultation. Many cancer patients who want to avoid risk of Covid-19 infection are connecting to us over video calls to discuss their problems,” said Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Department of Clinical Hematology & Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Hospital.
“With a large educated and technology-friendly population, India is now ready to take tele-consultations to the next level and utilise it for complex super specialities as well,” Bhargava added.
No wonder, telemedicine is becoming a hugely popular offering in healthcare. A recent Global Market Insights report found that the sector was worth about USD38.3 billion in 2018, and that figure is projected to swell to USD$130.5 billion by 2025.
