Telemedicine is widely being adopted in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This practice has led the market to expand and at the same time make healthcare more accessible to people. It has also contributed to the success of national health plans in the country. India has seen the rise of commercial digital medical applications gradually in the last ten years.
There were new guidelines published by the Indian government for telemedicine in 2020 to provide quick access to healthcare advice as the pandemic obstructed access to regular medical care for people with chronic illnesses and those staying at remote places
The Health Ministry of India introduced eSanjeevani which is a teleconsultation OPD service in April 2020. This initiative helped in the completion of close to one million consultations over the telephone. NDHM (National Digital Health Mission) was introduced in August 2020 with a budget of INR 4.7 billion towards universal medical coverage.
Telemedicine service is being used extensively although patients and doctors were a bit skeptical to use this medium of medical consultations. Due to a spike in COVID-19 cases and also with no proper therapy or medication in place, the need for telemedicine consultation increased. Telemedicine practice saves time for both doctors and patients. Consequently, patients can consult doctors easily as doctors can dedicate more time to patients. Also, patients can have access to the best of doctors and specialists.
Many telemedicine apps managed to treat patients with chronic conditions and COVID related cases. Telemedicine may not take over the conventional healthcare consultations, but can certainly decrease the pressure on the medical system especially in a vast nation like India.