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Telemedicine in India

Published: 11th Apr, 2024

Context

Telemedicine has emerged as a viable alternative to in-person consultations with doctors in many contexts.

Benefits of Telemedicine
  • Easy and time saving: It saves patients time and expenses, which can be considerable if they are located in remote areas and/or are not well to do.  In India, where 70% of the population lives in villages, a hospital visit often requires expensive long-distance travel to urban centres, which imposes its own considerable carbon footprint.
  • Lower emissions: According to a recent study, India’s healthcare sector emitted 74 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2014, around 3% of India’s total emissions of the gasthat year. Vehicular emissions are a major contributor to local pollution and global warming. Telemedicine can be of help here.
  • Filling Gap: Most Indians live in rural areas while most doctors operate from urban locations. This leads to a gap in health care access that can be solved with telemedicine.
  • Economic impact: It can save time and money, lower fees and premiums.
  • Making up to doctor-population ratio: WHO recommends a doctor-population ratio of 1:1000 while the current doctor population ratio in India is only 0.62 : 1000.  The ratio is expected to remain low for a long time to come. This deficit is partly being made up by the active telemedicine services in various parts of the country.

Government Initiatives for Telemedicine

  • eSanjeevani is  Govt. of India’s free telemedicine service.  It is a national telemedicine service that strives to provide an alternative to the conventional physical consultations via digital platform.
  • AROGYASREE is another internet-based mobile telemedicine conglomerate that integrates multiple hospitals, mobile medical specialists, and rural mobile clinics.
  • Telemedicine Practice Guidelines under the NMC Act, 2019, regulate telemedicine in India. These guidelines outline prescription protocols and the responsibilities of registered medical practitioners during online consultations.
  • Information Technology Act, 2000, governs data collection by teleconsultation intermediaries.

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