Telehealth has seen a massive surge, fuelled by the global COVID-19 pandemic as consumers and providers have sought various methods to safely access and deliver healthcare. With the onset of the pandemic, the Indian Telehealth industry has witnessed a massive boost. Tele-consultations, e-pharmacies, and remote monitoring have gained trust and popularity amongst both patients and healthcare professionals. With the massive growth that the industry has witnessed, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), along with NITI Aayog and the Board of Governors (BoG) Medical Council of India (MCI) released the first set of formal guidelines to regulate practices across the nation in March 2020. The step has boosted the growth of Telehealth across the urban landscape and it is deep-rooted in urban India today. However, rural India still suffers from the lack of infrastructure and penetration.
Current scenario
According to a recent study conducted on the ehealth market scenario, the industry is expected to reach $10.6 billion by 2025. It is the medium that can bridge the healthcare access gap, between urban and rural India. With the promise that Digital Health holds for effective healthcare delivery, there is an urgent need to implement it in the remotest regions of the country. Telehealth can become a boon for rural healthcare, with guidelines published by the Government of India on telemedicine. The market is seeing rapid growth which is helping reshape the healthcare sector, from being a provider-centric volume-based model to a patient-centric value-based one.
Telehealth implementation challenges
- Disparities across various patient demographics plague global healthcare delivery systems
- Rising costs exacerbate the lack of healthcare equity and unavailability of healthcare for remote patient populations
The primary challenges hampering the growth of Telehealth in rural areas are care fragmentation and limited resources. Rural regions in India lack basic primary healthcare facilities, which impacts the implementation of Telehealth in these regions. Lack of awareness and acceptance of new technology both by the public and the professionals are holding them back from going digital. Owing to challenges such as miscommunication of symptoms by patients, misinterpretation of symptoms by physicians, misdiagnosis, app usage, familiarity issues by technologically challenged people, cyber threats, etc, rural communities still prefer over-the-counter doctor consultation and treatment.
The road ahead
Digital initiatives by the Government of India can leverage the momentum gained in Telehealth to extend healthcare access into the deeper pockets of the country. As per the Medical Council of India, the doctor-patient ratio is as low as 1:2000 — making the situation dire. The World Health Organisation recommendation stands at 1:1000.
Telehealth cannot replace physical medical intervention and hospital visits for emergency conditions but it can certainly help tackle the disparity causing problems such as fragmented care, long wait times, and limited resources. Integration of AI and IoMT can significantly take the burden off doctors’ shoulders.
To tackle these challenges and eliminate the divide, Telehealth Startups are coming up with newer technological innovation — boosting the user experience while securing data privacy.
With AI-based features like symptom checkers for initial diagnosis; report based doctor recommendation; multilingual interface; low bandwidth video consultation, and HL7 security compliance, these obstacles can be overcome.
Startups that address these health care disparities in each regional market (particularly in traditionally underserved markets) by democratizing the availability and accessibility of cost efficient quality health care, will pave the road ahead. Our healthcare system needs a range of platforms that could enable doctors, nurses, clinics, pharmacies, and corporations to transform their services into a systematic, replicable, and sustainable way to improve the patients’ life quality. At the same time, personal follow care has potential to turn patients’ concerns into positive relationships while reducing their operational costs.
As per a report by The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), digital adoption is witnessing an upward trend where rural India stands at 13 per cent growth with 299 million internet users (31 per cent of rural population) over the past year. This can be harnessed by healthcare providers for deeper penetration of Telehealth services in rural regions.
New digital initiatives by the government can help leverage the momentum gained in Telehealth to extend healthcare access across regions in India. It would help in delivering better healthcare across the urban and rural landscapes, leading to a healthier Indian population.
Source: health.economictimes.indiatimes.com
