New Delhi: Union Health Ministry’s National Telemedicine Service – eSanjeevani has crossed another milestone by completing 60 lakh consultations through more than 375 online OPDs, where over 40,000 patients consult over 1600 doctors and specialists on a daily basis using this innovative digital medium to seek Health services.
Currently, the National Telemedicine Service is operational in 31 States/Union Territories.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had conceptualised eSanjeevani – a doctor to doctor telemedicine platform in November 2019 for implementation at 1,55,000 Health and Wellness Centres under Govt. of India’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme in a Hub & Spokes model. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, as OPDs across the country were closed, the Union Health Ministry ensured a rapid development and roll out of this initiative in collaboration with The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (Mohali).
eSanjeevaniAB-HWC – the doctor to doctor telemedicine platform has been implemented at around 20,000 Health and Wellness Centres as spokes and over 1800 hubs in around 30 States. The Ministry of Defence too has hosted a National OPD on eSanjeevaniOPD, where over 100 veteran doctors and specialists – roped in by the Ministry of Defence, serve patients across the country.
People in many states have been quick to recognise the benefits of eSanjeevani and this has led to an encouraging trend of widespread rapid adoption of this digital modality of seeking Health services. It has led to massive improvement in access to specialised health services, particularly in rural areas. Further, this Service has come in handy for the patients in urban areas as well, especially during the second wave of the ongoing pandemic that has burdened the Healthcare services delivery system in the country.
In a short span of time, Govt. of India’s National Telemedicine Service has started aiding the Indian healthcare delivery system by plugging the digital health divide that exists in urban and rural India. It is also addressing the shortage of doctors and specialists at ground level while reducing the burden on secondary and tertiary level hospitals. In line with the National Digital Health Mission, eSanjeevani is also boosting the digital health ecosystem in the country.
Leading 10 States in terms of adoption (number of consultations) of eSanjeevani are Andhra Pradesh (1219689), Tamil Nadu (1161987), Karnataka (1056447), Uttar Pradesh (952926), Gujarat (267482), Madhya Pradesh (264364), Bihar (192537), Maharashtra (177629), Kerala (173734) and Uttarakhand (134214).
