‘60% doctors spend 8 hrs/day on online consultations’

CHENNAI: Due to a spike in Covid cases, and most patients getting treated in home isolation, online consultations are seeing a surge.

Over the past two years, there has been manifold increase in online consultations over several platforms and the same trend is again picking up pace.

The Practo consultations data from April 2020 to April 2022 shows that 60% of doctors spent more than 8 hours a day on online consultations during COVID-19, as the demand for teleconsultations increased by 771% compared to the pre-pandemic period.

As many as 35% of doctors in India consulted patients online for more than 12 hours per day. The average consultation time ranged from 7 minutes to 30 minutes, as doctors advised patients on how to deal with COVID-19.

It’s mainly due to the mild nature of the disease that people prefer to be in home isolation and get treated online, explains Dr Narendranath Jena, senior consultant for emergency medicine, Meenakshi Mission Hospital.

“However, some get anxious due to newer symptoms and/or changes in health condition. When there’s an increase in household clusters, online consultations are important,” he points out.

The pattern continues even now, as cases are increasing across the State. The e-Sanjeevani online consultation has also seen a good response with more than 18.5 lakh consultations in Tamil Nadu until March this year.

The State stands fourth among the highest number of beneficiaries through e-Sanjeevani.

Officials from the National Health Mission say that response was good for online consultations and e-prescription when e-Sanjeevani platform was launched.

“It’s again increasing, as people prefer being in home isolation if their symptoms are not severe and require only monitoring. Online consultations benefit COVID-19 patients, as they can speak to a doctor without the fear of infecting others,” an official said.