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| Edited By: Priyanka Golikeri |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 02:11 AM IST
Online portals that connect patients with medical specialists and other service providers are cashing in on the healthcare boom just as much as doctors, clinics, hospitals and laboratories.
Going by ratings agency Fitch, the healthcare sector in India will double by 2015 from around $50 billion last year. The burgeoning demand has led to a virtual explosion of services in the segment, many of which can now be availed online, including doctor appointments, specialist opinions and second opinions.
Patients can also scan and post their X-rays, CTs and MRIs for second opinions, put across queries on various problems seeking remedies, and also search for doctors within the neighbourhood for appointments. “Healthcare websites nowadays look to connect patients with doctors who could be general physicians, MDs, specialists, homoeopaths, etc,” said Kunal Sinha, founder and CEO, HealthcareMagic.
Amit Bansal, co-founder and CEO, HelpingDoc.com, thinks that finding a doctor within close proximity to one's location is a big positive here. “Thus, people can log onto health websites, search for a doctor who can best handle their queries and seek an appointment,” he added.
The queries are varied in nature. While emergencies and critical ailments like cancer, HIV/AIDS are best avoided, these health websites come up with practical solutions like treatment options, kinds of tests, medicines for milder problems ranging from cough and cold to headache. “We see a large number of queries coming in for general medicine, then, gynaecology-related queries. But very rarely do we get queries for something like cancer. Say, in a day if we get 200 queries regarding gynaecological problems, we might get just about 3 a week for cancer,” said Sinha. And there are those, according to Bansal, who hunt for specialists to help them with queries related to personal problems that cannot be discussed openly.
Posting health records online and getting specialised opinions also makes the tracking of health profiles a lot easier, said Anil Joshi, CEO, Myhealthrecords.in. “We receive around 800 queries a day and have a network of 1,500 doctors to help out. Some 50,000 people regularly use the services... We have a database of 7,000 doctors. Patients are usually employees of firms that have signed up with us as well as lay people seeking medical support,” added Sinha.
