The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, OCT 18, 2021
eSanjeevani, India’s leading telemedicine service, under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, clocked 1.4 crore consultations today. Operating in two variants i.e., eSanjeevaniAB-HWC and eSanjeevaniOPD, this initiative of Government of India has over the time gained immense popularity in being able to deliver healthcare services through digital platforms.
eSanjeevani AB-HWC, a Doctor-to-Doctor teleconsultation system, launched with an intent to alleviate the Urban-Rural divide in terms of health services, works on Hub-and-Spoke Model. The ‘Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres’ (HWCs) set up at State Level, act as Spokes, which are mapped with the HUB (comprising MBBS/ Specialty/Super-Specialty doctors) at Zonal level. This enables a patient residing in rural areas to avail quality health services. eSanjeevaniAB-HWC has accounted for 85,02,926 consultations. The rate and pace of the aforementioned Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine platform is gaining on popularity. 1,55,000 Health and Wellness Centres will be onboarded as spokes by December 2022. Currently, 28,450 HWCs are working as spokes.
eSanjeevani OPD, launched on April 13, 2021, aims to provide safe Doctor-to-Patient consultations. It too has continued to grow in demand as it allows citizens to consult doctors from the comfort and in the confines of their homes, bypassing wait time, travel, risks of infection etc. It is expected that this service will continue to grow. eSanjeevaniOPD platform has effected 55,62,897 consultations. eSanjeevani OPD is available as mobile app for both iOS and android smartphones.
eSanjeevani as a whole is addressing the shortage of doctors and specialists at the ground levels, while also reducing the burden on secondary and tertiary level hospitals. In line with the newly launched Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission, this digital initiative aims to constantly improve the digital health infrastructure of the country. Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, which is providing holistic support to the users of the National Telemedicine Service. With the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the team at C-DAC Mohali is dedicatedly and continually improving the service by enhancing various aspects of eSanjeevani. A wider and deeper adaptability by all the States and Union Territories is also being ensured.
Leading 10 States in terms of adoption (14507305) of eSanjeevani are Andhra Pradesh (4728131), Karnataka (2573609), Tamil Nadu (1630795), Uttar Pradesh (1413257), Gujarat (511338), Bihar (474959), Madhya Pradesh (471509), West Bengal (460167), Maharashtra (429558), Uttarakhand (286012).
