Karnataka ranks 2nd in online consultations

The service, through Govt.-run e-Sanjeevani portal, was launched a few weeks before pandemic hit the country

Karnataka stands second in the country in providing online medical consultations through the central government-run e-Sanjeevani portal, according to data.

From over 24 lakh users in October, the number of people seeking online consultations has increased to 35 lakh. According to data, the State has recorded 35,19,546 online consultations till Friday (January 14).

The service, launched a few weeks before the pandemic hit the country, is an initiative of National Teleconsultation Service under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Aimed at providing healthcare advice to people in their homes through an app-based platform, the service has recorded 2.2 crore online consultations across the country so far since its launch in December 2019.

According to data, Andhra Pradesh has received the highest response with 88.63 lakh consultations. While Tamil Nadu has recorded 17.68 lakh tele-consultations, West Bengal has recorded 16.36 lakh and Uttar Pradesh 15.74 lakh online consultations. Kerala, Assam and Uttarakhand have recorded the least with 3.11 lakh, 3.36 lakh and 3.75 lakh online consultations respectively.

Belagavi tops

Data from the State Health Department as of January 14 shows Belagavi registered the highest number of consultations at 2.21 lakh followed by Ballari and Chikkamagaluru at 2.16 lakh and 2.09 lakh respectively. Bengaluru Urban district, including BBMP areas, has recorded 1.27 lakh consultations.

State Health Commissioner D. Randeep told The Hindu that the service provides free video-based clinical consultations between a patient and a doctor, especially a specialist for both COVID and non-COVID ailments. “Follow-up care such as queries pertaining to non-communicable diseases can be availed without visiting hospitals through this service. Instead of going to local quacks or buy medicine over the counter at medical stores, people can get an official doctor prescription free of cost here,” he explained.

All one needs to do to avail the service is to download the e-Sanjeevani app on a smartphone and register. To consult a doctor, patients must provide name, gender, age, address, mobile number, email ID, health records and details of dependents. The process includes registration, token generation, queue management and audio-video consultation with a doctor.

Another way of accessing the service is through the hub and spoke model, where staff in health and wellness centres connect with specialists in district hospitals and government medical colleges. This is a doctor-to-doctor consultation where specialists’ advice is sought to treat patients.