Medanta, the multi-specialty hospital where he works, started its free telemedicine service about a year ago as an outreach service for patients who cannot visit the hospital.
“In-person consultation is obviously the gold standard,” Parakh told
India Insight. “But if we have a doctor at the patient’s end, especially
somebody who he trusts and who he knows, we can be reasonably
comfortable about prescribing treatment.”Medanta is one of several e-health providers that say they want to change how healthcare is delivered in India, and address the industry’s two biggest problems: accessibility and lack of manpower.
India has 0.7 physicians per 1,000 people — BRIC peers Russia (5), Brazil (1.5) and China (1.5) have better ratios — and most Indians travel about 20 kilometres to reach a hospital, according to a 2012 report by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
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