Technology has disrupted all the industries and healthcare is no exception. Impressive medical and technological developments have improved health care delivery around the world. In India, despite technology adoption, there are challenges in leveraging the advantage to strengthen the healthcare ecosystem. Poor primary health care infrastructure which is a critical pillar of preventive health is likely to increase the disease burden in India. As per the recent report of the OECD & European Commission on the State of Health, points to constant improvement in the primary care accessibility resulted in the increase of life expectancy by 6 years.There are many such case studies from the west which have proven that a robust primary health care infrastructure can help reduce the disease burden and overall out of pocket health expenses of a country.

So what is there to improve and focus on?

India needs a strong primary care infrastructure which empowers families to take full control of their health, a service that provides them the right diagnosis, treatment, and guidance to stay on top of their health. Considering that the internet infrastructure and smart phone penetration are continuously improving, digital primary care can be a boon to improve accessibility and help reduce pressure on the healthcare system. While we have seen various giants as well as tech start-ups entering this area, can technology alone help us solve the problem? The answer is no.Technology serves as an interface, however, delivery of quality care is essential to drive the adoption of digital primary healthcare in India. Key aspects that can sharpen today’s digital primary care solutions are as follows:

• Tele-medicine Trained Physicians:

Telecon sultation is a specialised science, it requires well qualified and experienced doctors who are extensively trained for remote diagnosis. A training that enables them to understand the presenting symptoms, medical, social, family history and get cues from their voice and breathing rate that can help in diagnosis and treatment.

Teleconsultation can become a revolutionary way of managing health in urban and rural India, as it can provide excellent health services to people living across the country

• Quality Time With Patients: Various recent research indicates that patients expect doctors to provide a quality time of 15-20 minutes to discuss their medical problems. While this provides personal satisfaction to patients, providing sufficient time with patient can really help the doctor providing remote consultation with better insights on patient’s health.

• Established Diagnostic Protocols: A chronic headache could be due to multiple medical problems like migraine, stress, eye problem, ongoing medication, neurological problem, sleep deficiency, brain tumor and more. It is highly essential to rule out these complications to identify the actual cause of your medical problem/symptom. To do this, doctors providing remote consultation should be equipped with established clinical protocols that will allow them to probe with relevant questions and ask patient to do certain maneuvers and arrive at accurate diagnosis. This,in turn, can help the patient get required medical support at the right time before the situation gets worse.

• Ownership of Treatment Journey: Patients need to be educated on their medical situation and continuous guidance is essential for speedy recovery. This is possible if doctors own the entire treatment journey which is a challenge in physical consultations. However, in digital primary service, doctors can own the entire journey of patients for improved outcome. This requires a robust process with proactive follow-up and hand-holding to monitor the treatment progress and make the corrective action as and when required. This will help patients get appropriate advice, act as a moral support across the treatment and help them remain compliant.

• Comprehensive Ecosystem:
Along with the expertise in remote or digital consultation, patients need a comprehensive ecosystem that empowers families to access regular medical services like home diagnostic facilities, medicine delivery and appointment for a physical consultation. This can potentially make the overall health management convenient. All this is a common need for both Rural and Urban India as the population is diverse and has its own challenges.

The diverse population of India can benefit from above aspects. Teleconsultation can become a revolutionary way of managing health in Urban and Rural India as it can provide excellent health services to people living across the country.