Log on to avail of better healthcare opportunities
TECHNOLOGY People living in remote areas don’t have access to specialist doctors; web portals step in to help bridge this gap
NEW DELHI: When a cyst was detected in 32-year-old Amrita Mathur’s brain four years ago, doctors advised her surgery.
Mathur, a resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, however, was keen on getting a second opinion from a specialist before going ahead with the surgery. But getting a second opinion turned out to be a cumbersome task. She first got a copy made of her reports and mailed it to one of the relatives in Delhi, who then showed it to a neurologist for a second opinion.
“How I had wished there was a facility available wherein we could get consultation online. That would have saved a lot of time and hassles,” she said.
Like her, a lot of people living in small towns, where there is no availability of specialized medical care, wish there was a more convenient way to cross-examine a diagnosis. For such people, the trend of online consultation that is catching up in a big way is proving to be a boon.
For instance, Medical Second Opinion (MSO), incepted in 2012, is an innovative online portal catering to medical and second opinion needs in a cost-effective and a pro-active manner. “We have an exclusive aggregation of the finest doctors and hospital providers from India and abroad and our electronic consultation mainly aims at providing second opinions,” said Sachin Chaudhary, founder, MSO.
Patients who have been diagnosed for any tertiary level procedure or surgery or medical intervention tend to seek a second opinion before they undergo the procedure. Since good and popular doctors of the country largely live in metropolitan cities, accessing them becomes an issue for these patients. This is where web portals step in to help bridge this gap and connect doctors and patients by leveraging technol- ogy that is available to all.
“Consultation charges are taken as per the selection of doctor. The charges for corporate and individual categories differ. However, it largely ranges from ` 55 (for physical and diet counselling) to ` 1000 (specialist opinion), depending on the doctor and his field of specialization,” Chaudhary added.
Telemedicine is another form of healthcare that is helping people in remote areas. This allows patients to seek medical care without personally visiting a doctor. With this technology, people are able to share their medical reports for diagnosis and consultation.
“It saves a lot of time and money that a patient would have spent in travelling from a remote area to get a consultation on an elective surgery or treatment,” said Dr Anupam Sibal, group medical director, Apollo Hospitals that has 120 telemedicine centres running.
Guidance on nutrition and diet through a panel of experts online is also fast gaining popularity. One such websitetheweightmonitor.com (TWM) provides a fully online weight management option for people who find it difficult to take out time for a clinic visit. “The beginning of the website was based on need as everyone can’t come physically to a clinic since time is a huge constraint. It is always appreciated if we can provide quality advice to people at their doorstep,” said Delhi-based nutritionist Ishi Khosla, who runs the website along with her son.
The subscribers of the website log in daily to fill in their food diaries, which are then analysed by a team of nutritionists. The site is highly interactive and the team keeps analysing trends on the basis of these diaries.
Tele-consultation, telemedicine, online registration--all fall under the am bit of mobile health.
“Online interaction has many advantages but as for tele-consultation, it has its limitations. Physical examination is still an important aspect of diagnosis and there are also medico-legal implications involved. I feel, doctor-to-doctor consultation is still more workable,” said Dr MC Misra, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Those into online consultation claim the best way to check the credentials of a portal are to check the list of doctors empanelled with it and also that all the required accreditations are in place. “We strictly abide by the American Medical Association guidelines for electronic consultation as it is a common practice in the US. Also, the credibility of the doctors matter,” said Chaudhary.