eSanjeevani, India’s First Telemedicine Service Makes Healthcare More Accessible To Older Adults

Here’s all you need to know about eSanjeevani, the Union Health ministry’s national telemedicine initiative and how it offers older adults easy access to healthcare. 

eSanjeevani, India’s first-of-its-kind nation-wide telemedicine service crossed 1 million teleconsultations on December 14, 2020. An initiative of the Union Health ministry, this national telemedicine initiative has emerged to be especially beneficial for older adults at the time of the pandemic and social distancing. Ten per cent users of eSanjeevani are over 60 years; the majority of these users have used eSanjeevani more than once.

The rollout of eSanjeevani ensuring adequate delivery of health services while battling the raging pandemic has not only brought about a remarkable digital transformation in healthcare services but is also estimated to be a spearheading initiative at a national scale by a developing country. Until now, patients from over 550 districts in India have used eSanjeevani, the health ministry said in a statement.

In a statement, the health ministry said: These stands as a testimony to the fact that the public has started preferring telemedicine over visiting hospital OPDs for consulting a doctor.

How does it work?

eSanjeevani initiative at present is serving in two streams in 28 states and union territories.

The first stream of this platform enables doctor-to-doctor teleconsultations. It is implemented around 6,000 health and wellness centres served by specialists and doctors in 240 hubs that the states have set up in district hospitals or medical colleges. As many as 20,000 paramedics, doctors and specialists have been trained to use these eSanjeevani Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs).

The second stream, eSanjeevani OPD deals with offering remote healthcare services to patients at home, enabling contactless, risk-free and safe consultations between a patient and a doctor.

Already 8,000 doctors have been trained and onboarded on eSanjeevani OPD and about 1500 of them practice telemedicine on a regular basis in 225 online OPDs of which 190 are speciality OPDs and 30 are general ones. As of now, eSanjeevani has been serving around 14,000 patients across the country every day.

Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra are the top ten states with maximum users of eSanjeevani.

Paves way for online super-specialty OPDs and accessible healthcare

The roll-out of eSanjeevani has made it possible to launch a wide range of speciality and super-speciality OPDs online, making healthcare more accessible. These OPDsinclude alternative medical systems as well like AYUSH and naturopathy.

Want to register yourself with eSanjeevani and consult with doctors from the comfort of your home? Visit their website for more information.