Online doctor consultation is fast emerging as the preferred mode of seeking medical care among people living in urban, semi-rural, and rural areas. The reason for its rise can be attributed to a number of factors, but for the last year, the primary driving force has been the coronavirus-induced pandemic and pervasive fear of catching the virus once you step out of your home.
In the last few months, online doctor consultation platforms have proved their efficacy as an effective alternative to in-person consultation and have benefitted a large number of people. Be it in private healthcare or on government portals, people are exhibiting greater faith in online medical consultations. As a result, digital healthcare tools are becoming more and more accessible and online consultation is being considered a trustworthy means of healthcare support. Moreover, the World Health Organization has duly emphasized online consultation and medical technology as highly beneficial in checking the virus spread.
Online consultation also makes timely and frequent assessments a possibility while being extremely handy for both the patient and doctor. Besides, timely online doctor consultation lessens the chances of emergency hospitalization and uncalled for lab tests. Globally, online doctor consultation platforms have also been recognized as offering better patient satisfaction. Studies conducted in the past couple of years show close to 99% satisfaction scores with online doctor consultation among patients.
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Here are the benefits of online doctor consultation-
1. Convenience of the model
Online consultation platforms ensure fast access to medical specialists across a variety of health conditions. Online consultation also facilitates flexible hours and easy access to care for patients. Another highly impactful cog is the monitoring tools that help to send reports and test results to doctors. This has a deeper impact, as it helps in communicating symptoms, worsening of health, and would-be emergencies, thus immediately ensuring faster interventions, which can be lifesaving at times.
2. Enhanced patient engagement
Online consultation platforms facilitate self-care by improving the interaction between doctors and patients. With the rise in chronic health issues, online doctor consultation helps patients report from the comfort of their homes and enables doctors to act remotely in directing patients.
With the second devastating wave of COVID-19 in India posing an increased threat to people’s health and wellbeing, online doctor consultations have gained new implications in everyone’s life including patients and doctors. Besides, over the past year, online doctor consultations have become highly instrumental in dispelling the fear of contracting the Coronavirus.
3. Bridging the gap
Online doctor consultation deftly addresses the existing shortage of doctors and nurses in India, primarily by stretching the doctor’s reach to patients living in rural regions, far away from the nearest medical facility which offers very poor healthcare delivery systems.
4. Budget-friendly
Quality healthcare can be expensive for many in the country. Online doctor consultations are known to be less costly than in-person consultations thus eliminating a major impediment to good quality healthcare. Just a simple search like – ‘online gynecologist consultation’ is enough to connect you with the best gynecologists in town.
8. Mental health
Online doctor consultation has been particularly beneficial for the ones afflicted with mental health issues like stress, anxiety, depression, addictions (alcohol, marijuana, other drugs, and social media), and other ailments that include those at risk for self-harm.
As a response to this, a number of online doctor consultation platforms have been launched to cater to the rising demand. This in turn has led to the importance of finding and selecting the best online doctor consultation platform from among the available choices.
Here are the things to keep in mind while selecting the best online doctor consultation platform –
1. The doctor consultation platform must be certified and legitimate.
2. Before making an appointment, it’s important to enquire about the doctors’ details including name and qualification.
3. Verify that the registration numbers of the doctors are available on the platform, e-mail, and e-prescription.
4. Double check that the e-prescriptions are provided by the doctors after consultation.
5. Do not forget to check if the platform provides a consultation receipt or invoice.
Access to good, reliable healthcare is a fundamental human right and at Doc Genie, we are committed to doing our part in making that a reality. Accordingly, we have carefully created a platform that has the best online doctors, providing location-agnostic high-quality healthcare. Our doctors are highly experienced and many are armed with more than 25 years of experience. Quite a few of our doctors are also second-generation physicians, with a family legacy of service to mankind.
Moreover, in contrast to most other online doctor consultation platforms, DocGenie is created by a band of highly qualified doctors together with a management team with global expertise in technology and public reach. The aim is to ensure access to quality healthcare while assuring total privacy, data safety, and cost-effective healthcare solutions.
