The patient-to-doctor telemedicine facility allowing patients to virtually consult doctors at hospitals from homes through a mobile application has seen a record rise in tier 2-3 cities as per the data from lybrate healthscape report.
The report said that the online consultations in 2022 jumped by 87 percent in Tier-2 and 3 cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow as compared to that of 2021. Meanwhile, the metropolitans witnessed a 75 percent increase in the same time period, the report said.
Lybrate is a digital healthcare platform and at present, one of the prominently used wellness applications for patients and doctors in India. The data was collated from the 111 million interactions between patients and doctors on the Lybrate platform in 2022.
The healthscape report also found that women opting for online consultations in 2022 grew over 65 percent as compared to 2021.
The most consulted specialities in 2022 included gastroenterology and ENT, which grew by over 150, followed by dermatology and internal medicine which grew by 125 percent.
“Young adults under 25 are more curious about sexual health-related guidance by posting queries on the platform, such as masturbation addiction, STDs, pregnancy and PCOS,” report said.
Commenting on the findings, Harsimarbir Singh, co-founder of Pristyn Care said the rise of consultation was seen in both online and offline mode.
“We are not only witnessing a great demand for online consultations, but offline consultations have also jumped by over 2X over the past year. It is encouraging to see that Indians are becoming more and more health conscious,” Singh said.
The data also revealed that people between 25 to 45 years majorly book consultations for their kids or issues related to sexual or mental health.
Those above 45 years primarily seek consultations on chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, post-COVID-19 complications and thyroid-related ailments.
The report said that masturbation addiction, penile enlargement and erectile dysfunction, were some of the highest searched keywords among men across age groups.
Meanwhile, PCOS, healthy pregnancy and irregular periods were the highest searched keywords among women across India, report said.
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