6-Dec-2022: National telemedicine service of India - eSanjeevani achieves 8 crore teleconsultations

In a significant achievement, eSanjeevani, Govt. of India’s free telemedicine service, has crossed another astounding milestone by clocking 8 crore teleconsultations. The last 1 crore consultations were recorded in a remarkable time frame of around 5 weeks, signaling a wider adoption of telemedicine. An e-health initiative of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, eSanjeevani is a national telemedicine service that strives to provide an alternative to the conventional physical consultations via digital platform.

In less than 3 years, this initiative has garnered the distinction of being the world’s largest government owned telemedicine platform. It consists of two verticals that cater to patients across all states and UTs successfully making its presence felt in the innermost regions of the nation.

The first vertical eSanjeevani AB-HWC endeavors to bridge rural-urban digital health divide by providing assisted teleconsultations, and ensuring that e beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat Scheme are able to avail of the benefits they are entitled to. This vertical operates on a Hub-and-Spoke model wherein the ‘Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centers’ (HWCs) are set up at state level, act as spokes, which are mapped with the hub (comprising MBBS/ Specialty/Super-Specialty doctors) at zonal level. With the objective to provide quality health services to a patient residing in rural areas, this model has been successfully implemented in 1,09,748 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) and 14,188 Hubs, achieving a total of 7,11,58,968 teleconsultations.

eSanjeevaniOPD is the latter vertical which caters to citizens in both rural and urban alike. It leverages technology via smartphones, tablets, laptops enabling doctor consultations to be accessible from the patient’s residence regardless of location. eSanjeevaniOPD has acquired 1,144 online OPDs with 2,22,026 specialists, doctors and health workers that have been trained and onboarded. This platform has an impressive record of having served over 4.34 lakhs patients in one day. Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, which is providing holistic technical training and support to users, is augmenting the faculties of this vertical to be able to serve up to 1 million patients per day.

eSanjeevani is a cohesive part Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM), and more than 45,000 ABHA IDs have been generated via eSanjeevani application.

Leading ten states for usage of this platform are: Andhra Pradesh (28242880), West Bengal (10005725), Karnataka (9446699), Tamil Nadu (8723333), Maharashtra (4070430), Uttar Pradesh (3763092), Madhya Pradesh (3283607), Bihar (2624482), Telangana (2452529), Gujarat (1673888).

3-Jun-2022: ‘eSanjeevani’, Govt. of India’s free Telemedicine service integrated with NHA’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

The National Health Authority (NHA) announces the successful integration of eSanjeevani with its flagship scheme – Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). This integration allows the existing users of eSanjeevani, the telemedicine service of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to easily create their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) and use it to link and manage their existing health records like prescriptions, lab reports, etc. The users would also be able to share their health records with doctors on eSanjeevani which will help in better clinical decision making and ensuring the continuum of care.

Speaking about the significance of this integration, Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO, NHA said – “ABDM aims to build digital highways to bridge the gaps in existing digital health solutions and stakeholders in India. The integration of eSanjeevani with ABDM is one such example where the 22 crore ABHA holders can link and store their health records created via eSanjeevani directly in the health lockers of their choice. The users can also share their previously linked health records with the doctors on eSanjeevani making the entire consultation process paper-less.”

eSanjeevani service is available in two variants. The first one is eSanjeevani Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre (AB-HWC) – the Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine service through which the beneficiaries visiting a HWC can virtually connect to doctors/ specialists in the Hub that could be at tertiary healthcare facility/hospital/medical college. This enables the government to provide general and specialised health services in rural areas and isolated communities. The second variant, eSanjeevani OPD is serving patients across the country, connecting them directly to doctors from the comforts of their homes. Both versions – eSanjeevani AB-HWC and eSanjeevani OPD have been integrated with ABDM platform.

The eSanjeevani telemedicine platform now joins other 40 digital health applications that have completed their ABDM integration. Together, these health tech services are building a robust, inter-operable and inclusive digital health ecosystem for the country. More info on ABDM integrated apps here: https://abdm.gov.in/our-partners.

25-Mar-2022: Health Ministry’s flagship telemedicine service - “eSanjeevani” records 3 Crore tele-consultations

India has crossed a landmark milestone in its eHealth journey. eSanjeevani telemedicine service of Union Health Ministry has crossed 3 crore tele-consultations. Also, “eSanjeevani” telemedicine has set a new record by completing 1.7 lakhs consultations in a day.

In some States, the service is operational on all days of the week and few States are running it round the clock, as well. The telemedicine service contributed considerably during COVID-19 and it decreased load on hospitals and helped patients to digitally/remotely consult medical professionals. This has helped in bridging the rural urban divide by taking quality health services to homes of beneficiaries.

eSanjeevani, first-of-its-kind telemedicine initiative by any country has two variants:

1. eSanjeevani Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre(AB-HWC): A Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine service under Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres scheme of the Government of India, to provide general and specialised health services in rural areas and isolated communities. Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine service is based on a Hub-and-Spoke model. ‘eSanjeevani AB-HWC’ enables virtual connection between the beneficiary (along with the paramedic and a generalist) at the spoke i.e. HWC and the doctor/specialist at the hub (tertiary healthcare facility/hospital/medical college). This facilitates real-time virtual consultation from doctors & specialists at the hub with the beneficiary (through paramedics) at the spoke. The e-prescription generated at end of the session is used for obtaining medicines. ‘eSanjeevani AB-HWC’ was implemented with a vision to provide quality health services to maximum number of citizens by leveraging potential of Information Technology bypassing hindrances of geography, accessibility, cost and distance. Currently, eSanjeevani HWC is operational at around 50,000 Health & Wellness Centres.
2. eSanjeevaniOPD: This is a patient-to-doctor telemedicine service to enable people to get outpatient services in the confines of their homes. ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’ has also been speedily and widely adopted by citizens in all parts of the country.  It is available as a mobile app for both Android and iOS based smart phones, and these apps have seen over 3 million downloads.

Of the 3 crore beneficiaries, 2,26,72,187 have been served through eSanjeevani AB-HWC portal while 73,77,779 have availed the benefits through eSanjeevaniOPD. Over 1,00,000 doctors, specialists etc., have been onboarded to serve beneficiaries on the National Telemedicine Service. The substantial number of consultations through ‘eSanjeevani AB-HWC’ indicates that rural India has embraced the use of digital health technologies. It further strengthens the aim of Ayushman Bharat scheme which strives for Universal Health Coverage by providing universal, free and quality healthcare closer to people’s homes.

eSanjeevaniOPD now enables creation of Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), which will facilitate access and shareability of health data with consent of the beneficiary, with participating healthcare providers and beneficiaries as per Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).

eSanjeevani is an exemplification of the ‘Make in India’ initiative as it has been developed indigenously by the Health Informatics Group in Mohali branch Centre for Development and Advanced Computing (C-DAC) a number of experienced engineers are providing constant backend technical and operational support to ensure high throughput and high uptime; the National Telemedicine Service is operational with over 99.5% uptime. eSanjeevani is now being augmented further by the Health Informatics Group in the Mohali’s branch of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing.   AI-led interventions are being conceptualized to enhance the convenience and efficacy of the service. Services to support more than 10 lakhs consultations per day in the very near future are in the offing.

Witnessing the success of National Telemedicine Service of MHFW and quick adoption of telemedicine in the country, Ministry of Defence has rolled out SeHATOPD - Services eHealth Teleconsultation & Assistance - a telemedicine portal for defense personnel. SeHATOPD specifically serves defence personnel and their dependents. Soon, SeHATOPD will be integrated with Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) to make the benefits of tele-consultation easily accessible to the veterans and their families. National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Alliance India are working on a dedicated national telemedicine platform (eHIVCare) for people living with HIV/AIDS. It will also operate along the same lines as eSanjeevani in terms of technology but will be customised in a way that caters to the particular needs of HIV/AIDS patients in order to augment a better and more comfortable quality of treatment to them.

10 States that are leading in terms of adoption of eSanjeevani are Andhra Pradesh (13147461), Karnataka (4424407), West Bengal (2987386), Tamil Nadu (1856861), Uttar Pradesh (1758053), Bihar (1002399), Maharashtra (930725), Madhya Pradesh (781262), Gujarat (753775) and Assam (477821).

24-Aug-2021: Health Ministry’s eSanjeevani initiative completes 1 Crore consultations

Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s National Telemedicine Service eSanjeevani has rapidly shaped into country’s most popular and the largest telemedicine service. eSanjeevani has been widely adopted by patients as well as doctors, and specialists across the country. In a record time the National Telemedicine Service has conducted more than 1 Crore (i.e. 10 million) tele-consultations across India. That eSanjeevani has been quickly adopted by patients, doctors and specialists across the country is evident from the fact that it has shown astounding growth of over 1000% in last 10 months. The National Telemedicine Service which was used for 160,807 tele-consultations in the month of September in 2020 enabled 1,650,822 tele-consultations in the month of July 2021.

It is noteworthy that even when the internet penetration in the country is below 50%, this innovative digital health initiative of the Union Health Ministry has been able to defeat the tyranny of geography, distance, and time and establish itself as a parallel stream of healthcare services delivery. eSanjeevani has also alleviated numerous challenges typically linked with healthcare delivery, such as higher costs and fatigue pertaining to seeking an in-person consultation with a doctor besides controlling the ongoing pandemic that had burdened the country’s healthcare infrastructure like never before.

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in 2018, had conceptualised the use of telemedicine to aid implementation of Ayushman Bharat – the world’s largest govt. owned health insurance scheme. Accordingly, eSanjeevani - the flagship telemedicine technology of Govt. of India developed by the Mohali branch of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) was customized and eSanjeevani AB-HWC was rolled out in 2019 as a Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine platform. After the COVID-19 pandemic touched Indian shores, and all the OPDs in the country were closed because of national lockdown, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in sync with the release of Telemedicine Practice Guidelines by Govt. of India in March 2020conceptualized another version of eSanjeevani for Patient-to-Doctor telemedicine. Accordingly, owing to the strong coordination between the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the eSanjeevani team in C-DAC Mohali, eSanjeevaniOPD was developed and deployed rapidly across the country. On 13th April 2020, eSanjeevaniOPD was launched to facilitate provision health services for patients in the confines of their homes.

eSanjeevaniOPD - the second variant of union health ministry’s mammoth telemedicine initiative was initially rolled out as a minimalistic platform with one general OPD per State. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc. were the early adopters of this first of its kind of telemedicine initiative. In less than a month, over half the States in the country had adopted eSanjeevaniOPD and had rolled out remote consultation services for their populace. Considering the uptake of eSanjeevaniOPD by the populace, forward-looking health administrations in the States & Union Territories asked for ramping up the capacities of eSanjeevaniOPD for enabling them to roll out multiple concurrent specialty and super-specialty online OPDs. Premier institutions and agencies like AIIMS in Bathinda, Bibinagar, Kalyani, Bilaspur, Rishikesh, Lady Harding Medical College (New Delhi), Safdarjung Hospital (New Delhi), King George Medical University (Lucknow), Central Govt. Health Scheme (CGHS), Cancer Research Centres in Kerala etc.  are also offering their specialty and super-specialty services remotely. During the second wave of COVID 19, the Defence Ministry too had roped in ex-AFMS doctors to launch national online defence services OPD on eSanjeevaniOPD that provided health services remotely to patients across India. In many States eSanjeevaniOPD is enabling provision of health services delivery for more than 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. eSanjeevaniOPD services can been accessed through web browser as well as Android application and the iOS application is scheduled to be launched very soon.

The National Telemedicine Service of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has rapidly evolved into country’s largest OPD service. The eSanjeevani network is currently serving around 75,000 patients on daily basis it is hosting 439 online OPDs, 43 of these are general OPDs and 396 are specialty and super-specialty OPDs. On the other hand, following a Hub & Spoke model, eSanjeevani AB-HWC has been implemented at around 27,000 Health & Wellness Centres as spokes and over 2200 Hubs in States. By the end of 2022, eSanjeevani AB-HWC is slated to be implemented at 1,55,000 Health & Wellness Centres nationally. Over 60,000 specialists, doctors and paramedics have been on boarded on the National Telemedicine Service.

In order to extend the reach of the delivery of contactless, risk-free and safe health services, the State governments are complimenting the efforts of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by establishing a robust digital health ecosystem comprising IT savvy human and infrastructural resources. Considering the potential, benefits and widespread acceptance of eSanjeevani initiative of the Health Ministry in the country and in wake of the impending third wave of COVID 19 the central Government in its Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package has earmarked financial support for expanding eSanjeevani initiative to boost its capacities to provide 5 lakh teleconsultations per day.  The eSanjeevani team at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in Mohali has already initiated the process to scale the platform. This financial support would also enable States and UTs to boost IT infrastructure at the Covid Care Centres (CCCs) and the Hubs for eSanjeevani Tele-consultation in all the districts of the country.

eSanjeevani has been used by public in 701 districts across India and over 56% of the patients on eSanjeevani are females. Of the 1 Crore patients served by eSanjeevani around 0.5% are 80 years and older, around 18% of the patients are 20 years or younger.

It has been noted that the National Telemedicine Service is relatively more popular in tier II and tier III cities. The top 10 districts with highest consultations are Chittoor, East Godavari, Guntur, Nellore, West Godavari, Krishna, Prakasam, Anantapur, Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and Salem in Tamil Nadu.

The top ten States which have registered highest consultations through eSanjeevani and eSanjeevani OPD platforms are Andhra Pradesh (2751271), Karnataka (1939444), Tamil Nadu (1476227), Uttar Pradesh (1232627), Gujarat (416221), Madhya Pradesh (369175), Bihar (343811), Maharashtra (331737), Kerala (237973), Uttarakhand (226436). 

14-Dec-2020: “eSanjeevani” telemedicine service records 1 million tele-consultations

India has crossed a landmark milestone in its eHealth journey. eSanjeevani telemedicine service of the Health Ministry has crossed 1 million (10 lakh) tele-consultations today. Telemedicine entails delivery of health services from a distance using internet and it not only extends the reach of health services but also improves quality of health services besides saving time and money. The roll out of eSanjeevani in India is supposedly the first of its kind of digital transformation in the delivery of health services at national scale by a developing country. During the COVID-19 pandemic, eSanjeevani not only brought about a huge digital transformation in the delivery of health services but had also boosted the digital health ecosystem in the country.

eSanjeevani initiative of Health Ministry is serving in two streams in 28 States and Union Territories. The eSanjeevani AB-HWC enables doctor to doctor teleconsultations and is being used at around 6000 Health & Wellness Centres which are being served by specialists and doctors in around 240 hubs which have been set up by States in District Hospitals or Medical Colleges etc. Over 20,000 paramedics, doctors and specialists have been trained to use eSanjeevani AB-HWC. The second stream eSanjeevaniOPD is or providing remote health services to patients in the confines of their homes. eSanjeevaniOPD enables contactless, risk-free, and safe consultations between a doctor and a patient. It received a huge reception by both the patients and the doctors. Around 8000 doctors have been trained and onboarded on eSanjeevaniOPD and on an average around 1500 doctors practice telemedicine daily in around 225 online OPDs of which 190 are speciality OPDs and around 30 are general OPDs. Of late, daily eSanjeevani has been serving around 14,000 patients across the country.

eSanjeevani is being used by patients in over 550 districts of India. Over 10% of the users of eSanjeevani are aged 60 and above. Close to around one fourth of the total patients have used eSanjeevani more than once. These stands as a testimony to the fact that public has started preferring telemedicine over visiting hospital OPDs for consulting a doctor.

Considering the inherent potential and social impact of this emergent digital modality of delivery of health services, the States have designed innovative applications around eSanjeevaniOPD. In Kerala, eSanjeevaniOPD is is being used for providing health services to the inmates of Palakkad District Jail, in Himachal Pradesh too it is being rolled out in old age homes. Quick adoption of eSanjeevaniOPD services across the country has enabled launch of wide range of speciality and super-speciality OPDs including alternative medical systems such as AYUSH and naturopathy. Kerala has already setting up OPDs on eSanjeevaniOPD for providing services of Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram – District Early Intervention Centres for its populace. Each of these 14 online OPDs has a team comprising of psychologist, special educator, speech therapist and a physiotherapist who collectively address common issues pertaining to child development and their future health.

The State Governments are complimenting the efforts of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, by establishing a robust digital health ecosystem comprising of IT savvy human and infrastructural resources to boost the adoption of eSanjeevani. The Health Informatics group of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in Mohali is providing end-to-end technical services including development, implementation, operations, of eSanjeevaniOPD besides training clinicians.  The Health Ministry in consultation with the States and C-DAC Mohali is consistently working towards enriching features and functionalities in eSanjeevani to empower patients and doctors even more.

The top ten States with highest consultations through eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD platforms are Tamil Nadu (319507), Uttar Pradesh (268889), Madhya Pradesh (70838), Gujarat (63601), Kerala (62797), Himachal Pradesh (49224), Andhra Pradesh (39853), Karnataka (32693), Uttarakhand (31910) and Maharashtra (12635).

21-Nov-2020: Health Ministry’s eSanjeevani completes 8 Lakh consultations

India has seen a landmark achievement in the space of digital health initiatives. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s eSanjeevani, the national telemedicine initiative, has completed 8 lakh consultations today.

This is fast emerging as a sought after and popular means of seeking health care, especially during the COVID times in order to avoid physical contact while still benefitting by quality services. Over 11,000 patients are seeking health services on a daily basis in 27 States/UTs. eSanjeevani is also facilitating some states as a model that can serve patients throughout the year, especially in the far flung and remote areas.

The top ten States which have registered highest consultations through eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD platforms are Tamil Nadu (259904), Uttar Pradesh (219715), Kerala (58000), Himachal Pradesh (46647), Madhya Pradesh (43045), Gujarat (41765), Andhra Pradesh (35217), Uttarakhand (26819), Karnataka (23008), Maharashtra (9741).

eSanjeevani’s both variants of telemedicine namely - doctor to doctor (eSanjeevani AB-HWC) and patient to doctor (eSanjeevaniOPD) are consistently growing in terms of users on both sides i.e. patients / health workers on the one end and doctors on the other. eSanjeevani AB-HWC was launched by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in November 2019 and it is to be implemented at 1,55,000 Health and Wellness Centres under Govt. of India’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme in ‘Hub & Spoke’ model by December 2022. eSanjeevani AB-HWC is functional at over 4,700 Health and Wellness Centres and over 17,000 doctors and health workers have been trained on its use. eSanjeevaniOPD, the second variant of this ambitious initiative, was rolled out on 13th of April 2020 during the first lockdown when OPDs across the country were closed to prevent COVID-19 infections.

eSanjeevani is having a significant impact amongst the section of populace where the travel distance, time and cost have been the barriers to seeking outpatient services. It has served as a viable and preferred option for consulting with a doctor. So far 16 districts have registered more than 10,000 consultations and over 100 districts have registered more than 1000 consultations.

Over 7500 doctors have been trained and on boarded to provide telemedicine services on over 220 online OPDs on eSanjeevaniOPD. eSanjeevaniOPD enables access to OPD services by the patients in the confines of their homes. Over 100 telemedicine practitioners have completed more than 1,000 teleconsultations and a few of them have logged over 10,000 consultations. As regards patients, over 20% patients use eSanjeevani to consult with doctors more than once. As many of these are small districts, it reflects that eSanjeevani is having equal or more impact in smaller districts.

Health Ministry along with State/UT Governments is making rapid strides to continuously optimise the utilisation of human resources.  In few States same set of doctors and specialists are now providing services on both doctor-to-doctor and patient-to-doctor variant of eSanjeevani. The eSanjeevani team at C-DAC Mohali is extending all the technical support ranging from development, deployment, implementation, training, operations and management of eSanjeevani.

7-Nov-2020: Health Ministry’s telemedicine service eSanjeevani completes 7 lakh consultations

eSanjeevani, the national telemedicine service set up by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has completed 7 lakh consultations today. The last one lakh consultations have come up in 11 days. This novel digital modality to deliver OPD services virtually has been rapidly gaining popularity. With over 10,000 consultations being recorded on eSanjeevani per day, it is shaping into the largest OPD services set up in the country.

An innovative intervention to deliver health services, eSanjeevani has started making impact in smaller towns and rural areas. While telemedicine is beneficial for the patients, it also is favourable for the doctors practicing telemedicine as it limits the contact with patients who are present virtually. eSanjeevani has removed the requirement of doctor to be at a specific location to provide services, it enables States specially the ones with large geographical area, to better management of their human resources. Through eSanjeevani, patients desirous of seeking medical consultations are placed in a virtual queue and upon their turn can see a doctor who is available virtually but present in another city. Each online OPD consultation generates an ePrescription which can be used to buy medicines or go for diagnostic investigations. States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have already issued government orders to ensure that ePrescriptions are honored.

Utilisation of eSanjeevani in States like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka has gone up significantly in the recent past. In Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand the utilisation of eSanjeevani has already been high and steady for past few months. The top ten States which have registered highest consultations through eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD platforms are Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India along with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (Mohali) is consistently enhancing the capabilities and adding new functionalities in eSanjeevani in consultation with State Administrations.

eSanjeevani supports two types of online consultation with general physicians and medical specialists, these are Doctor-to-Doctor (eSanjeevani AB-HWC) and Patient-to-Doctor (eSanjeevani OPD) Tele-consultations. The former variant was rolled out in November 2019 and it is an important pillar of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centre (AB-HWCs) programme. eSanjeevani (AB-HWC) is to be implemented in all the 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres in a 'Hub and Spoke' model, by December 2022. States need to set up dedicated 'Hubs' in Medical Colleges and District hospitals to provide tele-consultation services to 'Spokes', i.e. Health & Wellness Centres (HWC). The Health Ministry rolled out eSanjeevaniOPD i.e. the second variant to enable patient-to-doctor teleconsultations in April this year during first lockdown when the OPDs across the country were closed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

9-Aug-2020: 1.5 lakh tele-consultations completed through ‘eSanjeevani’ and ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, today presided over a review meeting with States/UTs on the “eSanjeevani” and “eSanjeevaniOPD” platforms as1.5 lakh tele-consultations were completed on the tele-medicine service platforms of the Health Ministry. Sh. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare was also present. Dr. C. Vijaya Baskar, Health Minister of Tamil Nadu joined virtually.

In a short span of time since November 2019, tele-consultation by eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD have been implemented by 23 States (which covers 75% of the population) and other States are in the process of rolling it out.

In a landmark achievement, the national telemedicine service has completed more than 1,50,000 tele-consultations enabling patient to doctor consultations from the confines of their home, as well as doctor to doctor consultations.

Expressing appreciation for this accomplishment, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “Under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister, we have started implementing the vision of Digital India through broadband and mobile phones at the Ayushman Bharat - Health and Wellness Centres. With the cooperation of States and UTs, and a pool of selfless and talented medical practitioners and specialists, we have been able to provide healthcare services through tele-medicine platform such as eSanjeevani. This has substantially augmented our health infrastructure during the COVID pandemic”.

Echoing similar sentiments, Sh. Ashwini K. Choubey remarked that it would be a “gamechanger for people in the rural areas who do not have easy access to medical specialists located in cities”.

This eSanjeevani platform has enabled two types of telemedicine services viz. Doctor-to-Doctor (eSanjeevani) and Patient-to-Doctor (eSanjeevani OPD) Tele-consultations. The former is being implemented under the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centre (AB-HWCs) programme. It is planned to implement tele-consultation in all the 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres (as spokes) in a ‘Hub and Spoke’ model, by December 2022. States have identified and set up dedicated ‘Hubs’ in Medical Colleges and District hospitals to provide tele-consultation services to ‘Spokes’, i.e. SHCs and PHCs. As on date, 12,000 users comprising Community Health Officers and Doctors have been trained to make use of this national e-platform. Presently, telemedicine is being provided through more than 3,000 HWCs in 10 States.

Owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Ministry launched the second tele-consultation service enabling patient-to-doctor telemedicine through ‘eSanjeevaniOPD’. Offered at no cost, this e-health service is rapidly gaining popularity as citizens in around 20 States are now consulting doctors without having to go to the hospital physically. Around 2800 doctors have been trained and on-boarded at eSanjeevaniOPD and every day around 250 doctors and specialists across the country provide eHealth services despite the lockdown has been relaxed in phases.  This service is available as an Android mobile application as well. This has made it convenient for the people to avail of the health services without having to travel. It also ensures that the patient gets to see the doctor in around five minutes after logging in.

As of now, out of total of 1,58,000 tele-consultations were offered across the country - out of which, 67,000 consultations were provided through eSanjeevani at Ayushman Bharat HWCs and 91,000 patient to doctor consultations through eSanjeevaniOPD mode. Presently, on an average, around 5,000 consultations per day are provided through both the modes (eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD).

The telemedicine platform is hosting over 40 online OPDs, more than half of these are specialty OPDs which include Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Dermatology, ENT, Ophthalmology, antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the AIDS/HIV patients, Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) etc.

The top ten States which have registered highest consultations through eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD platforms are Tamil Nadu (32,035 consultations), Andhra Pradesh (28,960), Himachal Pradesh (24,527), Uttar Pradesh (20,030), Kerala (15,988), followed by Gujarat (7127), Punjab (4450), Rajasthan (3548), Maharashtra (3284) and Uttarakhand (2596).

The majority share in the doctor-to-doctor eSanjeevani consultations at AB-HWCs has been of Andhra Pradesh (25,478) and Himachal Pradesh (23,857) while Tamil Nadu leads in the patient-to-doctor eSanjeevaniOPD services with 32,035 consultations.

In the discussion with the States, the contribution of all the States utilizing this e-health services (eSanjeevani and eSanjeevaniOPD platform) was lauded. The Health Minister of Tamil Nadu thanked for the support of Health Ministry and C-DAC in the roll out of the tele-medicine platform and highlighted the achievement of the state as registering the highest consultations (32,035) through its online OPD services. Some best practices followed by States were shared during the discussion viz. Andhra Pradesh has started implementing eSanjeevani in all Panchayats / PHCs; Himachal Pradesh already has provided many specialty services through e-OPDs; Uttar Pradesh has registered 20,030 consultations in a short time period of one month after roll out; Kerala successfully implemented tele-medicine services in a Jail in Palakkad District.

Sh. Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary and other senior officials from the Ministry were present. Dr. P. K. Khosla, Executive Director, C-DAC and Dr. Sanjay Sood, Associate Director, C-DAC, Health Secretaries, MD NHMs and other senior officials of invited States joined digitally.