Telemedicine service eSanjeevani initiated by the Union Health Ministry last year has benefited a total of 50 lakh people across the country over the course of the year, as per the data provided by the ministry. eSanjeevani which is a part of the National Telemedicine Service of the Health Ministry was started by the government last year during the Covid-19 induced nationwide lockdown in April to come to the aid of suffering patients unable to visit doctors due to lockdown restrictions. The telemedicine platform is also being utilised during the second phase of Covid-19 in the country as many states have lockdown like restrictions making it impossible for patients to visit doctors physically.
The service which is operational across 31 states and UTs in the country caters to about 40000 patients on an average day from different parts of the country. At the time of its launch, the eSanjeevani platform was envisaged to cater to non-Covid-19 patients exclusively as a large number of hospitals in the country were turned into Covid-19 dedicated hospitals barring access to non-Covid-19 patients. However, with the adoption of the platform in different states over the year, the platform has also been utilised by the state governments to provide distant health services to Coronavirus patients as well, a press release issued by the Ministry said. Some states have also effectively used the platform to monitor patients who are self isolating inside the confines of their homes and helping them cope with the disease in an effective manner.
Among the states that have used the e-Sanjeevani platform most effectively is the state of Tamil Nadu which was the first state to cross the threshold of 10 lakh telemedicine consultations in the state using the platform. Closely following Tamil Nadu is the state of Karnataka which has clocked 9.3 lakh telemedicine consultations for patients in the state. The other top performing states in utilising the platform effectively include UP(8.4 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (8.3 lakh) and Madhya Pradesh(2.5 lakh) among others.
