-Gridharan G Vidi
The concept of e-services is multi-dimensional, and with technology growing across different areas of services, it is benefiting stakeholders at all levels. When compared to other essential services, healthcare is delicate in terms of privacy, risk factors, and involves federal regulations worldwide. Despite all these factors, we are seeing a robust adoption of e-services in the healthcare industry.
Internet usage has also seen a tremendous growth over the last few years. From a healthcare perspective, more and more Indians are using the internet for seeking health-related info: researching illnesses, symptoms, and suggested cures, checking availability of doctors/hospitals /diagnostics labs and alternative healthcare practices such as ‘ayurveda’ and naturopathy and understanding more about treatment and medication procedures.
All the information is today available at the mere click of a button or for that matter, a simple swipe on a screen. The usage of mobile internet is also witnessing an exponential growth year on year. That is the reason why companies are striving to provide more information through mobile apps that obviously have greater accessibility.
While there is no dearth of health and medicine related information on the internet, one has to be careful while putting this info to use. At times, it could prove dangerous due to misunderstanding of the technicalities, or wrong application of the info in some cases. However, there are many companies that provide content that is validated by certified medical professionals and experts. In fact, many of these companies also have their own online marketplaces that provide an array of healthcare services.
The e-services provided by these online marketplaces are aimed at making the process of healthcare easier to access, compare, and decide. While services that allow comparing services and getting price quotes enable consumers with valuable information before visiting a medical professional, e-services offered by these portals also allow visitors to these sites to book appointments with specialists, make payments online, and also finalise on the consultation timings.
With consumers becoming online savvy and the social media emerging as a prevalent tool, it is becoming even more easy to share and benefit from healthcare-related information. The power of social networking is to send a targeted messages to the right set of audience, people of a particular geography, and even age group. Healthcare providers are realising this potential and are trying to utilize the media for enhancing their reach.
(The author is the founder of People Health and can be reached at gri@peoplehealth.in. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of Channel Times or any of the websites managed or operated by Trivone Digital Services)