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ObjectivesIndia has committed to formulating a roadmap for realising a resilient health system, with digital health being an important element of this. Following the successful implementation of a free telemedicine service, eSanjeevani, India published the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines in 2020 to further scale telemedicine use in India. The main objective of the current study was to understand the perspective and use of telemedicine by medical doctors in India after the release of its telemedicine policy.MethodsData were acquired through an anonymous, cross-sectional, internet-based survey of medical doctors (n = 444) at a pan-India level. Replies were subjected to statistical analysis.ResultsTelemedicine was used for various non-mutually exclusive reasons, with the top two reasons being live audio or video consultations (60.4%) and online payments (19.1%) and smartphones were the most frequently used device type (60.6%). The telemedicine benefit that the greatest proportion of respondents (93%) recognised was its potential to reduce COVID-19 infection risk for healthcare professionals. Interestingly, nearly 45% of respondents felt that limited and fragmented insurance coverage was an important limitation to the practice of telemedicine in India and 49% believed reduced patient fees for teleconsultations could help incentivise telemedicine use.ConclusionsThis study helps to appraise the use of telemedicine in India after the publication of telemedicine guidelines in 2020. Furthermore, the findings can inform the development of telemedicine platforms, policies and incentives to improve the design and implementation of effective telemedicine in India.Public Interest SummaryIndia has committed to formulating a roadmap for realising a resilient health system, with digital health being an important element of this. In 2020, India published its Telemedicine Practice Guidelines to scale telemedicine use in India. The main objective of the current study was to survey medical doctors in India to understand their perspectives on and use of telemedicine after the release of India’s telemedicine policy. Our findings revealed that the top two reasons doctors used telemedicine were for live audio or video consultations and online payments. Interestingly, a large proportion of respondents felt that limited and fragmented insurance coverage was an important limitation to the practice of telemedicine in India. This study helps to appraise the use of telemedicine in India after the publication of its telemedicine guidelines and can inform the development of telemedicine platforms, policies and incentives to improve the design and implementation of telemedicine in India. |
