E-sanjeevani: A pathbreaking telemedicine initiativefrom India

Abstract

COVID-19 is the most unprecedented challenging health-care crisis faced by our generation. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020, following which countries worldwide had to rapidly accommodate the health-care needs of the pandemic in an already overburdened health-care infrastructure. This has led to a demand for an alternative safe mode of health-care delivery for physical and mental illnesses barring emergencies. Telemedicine is the remote delivery of health-care using digital technology. Several countries adopted a virtual telemedicine platform to favor an alternate health-care delivery model, to provide care related to addressing the needs of the pandemic, and also to simultaneously ensure uninterrupted healthcare delivery for other illnesses. This paper highlights the growth and evolution of the e-Sanjeevani telemedicine service in India.