Families in India spend over 60% of their healthcare expenditure on primary care. A report suggests that people in urban areas can get primary care treatment with greater ease in comparison with rural India which has fewer doctors and healthcare facilities.

The report from Praxis Global Alliance exhibits the outpatient healthcare market based on doctor consultation volumes by specialty and the associated pharma and diagnostic prescriptions. On an average, Indian people do three doctor consultations in a year. Each consultation yields one pharma prescription. A diagnostic test is prescribed in every 3.5 consultations, with general physicians exhibiting the highest number of consultations and associated pharma prescriptions.

The number of doctor consultations tops 4 billion in the country in FY21, with an expenditure of a total of US$26 billion on outpatient prescriptions. Online consultations have seen a significant rise during COVID-19, with 0.8% penetration by volume and 1.6% penetration by value of total consultations recorded till March this year. It is estimated that 1 in 35 consultations will take place online by FY24.

Convenience and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be the major reason for the use of teleconsultations. Difficulty in understanding the patient’s symptoms on a call is seen as the leading challenge behind teleconsultations. A major reason behind dissatisfaction among doctors has been delayed payments and high service charges. 

The volume of consultations is estimated to increase at 6% and per capita consultations are expected to be 3.6 per person per year in FY24.

Source: ET Healthworld