Online Doctor Consultation Market In India To Reach US$ 836 Mn By FY2024: Report
Indian healthcare sector has witnessed many changes during the COVID-19 outbreak, one such transformation is witnessed in online consultations. Growth in teleconsultation peaked after the lockdown induced by the pandemic and reached a market size of US$ 163 million in March 2021. According to a recent report by Praxis Global Alliance, a global management consulting and advisory services firm based in India, the online doctor consultation market is expected to be over US$ 800 million by FY2024 growing at 72 percent CAGR.
The firm has estimated the outpatient healthcare market based on doctor consultation volumes by specialty and associated pharma or diagnostic prescriptions. The report provides significant data on the online doctor consultation market size, key trends, outlook of the sector to gain insights into the trajectory the sector will be on in the near future. Further, the report deep dives into the online consultation market, penetration of insurance in OPD, and analyses the market trends pre-COVID vs post-COVID.
Seven key highlights from the report include:
- The number of doctor consultations crosses 4 billion in India in FY21, spending a total of US$ 26 billion on outpatient prescriptions.
- On average, Indians do three doctor consultations in a year; each consultation leads to one pharma prescription, and a diagnostic test is prescribed in every 3.5 consultations.
- General physicians show the highest number of consultations and associated pharma prescriptions.
- Penetration of OPD insurance is at the nascent stage in India due to scalability and high premium. Insured OPD (non-hospitalization) spend is less than 0.1 percent of total OPD spend.
- Online consultations record a significant uptick during COVID-19, recording 0.8 percent penetration (by volume) and 1.6 percent penetration (by value) of total consultations till March 2021. Our analysis indicates that 1 in 35 consultations will happen online by FY24.
- Convenience and safety during COVID-19 emerges as the major reason behind the use of teleconsultations
- Growing Electronic Health Records (EHR) penetration in hospitals, increased adoption of AI and ML technologies in healthcare, improved HealthTech regulations, etc., lay the opportunities and road ahead for the outpatient healthcare market in India.
Sumit Goel, Managing Partner and Head – Healthcare and Pharma, Praxis Global Alliance during the launch of the report said, “Outpatient market is poised for a significant overhaul driven by the adoption of online consultations as an acceptable alternative, digital enablement of clinical practices in line with NDHM, changing customer expectations, and the emergence of an organized network of tech-enabled outpatient care providers.”
Aryaman Tandon, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Praxis Global Alliance said, “Growing adoption of technology-led solutions in healthcare due to the ongoing pandemic has helped in giving a significant push to the online consultation market in India. The next wave of growth for online consultations would be driven by new-age technology-enabled solutions like AI and ML which can help patients to derive better and faster care.”
The outpatient consultation sector is poised to grow as there is a push from the Government to increase EHR penetration within hospitals. The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) is a prospective game-changer for the Indian healthcare ecosystem. Increased adoption of AI and ML technologies, growing teleconsultation penetration, an increasing number of doctors and hospitals, and favorable HealthTech regulations are some foreseeable opportunities for the outpatient consultation market in India.
