Five years ago, Mayur Khandelwal watched his mother die. Doctors treating her had no way of knowing she was allergic to Lidocaine. Brought in from a road accident hundreds of miles from home, she had a fatal reaction to the drug. Today, Mayur uploads all his medical records on virtual files at the Apollo Hospital site for doctors to access during an emergency. This, he says, could have saved his mother's life.
Preeta Nariman, 19, needs a surgical procedure - quickly and in absolute secrecy. This eliminates her turning to family and friends for information about doctor referrals, costs and procedures. What she does, therefore, is visit Jehangir Hospital, Pune, from the privacy her bedroom. After a detailed study of the doctors, she chooses one, familiarises herself with the procedure and obtains cost details. Finally, she fills in an online registration form for the first available appointment.
Sabina Popli's mother is on a life-support system at Wockhardt Hospital, Bangalore. Sabina lives 48 hours away in California, and desperately wants to see her. She requests a virtual family visit at Wockhardt and, within two hours, pays her mother a real time visit via the hospital's portable Web cam.
Varun Gupta, 53, is frustrated trying to get through hospital phone lines. Taking a friend's advice, he makes an online appointment at the Escorts Heart Institute, Delhi, which takes him all of ten minutes. When he walks into the hospital the next day, his file awaits him, complete with details and eliminating the wastage of time on basic questions.
Just like most other entities on our planet, hospitals are now beginning to go virtual.
Easy appointments, quick access to certified information, pathology reports online: 'e-exchanges' like these are gradually winning converts all over the country, and the medical profession is beginning to wake up to the message.
Up to 47 per cent of all hospitals now have some kind of web presence, and 63 per cent of these use interactive systems like online registrations, bill-payments and virtual visits. "It is the need of the hour," says Kishore Rohra of Jehangir Hospital. "With the Internet seeping into every aspect of life, it is a given that the medical profession needs to upgrade itself in terms of technology."
The lesson has been learnt from the United States, where wired hospitals get 46 per cent more business than the others.
At the heart of this new trend is a desire for convenience - both for doctors and patients. "The purpose behind going online," explains Dr. Anuj Sharma of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
, "was to provide information about the hospital, empower users and give them a platform to interact with doctors."
Critics, however, warn that medical databases could be hacked into or abused by the greedy. Doctors also fear that patients might omit potentially embarrassing but important details in fear of their secrets being revealed. In such a scenario, even an incorrect blood type could be fatal. "We are perpetually trying to improve security and use SSL servers," says Dr. Sharma, who is encouraged by the fact that any breach has yet to occur.
For 53-year-old Varun Gupta, who frequently asks for medical advice by email and makes online appointments at the Escorts Heart Institute, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. "If there is an alternative to waiting in never-ending queues, forking out exorbitant not-budgeted-for-fees and fielding embarrassing personal questions, I will stick with it any day."
What about the doctors? "A lot of valuable time is wasted on questions related to age, allergies, etc. This can be eliminated if people register online beforehand," says Kishore Rohra. It also eases the crunch of activities they don't get paid for -- billing inquiries, prescription refills, test results and non-urgent queries.
The reason why hospital sites score over other medical portals is the reliability factor. "When I put a medical query to a doctor who I know is attached to Hinduja Hospital, I feel a lot more confident than with information coming from a free-floating health site," says Anita Sharma from Mumbai.
The next step: offering services that doctors do get paid for. Will patients shell out money? Some say the will. "If I send a question via email and my doctor charges a fee of Rs. 100, I think it is a bargain for solid advice," says a Mumbai-based housewife being treated for depression. That, however, is still a minority view since most Indians are unwilling to dip into their pockets for e-hospital services at this point.
All said and done, can a click-a-day keep the doctor away? Not really, we admit, but the Indian hospitals going online are definitely serious about making your eventual visit to their brick-and-mortar counterparts as minimal and hassle-free as possible.
That attempt is, by itself, commendable.
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