Online medical consultations in smaller cities grew 87% last calendar year

Lybrate study reports 65% spike in online appointments by women in 2022 over 2021; gastroenterology and ENT top list of consulted specialities

Online medical consultations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities grew by 87 per cent in 2022, shows a study by Lybrate, a mobile healthcare tech firm that has developed an online platform to connect doctors and patients.

The past two years have seen a rapid increase in online doctor consultations with the growing popularity of telemedicine. In cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow etc (tier-2 and 3 cities), online doctor consultations surged 87 per cent, while metros saw a 75 per cent rise during that period. The study also found that more women are now opting for online consultations. Online appointments by women grew over 65 per cent in 2022 as compared to 2021.

The most consulted specialties include gastroenterology and ENT, which grew by over 150 percent followed by dermatology and internal medicine which grew by 125 percent,psychiatry and paediatrics (110%) and Gynaecology consultations grew by 100 percent in 2022.

The data revealed that people between 25 and 45 years mostly book consultations for their children or for their own sexual or mental health issues. Those above 45 years primarily seek advice on chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, post-Covd-19 complications and thyroid ailments.

The data has been collated from 111 million interactions that took place between users and doctors on the Lybrate platform in 2022.

Commenting on the findings, Harsimarbir Singh, co-founder, PristynCare said, "The pandemic has brought a massive shift in patient behaviour, especially most of them seeking medical consultations and communicating with doctors online and offline.We are not only witnessing a great demand for online consultations, but offline consultations have also jumped by over 2-times over the past year."