Apollo TeleHealth sees Covid boost to telemedicine; gets new BSI approval

After a successful foray in Malaysia where it has tied up with the local govt, the firm is now eyeing Africa and Bangladesh to strengthen its global footprint

Apollo TeleHealth (ATH), one of the largest and oldest multi-speciality telemedicine networks globally, has said that Covid has triggered a 15-fold jump in telemedicine.

After a successful foray in Malaysia where it has tied up with the local government to set up a slew of clinics, the firm is now eyeing Africa and Bangladesh to strengthen its global footprint. The company on Friday announced that it became the first-ever organisation in the world to attain the certification of ISO 13131:2021 presented by the British Standards Institution (BSI).

"Malaysia was the first government to have tied up with us. We are looking at areas like Africa and Bangladesh now," said Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group. She added that ATH is already getting patients from around 117 countries.

The release of ISO 13131:2021 provides direction with a focus on the quality and risk management methods required to define guidelines for distinct remote health and care services. Achieving certification of this standard showcases a provider’s capability of managing quality, safety, and patient data security effectively in this new age of telehealth service provisions, the company said in a statement.

“Our business is providing medical care and assistance to millions of people around the country and worldwide. Therefore, it is vital that we employ strict processes to ensure quality in the delivery of telehealth services. We invest heavily in quality programmes and this certification recognises our industry leadership in developing and deploying user-friendly technological solutions and the high standard for medical services across our platform," said Prathap C Reddy, founder and chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group. "By achieving certification of ISO 13131:2021, Apollo TeleHealth has demonstrated that it has adopted best practice for its telehealth services, a requirement for delivering safe healthcare from a distance,” he added.

ATH is India's single largest turnkey provider in the area of telemedicine with over 800 public health centres, over 100 franchised teleclinics and point of presence through 350,000 common service centres." As early as 1999, the Apollo Hospital Group decided to extend its outreach and initiated the process of providing healthcare to suburban and rural India by adopting Information and Communication Technology through the telemedicine platform. After more than two decades, Apollo TeleHealth (ATH) is the oldest and largest multispecialty telemedicine network with more than 13 million lives touched," Sangita Reddy said.

“It has brought healthcare within the reach of every consumer by the usage of the latest technologies, thereby Enabling Connected Health and Continuum of Care. The achievement of this new ISO standard is a reflection of the dedication, effort and perseverance of everyone associated with ATH to make it the global pioneer in telemedicine,” she added.