Doctor consultations exceed 4 billion in India in FY21: Praxis report

Growth in teleconsultation peaked after the lockdown induced by the pandemic and the online doctor consultation market in India is expected to reach $836 million by FY24

The Indian healthcare sector has seen many changes during the Covid-19 outbreak, one such being in the area of online consultations. Growth in teleconsultation peaked after the pandemic-induced lockdown and reached a market size of $163 million in March 2021. According to a recent report by Praxis Global Alliance, a management consulting and advisory services firm, the online doctor consultation market is expected to be over $800 million by FY2024 growing at 72 per cent CAGR.

“The outpatient market is poised for a significant overhaul driven by the adoption of online consultations,” said Sumit Goel, Managing Partner and Head–Healthcare and Pharma, Praxis Global Alliance. “An acceptable alternative, digital enablement of clinical practices in line with NDHM (National Digital Health Mission), changing customer expectations, and the emergence of an organized network of tech-enabled outpatient care providers.”

The firm has estimated the outpatient healthcare market based on doctor consultation volumes by specialty and associated pharma or diagnostic prescriptions. The number of doctor consultations crosses 4 billion in India in FY21, spending a total of $26 billion on outpatient prescriptions. “It is likely to grow at 13 per cent over the next three years,” said the report.

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.

“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,” said Aryaman Tandon, managing partner and co-founder, Praxis Global Alliance. “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 report said the Penetration of OPD (outpatient department) insurance is at the nascent stage in India due to scalability and high premium. Insured OPD (non-hospitalization) spend is less than 0.1 per cent of total OPD spend. Online consultations record a significant uptick during Covid-19, recording 0.8 per cent penetration (by volume) and 1.6 per cent penetration (by value) of total consultations till March 2021. “Our analysis indicates that 1 in 35 consultations will happen online by FY24,” said the report.

The report said the outpatient doctor consultation spend is valued at $10.4 billion with general physicians having the highest share as more than 60 per cent of the consultations happen with general physicians

Convenience and safety during Covid-19 have emerged as the major reason behind the use of teleconsultations. The report said 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.

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 favourable HealthTech regulations are some foreseeable opportunities for the outpatient consultation market in India.