Online medical consultation platforms see huge rise in traffic during lockdown

The number of users accessing online medical consultation platforms has seen a “huge jump” during the nationwide lockdown post the COVID-19 outbreak, even as a few patients have alleged that some doctors have “hiked” their fees in this hour of crisis.

The volume of traffic has also grown significantly from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as the lockdown and fear of contracting infection is even keeping regular patients away from hospitals.

Medical teleconsultancy start-up Practo shared that the volume of users on its platform is rising by an “average of over 100 per cent week-on-week” since March 1 and more than 50 per cent of all general practitioner e-consults were related to COVID-19.