Practo, India’s largest Digital Healthcare platform, has released its third edition of India’s annual healthcare map, highlighting key consumer healthcare trends, concerns and behaviour.

The healthcare map has been compiled from data of hundreds of thousands of searches and appointments, by over 13 crore patients, across 50+ cities and 250+ specialities, in 2018.

The report demonstrates the rise in adoption of digital healthcare in the country. With 65% of its population below the age of 35, India, at a median age of 29 years, is using digital technology to actively get in touch with doctors, using both online and offline channels. As India ages over the coming years, the company sees this number going up. Japan, for instance, at a median age of 47, visits doctors 13 times, while the US at a median age of 37, visits doctors a little over 4 times.

Practo believes three primary causes driving this trend include:

1. Greater awareness : More information about diseases, illness from varied sources
2. Increased accessibility : Ability to get in touch with doctors at the touch of a button
3. Growth in lifestyle diseases, disorders like Diabetes, Obesity, Deficiencies like Vitamin D, Calcium, to name a few

“Healthcare is slowly becoming a key priority for Indians. Improving doctor-patient ratio overnight is not possible, hence, it’s important to increase efficiencies, make it more accessible and affordable.” 

Organized Medicine Academic Guild feels that “as young India gets older, the need for medical supervision will only go up and Digital healthcare companies like Practo will play a huge role in that.”