Healthcare sector is one of the most vital and substantially allotted part in every economy. Also known as medical sector, this is an aggregation of sectors within economic sector. This is as important as the national development because it has been dealing with services that provides goods and medical services to treat patients with preventive, curative and rehabilitative care. Commonly known as medical economy, this also includes the generation and commercialization of goods and services.

Being one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries, this sector has been consuming more than 10 percent of the GDP of the developed nations, for developing the amount that can be estimated. Not only this, but this sector is also consuming an enormous part of country's economic development as well. Divided into various disciplines, healthcare sector is broadly classified into hospital services, medicinal & dental practice activities and other human health activities. This categorization has been done under the norms of International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC).

In such scenario, online development becomes an important tool for patients to get connected with doctor and among themselves. Gone are those days, when patients were completely dependent on the single doctor for their treatment. Today's patient is very smart in deciding the treatment. He or she makes sure that no befooling is done and ensure that they have been rendered with the best possible service.

It is not that this sector has come up like a bubble, but it has been developed over a period of time. In the 19th century, United States passed a federal law for building asylums for the indigent insane, blind and deaf. This was the time when hospitals were being constructed to treat the patients dying from en-slavery. With time came the development in this field as well, as with increase in other physical, emotional and natural factor the need for a rapid increase in the hospital and medical care became a necessity. Thus, more and more hospitals were being constructed all across the globe.

Under the hospital services, in today's world, most of the hospitals make sure that the doctors on its panel are made available over the internet. A comprehensive details of their experience, education and other hospitals, is mentioned over the website. Not only this, but some of the most successful operations or surgeries are also mentioned. This information is useful to the patient in deciding whether to avail the service or not. The patient can understand this crucial piece of information as a testimony of the successful treatment rendered by doctor.

Under medicinal services, having a comprehensive set of information over the internet is useful in deciding the medicine. Giants including Cipla, GSK and other pharmaceutical companies manufacturing medicines also put comprehensive detailed information of the medicine over internet. This information includes the salt and composition of medicine. This composition is useful to the patient in comparing the medicine, its usage and deciding the alternative salt as well. Thus, comprehensive web information over the medicine is also very useful to the patient in multiple ways.

The third category includes the services being rendered by nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, scientific or diagnostic laboratories, pathology clinics, residential health facilities, or other allied health professions. Health insurance, another important sector of health and medical fraternity is also growing rapidly. For all these peripherals, there is one thing in common and that is nothing but the internet. A medium of information transfer from one place to another, this is one of the most vital method of transmitting the details. Patients can now easily come in the contact of their doctors and fellow specialists over the internet.

The World Health Organization has estimated that there are about 9.2 million physicians, 19.4 million nurses and midwives. 1.9 million Dentists and other dentistry personnel, 2.6 million pharmacists and other pharmaceutical personnel and over 1.3 million community health workers worldwide. All these can be connected through only one medium and that is nothing else but the medium of internet. Thus, a comprehensively designed website, providing the in-depth details of the drugs, equipments, methods, services and doctors themselves, is a perfect solution and a necessary tool for this century's healthcare industry.

About Author:

Mr Rajat S Berry holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hindu College, Delhi University. His real passion, however, has always been in the realm of design and communication; the web and the technological prowess possible through it was the extension of this love for communication design.

Rajat set up Cross Section Interactive in 2001, a web development agency based out of New Delhi. Under Rajat's mantle, the company has grown over 50 full-time employees with expertise in various web technologies. Core services include design, development, and maintenance.