This emerging field has, for some time past, allowed healthcare professionals to diagnose patients in remote locations over smartphones and video calls. Now, it is not only having its moment in the Sun, but fast becoming a part of daily life in the country.

Startups like Practo, Portea, and Lybate, which facilitate remote medical checkups, are witnessing a traffic bump as panicked Indians reach out to doctors over the mildest of symptoms. They are trying to keep a social distance so that the virus doesnt transmit in nursing homes, and hospital waiting rooms.

Realising its inevitability, Indias ministry of health, on the first day of the lockdown, March 25, released a 50-page document outlining new guidelines for telemedicine.

On March 29, Practo announced that residents of Mumbai could book government-authorised Coronavirus tests on its platform for Rs4,500. Four days later, rival Pristyn Care, too, partnered with over 50 laboratories across the Delhi National Capital Region, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad to conduct COVID-19 detection tests.

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COVID-19 push to tele-medicine, geo-fencing and surveillance - National Herald