Potential of mHealth to Transform Healthcare in India

Lack of hospitals and skilled healthcare providers across India is a challenge. Almost 70 per cent of the Indian population has very little access to healthcare and villagers often travel long distances even for primary healthcare. As a result, many of them go unattended because they cannot afford to reach to a healthcare centre on time on account of the cost of travel and also due to fear of losing the day’s wages. This eventually contributes to higher morbidity and mortality rates.

Government may take a long time to provide traditional healthcare infrastructure to 70 per cent of the population living in rural India, but mobile health may bridge this gap. Mobile phones, Internet and SMS facilities provide people a tremendous opportunity to connect with healthcare providers for consultation, counselling, diagnosis and other information at anytime and anywhere. This study aims to find out the potential of mHealth to improve the health conditions and spending on healthcare.