Health technology company Solve.Care has announced the expansion of its Global Telehealth Exchange, a virtual health service platform, to India. The GTHE, built on blockchain technology, serves as a global directory where doctors who have undergone a strict verification process can join and offer their services to patients anywhere around the world.

The rollout of GTHE will be done through Solve.Care’s partnership with Healthlink Technologies based in Maharashtra; the latter will ensure regulatory compliance and verification of doctors.

WHY IT MATTERS

In March last year, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued new guidelines for telemedicine practice which boosted the use of telehealth services in the country. Currently, the country has a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:1000, which is below the World Health Organization’s recommended ratio.

“The introduction of a worldwide telehealth solution such as GTHE is sorely needed in the country,” Dr. Bhagwant Singh Ratta, director of Healthlink Technologies, said in a statement on Monday. He added that the telehealth service will enable doctors to see more patients in a shorter period of time and will reach people in underserved rural areas.

On Monday, India registered 103,558 coronavirus infections, an all-time high daily record, bringing its total to 12.6 million cases.

THE LARGER TREND

As telehealth services continue to increase in demand, technology companies are looking at ways to extend telehealth services beyond their shores. For example, Aurora Tele-Oncology partnered with China’s Hainan UMP Internet Hospital in December 2020 to bring cross-border telemedicine services provided by Hong Kong oncology experts to cancer patients in Mainland China.

Providers are also leveraging telehealth to improve care access for patients in rural areas, like Lynn County Hospital District in the United States applying for and receiving grants to establish telehealth hubs in Lynn County and the surrounding counties.

ON THE RECORD

“India has the potential to have one of the highest users of telehealth services in the world making it a natural choice for GTHE to make India a focus and important market for Solve.Care,” said Solve.Care CEO Pradeep Goel.