Wellness on the go: Mhealth and mobile clinics are here to the rescue

As the population grows massively, so does health concerns and ailments. While the healthcare sector is torn between finding means to cater to the modern-day medical challenges and treating patients, bringing medical services to deprived, unserved or at distant places seems less of a realistic possibility.

While such challenges seem to burden people, who often face inconvenience due to lack of services, Indian hospitals, and medical startups have collectively pledged to extend their reach to distinct locations, either through mobile healthcare vans or virtually wireless infrastructure.

The idea is not only to bring healthcare services within reach of everyone but also digitally empower people to seek medical help at critical times.

With initiatives like wellness on wheels (Doctors’ Community) or setting up free medical units for pilgrims in Varanasi (Nayati healthcare), mobile health clinic provides a wide range of services to people of all ages.

A huge portion of the Indian population dies from preventable diseases and infections. To avoid this, it is necessary to make quality healthcare accessible to all. Nayati Healthcare is working towards just that since the establishment of its first facility.

The role of mobile clinics and Mhealth devices for health tracking and treatments has increased significantly, as people become more aware and digital. Delivering care to the full spectrum of at-risk populations is a hard task, and the collective impact of mobile clinics and virtual aid has been aiming to meet the task. There are an estimated 1500 mobile clinics, receiving 5 million or more annual visits nationwide.

While Mobile clinics improve access to healthcare, medical tracking devices and apps have also witnessed ever-increasing adoption over the past few years. Grabbing a large chunk of the healthcare market, such initiatives have improved access for vulnerable populations, bolster prevention and chronic disease management, and reduce overall costs.

Expanded coverage and delivery reform increase opportunities for both Mhealth devices and mobile clinics to partner with hospitals, health systems, and insurers to improve healthcare and medical reach within the country, even in the most remote and inaccessible parts.