'Telemedicine can save $5 bn for India': MoS Jitendra Singh at CII Asia Health 2021 Summit

Union Minister of State of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh virtually attended The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Asia Health Summit 2021 in Delhi on Thursday. The theme of the summit revolved around the theme of 'Transforming Healthcare for a better tomorrow.' While speaking at the event, MoS Singh hailed the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in prioritising the development of the health sector.

The CII Summit was attended by CII Healthcare Council & CMD Chairman Naresh Trehan, CII former president Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Medanta Pankaj Sahni, CEO Max Healthcare Pvt Ltd Mradul Kaushik, CII Subcommittee Chairman Shashank ND, Pharmeasy Founder Dharmil Shah and Tata 1mg founder Prashant Tandon. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also marked his presence at the event. 

Telemedicine technology can save $5 billion for India: MoS Jitendra Singh 

While speaking at the CII Asia Health Summit 2021 on Thursday, MoS Jitendra Singh mentioned that the introduction of Tele-medicine was no longer an option and rather a necessity. Singh further stated that induction of the same in India can go on to save the country around five billion US dollars annually. While addressing the Summit, he said that in a country like India where there was a shortage of medical professionals and with millions of souls residing in rural areas without direct access to proper healthcare and treatment, introducing Telemedicine could call for innovative healthcare solutions. He added that implementation of the same could replace half of the in-person or outpatient consultations. He added, "Telemedicine in the country has proven to be cost-effective by about 30% less than equivalent in-person visits."

Singh hails PM Modi's efforts to mitigate health concerns

While talking about the growth that the Health Sector has witnessed under the guidance of PM Modi, MoS Jitendra Singh went on to appreciate the efforts that had been taken to fulfil the same. Singh stated that the Budget introduced this year had increased the spendings on health care by 137%. This was also in line with the plan of 2.5% to 3% of the GDP which is also linear to the GDP National Health Policy 2017 target of 2.5% by 2025. The Union Minister mentioned that India will spend Rs. 2.23 lakh crore on health care by 2021 including Rs 35,000 crore on COVID vaccines. 

(With inputs from PIB)

Image: Twitter/@DrJitendraSingh