Hi Doc, Can We Chat?

Clinics At a Click Health consultancy is going online like never before. Here's more dope on Web docs of the future

It's simple, easily accessible and efficient. There is no waiting room, and it's prepaid.

With health consultancy going online, wellness has reached new heights of technical finesse. Because of electronic data sharing, it becomes easy for the doctors to share information.
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Similarly, patients don't need to visit different doctors at different locations when using the Web as a medical interface. As convenience is the keyword, these clinics at a click are fav with both docs and patients.

Dr Abhilash Thirupathy, VP-marketing and business development, Health Care Magic, an online health portal, says, "In the times to come, more and more healthcare services will move to their online counterparts.

This will redefine the health scenario." Major clinics in the capital like Max Health Care and the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre have also gone on the Net now.

On offer

Equipped to take care of the entire family, these health consultancy portals aim to encash on people who are tech savvy. There are facilities of electronic medical records, live chats withu00a0 doctors, insurance assistance, laboratory-assistance services and urgent call connect with doctors.

Synergy works

These portals allow patients to consult medicos both in the traditional settings of a clinic, and informally on the virtual platform, thus nulling clinical fear. Long queues will soon be history. Wot say?

Recent technological developments in the health sector

>u00a0Online healthcare provider Health Care Magic now allows patients to pay for the services they avail over the phone. The portal also allows patients to directly connect with the audience through Internet chat.u00a0

>u00a0Mobile payments service provider, Atom Technologies has tied-up with insurance companies including Apollo DKV, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Reliance General Insurance, and Royal Sundaram General Insurance to allow hassle free on-call payment solutions.

"The service will provide our customers uninterrupted service even while on the move. It will also reduce their cost overheads ," said Dewang Neralla, director, Atom Technologies.

>u00a0Other hi-tech medical innovations are the Manipal Symptom Checker, Dr Lal PathLabs' e-report check and Eyeway.org for the visually challenged.

How this saves lives

In an article published on www.cnet.com, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine in the US estimated between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths each year because of errors such as being prescribed medicine to which they are allergic, which could be avoided if medical history is available online.
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Google Health allows doctors and patients to ascertain these factors, and the same could be forwarded to another doctor for referral just at the click of a button.u00a0