MFine, an on-demand healthcare company has seen a tenfold increase in mental health queries and consultations, especially for issues such as sleep disorders and insomnia post the lockdown. The company said in a statement that on an average, more than 1500 people consult every month on MFine for mental health issues such as anxiety, relationship issues and depression.
“Doctors have attributed most of these cases to the physical distancing measures which have prevented people from meeting their friends and family or having proper work-life balance,” the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the company has observed that staying at home has also exacerbated common lifestyle disorders and symptoms such as headache, abdominal pain, back pain etc., which it says, have stemmed from inactivity and lack of fresh air.
However, MFine says that India faces an acute shortage of specialist doctors with 70% of the population having no access to specialists who primarily live in urban areas. “When it comes to mental health, the situation is equally bleak. More than 150 million people in India need therapy for their mental health disorders but less than 30 million people seek help,” Mfine said in a statement.
According to reports from the Indian Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has only 3500 psychiatrists which is one psychiatrist for over 2 lakh people, and just 1000 clinical psychologists.
Apart from the top metros, MFine has seen an overall spurt in users signing up from cities like Lucknow, Patna, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Indore, Guntur and Visakhapatnam. The company currently has 550 partnering hospitals and 3500 doctors handling 10,000 cases/day over 30 specialities.
Prasad Kompalli, CEO and Co-Founder, MFine, said, “In the last 6 months, we have observed that patients who never used telemedicine earlier are now consulting with specialists from across India. The power of mobile has helped people from remote towns and villages get access to top doctors in the country. The reality is that there is still an acute shortage of doctors in India and the only way to provide everyone with quality primary healthcare is through technology, AI and mobile. We hope to continue enhancing our tech to ensure that doctors can have even better diagnostic capabilities through mobile phones, and we plan to scale our partner network in coming months to include more specialist doctors to treat patients remotely.”