Covid19 Impact: Online Consultation for Cancer care Increased during Lockdown

Bengaluru: Cancer treatment during the lockdown has been difficult and requires close coordination between multiple medical services, scheduling appointments, and coming up with solutions to innumerable problems that crop up along the way. With the rise of COVID-19 cases in India and the subsequent lockdown enforcement for the safety of the larger public, there were a number of patients who found it difficult to get the medical help they required.

A patient in Mumbai scheduled to undergo surgery for colon cancer had his appointment canceled because of inadequate staff at the treating hospital. The family of the patient reached out to Online consultation and got connected with a suitable partner hospital that would carry out the surgery. In addition, the assigned care manager ensured that the partner hospital would cover the patient’s treatment through insurance, apart from providing the mandatory COVID-19 testing through a partner diagnostic center before the surgery, to ensure that all legal requirements were met. Meticulous planning and execution resulted in the patient receiving timely and successful surgery.

Onco.com, digital platform for cancer care, recorded a significant jump of 140% in its  digital consultation services in the month of April 2020 as compared to previous months. Adoption of Onco’s Online Opinion grew by 53% in Tier-2 and Tier 3 markets and saw a growth of  35% growth in overall traffic to the site from non Tier-1 markets.

Rashie Jain, CEO and Co-Founder of Onco.com said, “We are working in tandem with our oncologists and hospital partners to ensure continuity of care towards cancer patients. In addition, every cancer patient at Onco.com is assigned a dedicated care manager who engages with them throughout their treatment journey.”

Dr Amit K Jotwani, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Onco.com said,” Cancer patients have been worst affected by the present COVID crisis. Given that most cancer patients in India are diagnosed in advanced stages, the window for a positive outcome is limited and they cannot afford to delay treatment. As we see a relatively lower COVID-19 infection rate and case fatality rate compared to western countries, it also indicates that the risks to cancer patients in India are not as high and we can still continue their treatment as the risk of cancer progression is a concern.”