India’s national telemedicine service eSanjeevani has crossed 50 crore consultations. The milestone was reached on September 15.

The Health Ministry called it the world’s largest telemedicine network. The service connects patients with doctors over video calls.

It was launched to bridge the gap between rural patients and urban doctors. Health and wellness centres act as spokes in the network.

Millions of patients have used it for follow-up care and first consultations. The service is free for patients.

Officials said the platform will keep expanding. More specialists and languages are being added.

The service runs on two models, doctor-to-doctor and patient-to-doctor. Health and wellness centres help patients who lack smartphones. Doctors from district hospitals provide the consultations. The platform also supports e-prescriptions. States have integrated it with their health missions. The ministry said quality audits are done regularly. Over 50 crore consultations is a global record for telemedicine. The service also helped during the pandemic years. More AI tools are being tested.