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Category: Kisímgoijjá sára
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The Rise of Online Medical Consultations in Pakistan: Benefits, Limitations, and Best Practices
Access to healthcare has always been difficult in Pakistan. According to the 2024-25 Economic Survey, there is about 1 doctor for every 750,000 people, which is much lower than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 1 doctor per 1,000 people. Around 63% of Pakistan’s population lives in rural areas, where getting basic medical care is even harder.
However, things are changing.
Since COVID-19, online doctor consultations in Pakistan have been booming. Platforms like Marham are making it easier than ever for patients in both rural and urban areas to see a doctor through video calls and verified appointments. The market is set to reach US$42.27 million in 2025, showing remarkable growth and rising demand.
Platforms like Marham, Sehat Kahani, and Dawaai have played a quiet but significant role in this transformation. It connects patients with verified doctors through simple video calls and online appointments.
Why Online Consultations Are Gaining Popularity
The appeal of online medical consultations is straightforward: convenience, cost savings, and accessibility.
For a working mother in a small town, taking a day off to travel to a city hospital is not always possible. For an elderly person with mobility issues, waiting in crowded hospital queues can be exhausting. Online consultations remove these barriers. Patients can speak to qualified doctors from their homes within hours of booking.
Cost is another factor. Hospital visits in Pakistan come with hidden expenses like travel fares, time off work, and sometimes overnight stays. A virtual consultation cuts most of these costs. This makes healthcare more affordable for middle and lower-income families.
Research shows that telemedicine is highly satisfying for patients in Pakistan. Studies report that 80-90% of patients feel it improves access to healthcare and makes consultations more comfortable. Most doctors and medical students also believe that Pakistan will widely accept telemedicine in the coming years. The trust is building, slowly but steadily.
Benefits of Online Medical Consultations
Online medical consultations offer several advantages that are hard to ignore:
Time-saving:
What might take an entire day (travelling, waiting, consulting) can now be done in 15-20 minutes.
Access to specialists:
Patients in smaller cities can consult dermatologists, cardiologists, or psychiatrists based in Lahore, Karachi, or Islamabad without leaving their homes.
Easier follow-up care:
Patients recovering from surgery or managing chronic conditions like diabetes can check in with their doctors regularly without repeated hospital visits.
Privacy and comfort:
Many people, especially women, hesitate to discuss sensitive health issues in busy hospital settings. A private video call provides a comfortable space for open conversation.
Simplified booking:
Healthcare platforms allow patients to browse doctor profiles, read reviews, compare fees, and select convenient time slots, all from their phones.
Limitations of Online Consultations
Of course, online consultations are not without their drawbacks:
No physical examination:
A doctor can listen to your symptoms over a call. However, they cannot feel a lump, check your blood pressure, or examine a wound properly. Conditions requiring hands-on diagnosis still need in-person visits.
Internet connectivity issues:
In many rural areas, unstable connections and frequent power outages make video consultations unreliable. Studies on telemedicine in Pakistan found that poor bandwidth and voice distortions were common patient complaints.
Trust concerns:
Some patients, especially older generations, feel more comfortable with face-to-face interactions and may not fully trust a diagnosis delivered through a screen.
Not suitable for emergencies:
Severe infections, accidents, or conditions requiring immediate intervention need hospital care. Online consultations cannot replace emergency services.
Best Practices for Patients
To get the most out of virtual healthcare, patients should follow these simple practices:
Prepare before your appointment: Write down your symptoms, current medications, and questions you want to ask. This saves time and helps the doctor understand your situation better.
Choose verified platforms: Not every telemedicine app is trustworthy. Look for platforms that list qualified, PMC-registered doctors with genuine patient reviews.
Be honest with your doctor: Share your complete medical history, even if some details feel uncomfortable. Accurate information leads to better advice.
Know when to visit in person: If a doctor recommends a physical check-up, diagnostic test, or hospital visit, do not delay. You can easily find trusted hospitals near you via Marham for in-person care. Online consultations are a helpful first step, not a replacement for all types of care.
Conclusion
Online medical consultations are reshaping how Pakistanis access healthcare. They are not perfect, but for routine check-ups, follow-ups, and initial consultations, they offer a practical and affordable solution.
As internet access improves and more people become comfortable with technology, telemedicine will only grow. Platforms like Marham are connecting patients with trusted doctors. They are making quality healthcare reachable, even for those who once thought it was out of their hands.
The future of healthcare in Pakistan is not just in hospitals. It is also in your pocket.
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Digital Health Standards, Opportunities, and Challenges in Pakistan
Digital Health is a growing industry that has the potential to bring numerous advantages to the health sector. The public and private sectors can gain various positive outcomes and benefits by digitalizing the health services in the country.
Among many advantages that telehealth provides to improve the quality of life, a few of them are fast and easy access to health services, efficient storage and sharing of medical history data, proficient delivery of health service with less expenditure, and easy circulation of health-related awareness.
Currently, Pakistan’s ehealth sector is faced with various struggles and challenges such as lack of medical professionals, poor infrastructure, high cost of health services, lack of medical facilities in rural areas, and low expenditure of the government in the sector. However, the inadequacies in healthcare delivery can be diminished by the proper implementation of digital health across the country.
Silk Road Conference:Improving Digital Health Standards in Pakistan
Recently, a silk road summit was held where various speakers and thought leaders of the industry came together and shared their thoughts on improving the ehealth standards in Pakistan.
Read more: Green and clean energy solutions
Fahd Kakakhel, the founder and CEO of Pak Health Consultants & Digital Health Association shared a few points.
Digital Health Standards: Talking Points by Fahd Kakakhel
Fahd Kakakhel shared that since 2012, his organization has spearheaded healthcare transformation with an emphasis on empowering individuals to manage their own health; innovating new health delivery models; partnering with medical experts to focus on wellness and prevention; and improving healthcare quality.
He said: ‘We are a prominent voice in addressing how our society can build a more sustainable health care system, which increases access, affordability and predictability. We are using our Digital Health platform to process medical data with BOTS and AI to streamline healthcare pathways.
We would like to connect with anyone who is interested in working in these domains to help our fellow countrymen.’
Talking points of his speech were:
- Vision and mission for Digital Health Association
- AI to process medical data with BOTS
- Streamlining healthcare pathways
- CPEC, BRI and SDG alignment
- Mushroom growth of new players and growing influence of existing ones
- Developing deeper interlinkages for an enhanced industrial-academic connect
- Industrial revolution 4.0 – How digitizing health can disrupt this sector
Fahd is also a prominent voice addressing how our society can build a more sustainable health care system, which increases access, affordability and predictability.
Benefits of Digital Health
The main purpose of digital health is to improve the standard of health care by utilizing technology. Digital health consists of various sub-categories such as mobile-Health, telemedicine, telehealth, and health information technology. Mobile-Health, which refers to the usage of mobile phones for health care services, is one of the widely used methods in digital health.
Digital health is improving the healthcare system to provide better health opportunities. Fortunately, in Pakistan, the ehealth initiatives have been presented regional as well as nationwide and telehealth in Pakistan has become more established in recent decades.
Similarly, the health Policy of Pakistan was also established with the main purpose of facilitating and assisting the use of telemedicine, building an online community of doctors for advanced access to skilled medical professionals, share preventive care information, set mandatory standards and protocols for telehealth facility providers, and the efficient automation and digitization of hospitals.
Learn more: Procurement through a supply chain platform
Digital Health Opportunities in Pakistan
There is a dire need for an efficient telehealth system in Pakistan. The existing health sector in Pakistan is faced with many challenges. These challenges can be addressed and resolved by the proper implementation of the eHealth system in the country.
Digital health can play a major role to improve the healthcare system in Pakistan. However, eHealth is at the beginning stage of development and a proper strategy is needed with proper implementation to clear out the path and support the spread of eHealth practices and advantages in Pakistan. The development of telehealth is only possible by the collaboration and cooperation of all the involved stakeholders to gain the benefits of a digital health sector.
Like other developing countries, the proper implementation of eHealth in Pakistan can solve many issues that the health sector is facing currently. eHealth facilities can help in diminishing the inadequacies of healthcare services, provide improved medical access, and accessibility of improved quality of life with a low-cost medical facility.
Moreover, telehealth brings with it many opportunities such as an empowered and informed environment for patients, high expectations for involvement and engagement with healthcare, better communication and collaboration, efficient resource management, and accessibility of cost-efficient health care facilities.
Conclusion
Gradually, ehealth facilities are being integrated into the current health system of Pakistan to improve the health care system and bring more ease and opportunities to the people.
But the process has many challenges to overcome in the form of network service availability, internet coverage, data and security issues, accessibility, and affordability of mobile phone devices.
However, despite all the challenges, the process is expanding and improving through the efforts of some private and public stakeholders and the future of digital healthcare seems to be bright in Pakistan.
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Procurement through a Supply Chain Platform
Healthcare Supply Chain Logistics is a series of processes, workforce involved across different teams and movement of medicines, surgical equipment, and other products as needed by healthcare professionals to do their job. The aim of Supply Chain in Healthcare is to find the vulnerabilities among departments and propose measures to reduce them. It aims to identify weak areas to achieve targeted health outcome and increases investments in global health.
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Face Mask Precautions
Place mask carefully to cover mouth and nose.
While in use, avoid touching the mask.
Remove the mask by using appropriate technique (i.e. do not touch the front but remove the lace from behind).
After removal or whenever you inadvertently touch a used mask, clean hands by using an alcohol-based hand rub or soap.
Replace masks with a new clean, dry mask as soon as they become damp/humid.
Do not re-use single-use masks.
Discard single-use masks after each use and dispose of them immediately upon removal.
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Labour Day
A dream written down with a date becomes a goal A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan A plan backed by actions becomes reality ! Have a blessed labour day weekend.
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Our Collaboration with Mint Pro
Deep cleaning is essential to hospitals to keep the risk of infections spreading at a minimum. You need to consult with your cleaning company to set out a strategic plan. This will make sure that your chosen cleaning specialists will have an efficient approach when it comes to carrying out the deep clean to prevent common infections spreading. PHC aims to combat outbreaks of common infections by acting quickly and efficiently to sanitize different hospital areas.
Talk to team of our experts for taking a brief consultation on how deep cleaning/refurbishment services would help you to maintain hygiene levels and improve patient experience score
For more details email us at info@pakhealthcare.pk -
Our correspondence with DC Chakwal
Meeting with health department at DC office in Chakwal for formulating strategy on working on existing and upcoming projects.
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Green and Clean Energy Solutions
PHC joining hands with SkyElectric for green and clean Energy solutions in the healthcare industry
Pak Health Consultants join hands with SkyElectric for green and clean Energy solutions in the healthcare industry Left to Right Shahbaz Hameed (Director Business Development) Muhammad Usman (Director Marketing) Amin Sukhera (CEO Sky electric) Rizwan Arif (CFO) Rahim Yousafzai (Supply Chain Manager) Fahd S Kakakhel (Founder / CEO) Rida Sabir (Buisness Development Officer) #phc #pakhealthconsultant #skyelectric #greenandclean #energysolutions #islamabad #pakistan