Parliament Question: Shortage of Doctors in e-Sanjeevani Services

GOVERNMENT OFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTHAND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENT OFHEALTHAND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO: 4709 TOBE ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026 SHORTAGEOFDOCTORSIN E-SANJEEVANISERVICES †4709.SHRINEERAJ MAURYA: Will the Minister of HEALTH andFAMILYWELFAREbe pleasedtostate: (a) the steps being taken by the Government to address the shortage of doctors in eSanjeevani services; (b) whether the Government has conducted any studies to assess the quality of the eSanjeevani platform,beneficiary satisfaction andhealthcareoutcomes; (c) if so, the outcomesthereof; (d) the measures being implemented bythe Government toaddress the barriers such as network connectivity, lackof training for healthcare workers and limitedintegration of patienthealth records; (e) the strategy of the Government to encourage doctors and healthcare providers to participate onthe platform andensure itssustainability andscalability;and (f) the initiatives taken by the Government to make e-Sanjeevani inclusive such as by adding regionallanguagesandexpanding itsreachtoremote areas? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE (SHRIPRATAPRAO JADHAV) (a) to (f): eSanjeevani is a National Telemedicine Service operational in all 36 states and UTs, and is aimed at achieving universal health coverage (UHC). It is implemented in two variants: (i) eSanjeevani AB-HWC/Ayushman Arogya Mandir – a provider-to-provider telemedicine platform rolled out in November, 2019 (ii) eSanjeevani OPD – a patient-to-provider telemedicine platform operating on hub and spoke model, rolled out in March, 2020. The services are operational across all 28 states and 8 Union Territories of India and over 45 crore consultationshave beenfacilitated on the platform. With a view to ensure the availability of doctors in e-Sanjeevani services, regional hubs have been established at medical colleges, community health centres, and district hospitals, staffed with teams of doctors to support the underlying spokes. Further, doctors have been allowed to conduct teleconsultations in shifts, enabling them to participate alongside their regular duties, including AYUSH practitioners for specific types of consultations, thereby expanding the pool of available healthcare providers. In addition, the Government through C-DAC Mohali conducts regular capacity building sessions for doctors and healthcare healthcare professionals for the effective use of telemedicinetechnologythrough the eSanjeevaniplatform.To address network connectivity issues, under the Digital India Programme, the Government has taken initiatives like BharatNet for providing high-speed internet to rural India and supporting telemedicine services in some States. Further, State Governments have also collaborated with telecom providers to extend broadband coverage upto the Ayushman Arogya Mandir sub healthcentre level. eSanjeevani –the nationaltelemedicine service of the Ministry of Healthand FamilyWelfare– hasbeen designed to be inclusive andaccessible across India’sdiverse population.eSanjeevani web application supports 13 languages: English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Assamese, Odia, Bengali, Punjabi, and Urdu, while the mobile application supports 12languages: English, Hindi, Kannada,Tamil, Malayalam,Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Assamese, Odia, Bengali, and Punjabi. This multilingual support helps ensure wider adoption, particularly in remote and rural areas where local-language interfaces significantly improve usability andpatientcomfort. *****