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India, February 11, 2021: Online consultations made access to medical care easy and affordable during the pandemic. This, in turn, helped in providing effective care for sexual and reproductive health (SRH), about which many were hesitant to talk openly. According to its latest insights, Practo registered 4000+ queries related to SRH every hour in 2020 – an increase from 1000+ queries in 2019.
While in-clinic appointments for SRH concerns went down by 14%, online consultations increased by as much as 184% from the previous year. This is remarkable, given that only a fraction of these concerns were delivered online in the pre-COVID era.
SRH accounted for 15% of all online consultations on Practo last year. Unlike other specialties, women accounted for the majority of the consultations (67%), with one in every four consultations being for SRH concerns.
These findings, as covered under the Practo insights on SRH in 2020, also indicate an increase in queries for rare disorders like sexsomnia and anorgasmia from young Indians. According to experts, health concerns like sexsomnia and anorgasmia are triggered by the rise in stress, sleep deprivation, and other lifestyle changes that happened during the lockdown.
Another observation has been the significant rise in queries coming from Tier 2+ cities, denoting a positive growth in SRH awareness. In fact, online consultations from non-metro cities grew by 607% in 2020.
Other trends highlighted in the latest Practo insights include:
Age groups • Young Indians (21-30 years) accounted for 62% of all online SRH consultations, followed by the age groups of 31-40 years (22%), 41-50 years (2%), 51-60 years (6%), and 60 years and above (10%) • Queries asked by different age groups: • 21-30 years: Pregnancy, irregular periods, erectile dysfunction, PCOD, sexsomnia, and abortion • 31-40 years: Infertility, anorgasmia, premature ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation, menstrual cycle, and late pregnancy
• 40 years and above: Menopause, hypoactive sexual desire, reproductive tissue cancers, sclerosis, and STIs (sexually transmitted infections)
Metros and non-metros • Metro cities saw a 355% growth in the total number of queries, as compared with a 196% growth in 2019 • 2020 marked an evident rise in the number of queries coming in from Tier 2 cities – 34% of the total number of online consultations for SRH • Overall, most queries were from metro cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata • Among the non-metro cities, the majority of the queries came from Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Kanpur, Coimbatore, Vijayawada, and Mohali
Timings • 55% of all SRH online consultations took place between 6 pm and 11 pm, indicating a growing trend of consulting online after office hours • In contrast, 45% of all in-clinic SRH consultations happened between 4 pm and 8 pm
The insights report highlights important ailments and consultation-related trends in the country. The information is aggregated, anonymized, and analyzed at scale. We hope these findings better equip our healthcare providers to understand disease patterns better and address them effectively, and help others become aware of their options when looking to address their healthcare needs.
