MUMBAI, 18 FEBRUARY, 2022 (GPN): In a first, India’s first unique telemedicine platform PyraMed has announced a tie-up with doctors in rural places to bring second opinion services for patients. Ill health and disease is a great social equaliser. It does not discriminate between the rich/ poor or the urban/rural patient. How is it that healthcare facilities are concentrated only in the urban areas.

Being diagnosed with a certain disease or condition can be overwhelming for a patient. One may get confused and may feel the urge to learn beyond the information provided by the expert. Learning more about the diagnosis and the treatment options from the internet can be very confusing and at times even misleading. The internet provides a flood of information in the medical field but one needs an expert’s skills to be analyse, and judiciously apply all of this for safer use. Hence, seeking a second opinion from a specialist can be essential in all complex medical cases. The best way to seek this second opinion is through your own doctor who has been treating you and will continue to care for you with the help of this opinion, Keeping the concerns of a patient in mind, Pyramed has come up with a unique initiative of doctor-doctor Second Opinion Service in Rural areas. The service has already been initiated in Maharashtra but being net-based, is easily available for patients all across the country.  

Dr Ketan Parikh, the Director of PyraMed Telemedicine said, explains the need for a timely second opinion in healthcare: “The human body is complex with multiple systems which are interrelated. Diseases too are not selective of only affecting one system and can impact many systems when they come to the body. The diseases can enter from one system and show symptoms from some other system. We have seen this in Covid which entered from the nose but some patients had problems with their intestine, some had issues with the lungs, others encountered liver or kidney problems, and many also had problems with the brain. Medical information is expanding at a rapid pace. It is impossible for one to keep a track of all the information which is available today. So one has to use the expert’s skills to be analyse and judiciously apply for ensuring safe use of all this information”

Dr Parikh added, “Most simple and common ailments will easily be managed by the primary doctor or the family doctor. In case, the symptoms persist and if they are not sorted out or the situation becomes serious then one will need an expert opinion or a second opinion for medical management. The benefit of a second opinion is that the expert or the specialist combines information with experience and the sense of judgment for its ideal application to the disease process. This also helps for optimum utilization of the medicines, the investigation facilities available, and avoiding their overuse or misuse. Covid has taught us the need for specialty care and an opinion. Specialty care is often life-saving. A timely and structured mechanism for getting a second opinion will not only benefit the patient but also provides an opportunity for case-based learning for the primary doctor. This will improve the level of overall healthcare in future.”

This tie-up will help in bringing together the best medical and surgical opinions so that patients get an appropriate treatment based on expert advice. “Those patients willing to seek an expert second opinion can reach out to us through their primary doctor. After discussion with the primary doctor, the expert will share his written opinion and your primary doctor can help to customise the plan depending on the local availability of facilities. We urge more and more patients to seek benefits from this service,” concluded Dr Parikh.