Indian doctors throng foreign medical education websites to keep knowledge base enhanced: Doceree analysis

Data, analysed for June this year, shows 432 million login sessions of top 10 foreign doctor-only medical education websites from US, UK, Canada, a staggering 20 million were from India

Doctors continuously need to keep themselves updated with regard to medical advancement, new research and latest techniques in the field, and Indian doctors throng foreign doctor-only medical education websites to keep their knowledge base enhanced than Indian ones, reveals an analysis carried out by Doceree.

The data, analysed for June this year, shows that of the 432 million login sessions of top 10 foreign doctor-only medical education websites from the US, the UK and Canada, a staggering 20 million were from India. During the same span, India’s top six doctor-only medical education websites recorded a dismal 43K sessions.

The web analytics site could not record statistics of other Indian medical education websites as it does not capture data if it is below 5K.

India has been bullish on digital healthcare after the Narendra Modi Government put a thrust upon taking the country on the digital path ever since it resumed office in 2014. However, the data paints a very bleak picture when Indian doctors do not have credible and informative Indian digital websites to turn to for knowledge enhancement.

“A push towards digital should not imply that it is only for consumers, it must also serve our doctors. At a time when digital healthcare is booming in the country, doctors too should have Indian platforms in the digital space which they can explore to update their medical knowledge. As our analysis suggests Indian doctors majorly turn to foreign sites to keep themselves updated, it is indicative that Indian websites are lagging way behind websites in the western countries. Though disheartening, it can be seen as an opportunity for Indian players to come up with quality medical education platforms not only for our doctors, but also for doctors from across the globe,” said Dr Harshit Jain, Founder, CEO, Doceree.

Doctors consider medical education websites essential for they provide them critical information, including industry best practices, researches, new medical techniques and innovations in the medical field.

“One of the reasons for high engagement on foreign sites could be relevancy of content. Doctors prefer visiting sites that has rich and engaging content around topics of their interest and expertise,” said Dr Rajiv Kovil, Diabetologist,  Founder Member and Secretary, United Diabetes Forum (UDF).

The analysis alarmingly also shows that the 520 million login sessions of top 15 medical education websites in the US, the UK and Canada in the month of June was much higher than the combined 943K login sessions of top 15 doctor-only Indian digital platforms such as medical education, telemedicine and doctor networking sites.