After e-shopping and e-books, e-medical services are now offered in India. Mumbai based MediAngels.com, a super specialty medical consultation platform, gives people access to panel of medical professionals. Not only can people consult professionals about their medical problems but they can also seek guidance for surgery and post-operation complications.

Former AIIMS doctor and co-founder and director of MediAngels DrArbinder Singal, 36,says the motive behind setting up the website was to reach out smaller cities where specialized medical professionals are few. "About 90% of specialists available in India live in the top 10 cities," he says. "To find the right specialist for consultation and guidance is extremely difficult in small towns. Our site is that bridge that helps patients from far-off places get in touch with the best doctors available for different medical complications."

Dr Singal, a Barnala native who is now based in Mumbai, says before surgery, patients require consultation for diagnosing the disease. "About 50% of medical problems can be diagnosed just on the basis of clinical photographs and investigation reports of the patients," he says, "But specialized medicinal facilities have not reached smaller towns."

Dr Singal cites the example of someone he knows in Barnala, whose child had a kidney problem.

"They used to travel every month to AIIMS, Delhi, just to show the child’s urine report as there was no child kidney specialist in Punjab," he explains.

"MediAngels started as a result of such personal experiences." The doctor claims that MediAngels has 350 super specialists from 20 countries, besides a separate panel of cancer specialists on the e-health-care platform in fields such as cancer surgery, nephrology, cardiology, peadiatric, oncology, pulmonology, rhenumatology, paediatric surgery, among others.

"For a speciality like urogynecology, which treats women with urinary infections or urinary leakage, there are hardly any doctors in India, Dr Singal says. "At MediAngels, such women can consult a urogynecologist from the privacy of their homes and get better."

"Having worked in the US and UK and in AIIIMS, I have realized how technology can save lives," the doctor says. "Our aim is to provide the right doctor and right advice through technology. Even countries such as the US have allowed electronic consultation because they know that there is a shortage of specialists."

The consultation fee at MediAngels ranges from Rs. 250 – Rs. 5000. Patients can also get blood tests dome from their homes, through MediAngels accredited laboratories.