A cross-sectional, observational, and web-based study was conducted. Those apps that were providing either online doctor consultation or doctor appointment booking-related services and operating in India were included, while others were excluded. We searched the Google Play Store with the search strategy “health apps in India”. In the results, 250 apps appeared. Out of 250 apps, finally, 22 apps were found to be providing online doctor consultation and/or doctor appointment booking-related services, so they were included in the study. The selection of mobile apps is presented in detail in Figure 1. The data retrieved from the Google Play Store were analysed and represented using Microsoft Excel and Word 2016.

All the selected mHealth apps were providing online doctor consultation-related services, with the CallDoc App only providing offline doctor appointment booking-related services. Similarly, doctor appointment booking facility was only provided by Practo, mfine, Lybrate, Ask Apollo, I Online Doctor, CallDoc, DOCTOR INSTA, DocOnline, and India Dental World apps. Among the 22 selected mHealth apps operating in India, Practo, mfine, DocsApp, 1mg, Netmeds, Lybrate, MediBuddy, and Medlife were found to be the eight most popular ones with over a million downloads and on average four-plus user rating out of five. Practo, mfine, and Lybrate offer doctor consultation through chat, audio, and video calling. Netmeds and DocsApp offer doctor consultation through both chat and audio call. 1mg offers free chat consultation, while MediBuddy and Medlife offer audio call consultation only. Practo, mfine, Netmeds, Lybrate, MediBuddy, and DocsApp charge a consultation fee for doctor consultation. Netmeds and mfine offer free follow-up consultation within 7 days of an initial consultation. Practo, mfine, DocsApp, Lybrate, MediBuddy, and Medlife provide an online health record maintenance facility, which 1mg and Netmeds do not offer. Considering booking doctor appointments for offline consultation, Practo, mfine, 1mg, and Lybrate only offer this facility among the eight most popular selected mHealth apps. In Lybrate, after the app has been downloaded, the app asks for background details of the patient, such as gender, age, marital status, height, weight, and existing health conditions to suggest a specialist who should be consulted to address the patient’s given health condition. Practo offers various membership plans for healthcare in which a consumer must pay a certain amount initially to receive unlimited online consultations, free in-clinic consultation, health check-ups, and medicine discount for a certain period of time. The mfine app provides the first doctor consultation for free. MediBuddy tracks the GPS location of the mobile subscriber to suggest nearby doctors of various specialities available for appointment booking with time and date slots. DocsApp asks for age, gender, symptoms, and health concerns before suggesting a specialist to provide the appropriate care for a patient’s needs. In Medlife, one can choose from various specialists available at a particular date and time for consultation. Netmeds offers doctor consultation through chat after the patient has paid an initial consultation fee. Various specialist consultations in addition to the consultations by a general practitioner provided by these apps include gynaecology, dermatology, urology, dentistry, gastroenterology, paediatrics, oncology, sexology, endocrinology, nutrition, physiotherapy, psychiatry, general medicine, surgery, diabetology, pulmonology, cardiology, orthopaedics, and neurology among others (Table 1, Figure 2).

Although the accessibility of mobile phones and the internet has remarkably increased in the country in the last decade, it is still inaccessible to the bulk of the population. The major reasons are affordability and health literacy. More than one-fifth (21.9%) of the population is still below the poverty line (BPL) [16]. These modern mHealth apps run on smartphones, which are often expensive. For a BPL family, earning a daily livelihood is the major challenge. Buying a smartphone is nothing more than daydreaming for them. On the other hand, existing literature regarding health literacy in India indicates that it is still low in the people of the country [17]. Those who have the financial capacity to buy a smartphone lack health literacy to make full use of these mHealth apps, and health literacy is one of the major determinants of healthcare utilisation in the country [18,19].

Healthcare delivery through a mobile app is a new concept in the healthcare delivery system of India, which is gradually likely be inculcated within it due to its high convenience and potential. In India, there is a very serious lack of healthcare infrastructure and trained health workers, especially in rural and suburban areas. India is home for 1.24 billion people, with about 70% of its people living in remote rural areas without adequate healthcare infrastructure. With merely 3.8% GDP share allocated to healthcare, the Indian government, even after all positive intentions, cannot provide quality healthcare to its rural population overnight [14,20]. The process of healthcare infrastructure building is costly and lengthy. With the continuous growth of the mobile industry and growing teledensity in rural India, a large number of people in rural India have gained access to mobile phones [4]. This leaves us with an excellent opportunity to provide quality healthcare service using the mHealth platform. A healthy rural population is an asset for any nation, especially for countries like India, where the majority of the people live in remote rural areas. Moreover, it is a basic right of every citizen of the country to have good healthcare facilities at affordable rates. Using mHealth app consultations, travelling and time-related costs can be minimized for both users and providers. The platform may be used to raise the health literacy of the people of the country to improve their health-seeking behaviour. On the other hand, most of the doctors and nurses in the country are reluctant to work in rural areas primarily due to low living standards, as well as limited learning opportunities, career growth, and earning opportunities there compared to urban areas [21,22]. The government, with the current spending in healthcare, will take decades to create a traditional health infrastructure to meet the healthcare needs of its people. On the other hand, mHealth only requires awareness, minimal funding, and planning by the government. Thus, gradually, it may evolve as a suitable alternative to reach the person living in the remotest location of the country with quality healthcare at an affordable rate.

To conclude, among the selected mHealth apps providing doctor consultation services online/offline and operating in India, Practo, mfine, DocsApp, 1mg, Netmeds, Lybrate, MediBuddy, and Medlife were found to be the eight most popular ones with over a million downloads and on average four-plus user rating out of five. The government should make enabling policies to facilitate and popularise mHealth applications in the country.