e-Sanjeevani and State Teleconsultation Platforms: Should Your Clinic Participate?

e-Sanjeevani is, by consultation volume, the largest telemedicine implementation in the world — and yet a surprising number of private doctors and clinics are unclear on what it actually is, how it works, or whether there’s a meaningful role for them in it. This article explains the platform’s two distinct models, how several states have built their own complementary teleconsultation services, and what genuine participation options exist for doctors outside the core government system.

What e-Sanjeevani Actually Is

e-Sanjeevani is India’s national telemedicine service, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It operates as two genuinely distinct services that are often confused with each other.

The Two Models: AB-HWC and OPD

e-Sanjeevani (AB-HWC): doctor-to-doctor

This is the larger of the two by volume. It follows a hub-and-spoke model: a Community Health Officer or general physician at an Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centre (the “spoke,” often in a rural or semi-urban area) facilitates a patient’s visit, then connects — with the patient present — to a specialist or general physician at a hub facility such as a district or sub-district hospital. This assisted, provider-to-provider model accounts for the large majority of the platform’s total consultation volume.

e-Sanjeevani OPD: patient-to-doctor

This is the model most individual patients mean when they refer to “e-Sanjeevani.” A patient registers directly using their mobile number, receives a token (essentially a queue position), and connects via video with a government doctor from home, without needing to visit any physical facility first. This model is smaller in volume than the AB-HWC service but has been growing quickly as awareness spreads.

The Scale of the Platform

e-Sanjeevani has become the world’s largest telemedicine implementation in primary healthcare, having delivered well over 150 million teleconsultations across all states and union territories since its national rollout, with the AB-HWC model accounting for the significant majority of that volume. Utilisation skews toward women and adults in the 25–45 age range, and covers both acute conditions (fever, cough, gastritis) and chronic disease management (diabetes, hypertension) — figures that illustrate the platform’s core purpose: extending consistent primary-care access into rural and under-served areas rather than replacing urban private practice.

Where Private Doctors and Clinics Fit In

e-Sanjeevani is fundamentally a government-run public health service, staffed by government doctors and specialists at hub facilities, and it is not, by default, an open marketplace where any private practitioner can list themselves for patient bookings the way a commercial telemedicine app works. That said, several states have brought empanelled specialists — including from recognised private and trust hospitals — into the hub network for specific specialities where public-sector specialist availability is limited, particularly for underserved regions. Private hospitals and specialists interested in this kind of participation should approach their State Health Department or the relevant State Health Mission directly, since empanelment into the hub network is managed at the state level, not through a central private-sector application process.

State-Level Teleconsultation Platforms

Several states have layered their own state-branded teleconsultation services on top of, or alongside, the national e-Sanjeevani infrastructure, sometimes integrating additional local languages, state health scheme eligibility, or region-specific specialist networks. Clinics and hospitals in states with an active state teleconsultation initiative should check with their State Health Department for the current structure, since participation pathways, technical requirements, and empanelment criteria vary meaningfully from state to state and are updated periodically.

Why This Matters Even If You Never Join the Hub Network

• Patient expectations are shifting: patients increasingly understand telemedicine as a normal part of care, partly because of e-Sanjeevani’s scale, which makes private clinics’ own teleconsultation offerings feel more familiar rather than novel.
• Referral and continuity patterns: patients seen through e-Sanjeevani’s AB-HWC model are sometimes referred onward to higher levels of care, including private facilities in certain circumstances — understanding the referral flow in your region can be useful for hospitals positioned to receive such referrals.
• Digital health infrastructure alignment: e-Sanjeevani increasingly integrates with ABDM for prescription and record continuity, reinforcing the broader push toward ABDM-compliant systems described elsewhere in this series.

What e-Sanjeevani Is Not Meant For

The platform is explicitly not designed for medical emergencies — conditions like heart attacks, major trauma, or accidents require immediate in-person emergency care, and patients should be directed to emergency services rather than a teleconsultation queue for such presentations. This is a useful point for any clinic advising patients on when telemedicine (government or private) is and isn’t appropriate.

e-Sanjeevani AB-HWC	e-Sanjeevani OPD
Doctor-to-doctor, assisted by a health worker at an AB-HWC	Patient-to-doctor, accessed directly from home
Larger share of total national consultation volume	Smaller but faster-growing direct-access volume
Primarily rural and semi-urban primary care access	Broader general public access via mobile or laptop
Some state-level private specialist empanelment exists	Staffed by government doctors; not an open private marketplace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can any private doctor register to see patients on e-Sanjeevani?

Not through a simple self-service sign-up. Private specialist participation in the hub network is managed at the state level and is typically limited to specific empanelment arrangements addressing specialist shortages, rather than an open marketplace model.

Is e-Sanjeevani free for patients?

Yes, e-Sanjeevani teleconsultations are provided free of charge to patients as part of the national telemedicine service.

How is e-Sanjeevani different from a private telemedicine app my clinic might use?

e-Sanjeevani is a government-run public health service staffed largely by government doctors, aimed at extending primary care access broadly, particularly in under-served areas; a private clinic’s own telemedicine platform is typically aimed at serving that clinic’s specific patient base under the doctor’s own branding and business model.

Does using e-Sanjeevani require ABHA registration?

Patients generally register with basic mobile-number verification; deeper integration with ABHA and ABDM has been expanding as part of the platform’s ongoing development, improving prescription and record continuity.

Should my clinic be concerned about e-Sanjeevani as competition?

For most private clinics, particularly in urban areas, e-Sanjeevani serves a different segment — largely rural, primary-care patients accessing free government teleconsultation — so it is generally better understood as complementary public infrastructure than as direct competition for a private practice’s typical patient base.

Research Sources

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare — eSanjeevani national telemedicine service overview (esanjeevani.mohfw.gov.in)
2. PMC (National Library of Medicine) — Adoption and utilisation patterns of eSanjeevani, India’s national telemedicine service, national rollout through 2023
3. Google Play — eSanjeevani (AB-HWC) official application listing and hub-and-spoke model description

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational and educational purposes and reflects publicly available information about e-Sanjeevani and state teleconsultation platforms as understood at the time of writing, which continues to evolve. It is not official guidance; clinics interested in participation should contact their State Health Department directly for current pathways and requirements.