Home Treatment Reaches 1 Million... Telemedicine Platforms Rise Prominently

Doctor Call Consultations Up 113% in One Month
Olacare Downloads Increase 20% Among Middle-Aged
Soldak Follow-Up Conversion Rate Exceeds 80%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] As the number of COVID-19 patients receiving home treatment has soared past one million amid the Omicron variant surge, non-face-to-face medical platforms are experiencing a true "storm of growth." Each platform is rapidly expanding by offering customized services for COVID patients, such as free consultations and medication delivery, while emphasizing the convenience of remote medical care.

According to the telemedicine industry on the 11th, since home treatment for confirmed COVID cases basically began last month, the number of users of non-face-to-face medical platforms has significantly increased. The platform "Dr. Call," operated by Life Semantics, saw its number of users in February rise by more than 70% compared to the previous month. App downloads and total consultations also increased by 167% and 113%, respectively. The medical department with the highest number of remote consultations in one month was pediatrics (50%), followed by dermatology (19%) and family medicine (14%). This is analyzed to be because parents, worried about their children's infections as the COVID wave intensified, used remote consultations more frequently.

The platform "Ollacare," operated by Blue Ant, also surpassed 1 million cumulative app downloads and 1.5 million cumulative consultations as of last month. The monthly active users (MAU), an indicator that confirms the actual number of app users and activity, recorded 510,000. The age groups of app users were mainly women in their 30s and 40s (32%) and men in their 40s and 50s (20%), showing that various age groups, not just younger people, are utilizing non-face-to-face medical care. The most frequently treated conditions on Ollacare were general other diseases (24%), respiratory diseases (21%), and home treatment (17%).

The mobile healthcare platform "Goodoc" launched its non-face-to-face medical service on the 7th of last month and surpassed 160,000 cumulative users within a month. The number of users among COVID home treatment patients has greatly increased, reaching an average of about 10,000 users per day. In particular, the number of users increased by 500% within a week, and the daily active users (DAU) also rose by about 200%, making it the fastest-growing platform among recently launched services. Im Jin-seok, CEO of Goodoc, said, "The demand for non-face-to-face medical services has far exceeded expectations, causing some service delays," and added, "We will strive to create a better service environment."

Qualitative growth is as noticeable as quantitative growth. According to "Soldoc," a KakaoTalk-based non-face-to-face medical platform, the re-consultation rate of first-time patients who received initial treatment has exceeded 80%. This means that patients are not just using the service once but are increasingly using it continuously. A Soldoc representative explained, "There are increasing cases where a user who was prescribed medication for a skin condition receives treatment again on Soldoc for symptoms like high fever and cough, showing that one user is using services across multiple medical areas."

Based on this growth, the industry is preparing for the "post-COVID" era. Kim Soo-man, team leader of the Dr. Call TF, said, "It is difficult to predict when non-face-to-face medical care will be officially approved, but since many medical staff and patients are experiencing it, it is attracting attention as a new alternative to fill the gaps in medical sites," and expressed hope that "non-face-to-face medical care will be established in the near future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.