India is expanding its digital health infrastructure beyond appointment bookings, aiming to create continuous, connected patient care through integrated systems and secure communication channels, backed by government initiatives and increasing technological adoption.
India’s digital health market is moving beyond simple appointment booking, as providers build systems that link discovery, triage, consultation and follow-up into a single patient journey. Shankar Iyer, director of business strategy for India at Infobip, argues that the country now has the internet reach and digital infrastructure to support care that does not end at the clinic door. He points to 870 million internet users, a telemedicine market worth about $6.8 billion, and the government-backed Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission as the main foundations for that shift. According to Pharmabiz, the argument is that healthcare communication can now be designed as a continuous service rather than a series of disconnected interactions.
That ambition depends on trust as much as technology. Iyer says healthcare-grade messaging systems must be matched with stronger data protection, clear consent flows and plain explanations of how data is used in AI-enabled services. That view is consistent with wider discussion of India’s digital health framework, including the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines released in 2020 and the ABDM architecture launched in 2021, which was designed to let patients and providers access and share records through a national health identifier. The government has also framed ABDM as a way to simplify access and improve portability across the health system.
Infobip says Rich Communication Services, alongside WhatsApp, email and SMS, is becoming the practical layer for that model. The company says global RCS traffic rose by more than 165% over the past year, while RCS for Business traffic in India increased 108% year on year between the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026. In practice, that can mean a patient moving from a search result into a branded chat, completing intake questions, receiving forms and then being routed to the right next step without needing to repeat information across channels.
The case for this approach is strongest in the middle and later stages of care. India’s digital health ecosystem, including ABDM’s HealthID, facility registries, personal health records and telemedicine functions, is intended to connect doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and insurers more efficiently. Academic work on the mission has also warned that cybersecurity and resilience remain critical, because any weakness in the digital layer could disrupt care and expose sensitive records. That makes secure orchestration across systems as important as the patient-facing interface itself.
Iyer says the next step is not simply adding more channels, but building a common operating layer that links communications, electronic medical records and AI tools. In his view, that would let providers send appointment updates, discharge instructions and medication reminders across the channel a patient is most likely to use, while keeping a clear path to human clinicians when needed. The broader policy direction suggests the same outcome: a more portable, lower-friction system that can reduce delays, cut travel and make digital care more usable outside major urban centres.
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