Doctor Insta is a medical consultation service that uses phone and video calls to connect the patients with specialized doctors. It has a team of doctors that offer consultations through phone calls and video calls. This gives users the freedom to seek medical help from the comfort and privacy of their home.
I mentioned the service on this blog when it was launched. You can read the post here: Doctor Insta - See Doctors Online.Doctor Insta can be used on computer through their website. But it is more convenient to use the service using their iOS or Android apps.
Payment: I recently checked out the Doctor Insta Android App. The app is free to download from the Google Play store. Once installed, using it to consult doctors is very easy and simple process. Doctor Insta is currently charging Rs. 400 for consultation. The payment options include credit/debit cards, net banking and mobile wallets. However, in case a registered user (free registration) just needs to ask a question or to sort out some health related confusion, the app makes it very easy to ask a question for free by just adding the question, name and email address in the relevant fields. The response is sent on the email addresses.
Appointments: For more detailed consultation with the doctor, users need to fix an appointment. While fixing the appointment, the app asks questions like patient's name, age, duration since the patient is facing problems, known allergies, medication currently prescribed etc. Once all the information is submitted and payment completed, Doctor Insta fixes up an appointment with the relevant specialist. The appointment is fixed as per the time and day chosen by the user. Timely reminders are sent to the user to make sure that the patient is online on the app during the appointed time. In case the patient is not online during the appointed time, the doctor calls on the pre-submitted phone number. If the patient is online, they can carry on the video consultation with the doctor from within the Doctor Insta app. At the appointed time, the patients too can initiate the consultation by tapping on the phone or video call button.
Health History and Followup: After the consultation gets over, it gets saved in the Health section of the app. So in case the patient needs a follow up consultation, it can easily be done by tapping on the previous consultation mentioned in this Health history section.
User Interface: The app gives clear information about the policies, pricing, screening of doctors and the credentials of the doctors on Doctor Insta. The Home Page of the app has four broad sections for the kind of problems. These are Medical, Psychology, Pediatrics, Diet and Nutrition. If you tap on any of these options, a list opens up with buttons to fix an appointment, search for a doctor or caregiver etc. When the user clicks on Search by Doctor/Caregiver, it opens up the list of doctors available. The list gives information about the doctor's degrees, years of experience and the languages the doctor speaks.
Overall: The app has a nice and pleasant user interface. However, as fixing an appointment on it requires the user to answer several questions about the patient's age and problems, not everyone would find it easy to use. Especially since the app is in English. At least, I didn't spot anyway to change the language of the app. I understand that Doctor Insta targets technology savvy people, but still ability to input information in regional languages can be a good idea. Other than that, I think the Doctor Insta app is a great way for the users to connect with a doctor from the comfort and privacy of their home. The appointments are fixed as per user's chosen time and day and the doctor calls promptly at the appointed time. In the Account section of the app, there's a button called Promotions. If you tap on it, you can see your personal promotion code. You can share this personal code with your friends so they can try out Doctor Insta and have their first consultation free of cost.
If you'd like to try out Doctor Insta, here's my promo code: PFMITVZN
Important Links: Doctor Insta Website Android App iOS AppDisclaimer: The above review is only the review of the app not the doctors and medical practitioners available through it. Please use your discretion while following the advice given by Doctor Insta specialists, just like other doctors.
