A Tiger Global and Ratan Tata-backed start-up, Lybrate, has witnessed over 60 per cent increase in doctor consultation on its platform in the backdrop of lockdown throughout the country on account of coronavirus crisis.

Lybrate, a health and wellness app that allows consultation on its platform via text, audio and video, has witnessed a particularly big jump in video consultation over the last two weeks as the situation pertaining to coronavirus began to turn grim, and with the announcement of total lockdown in the country, a statement from the company said. The Union Health Ministry had on March 27 urged people to take advantage of telemedicine services during the ongoing lockdown.

The queries from patients are mainly related to common ailments, diet, meditation, yoga and stress-related issues like claustrophobia.

“It is highly appreciable that people are staying indoors and turning to online doctor consultation platforms for their healthcare needs. It is the need of the hour to contain the spread of the virus. The healthcare burden on the country is gigantic around this time and platforms like ours can definitely help share it. People can consult doctors on Lybrate across specialities and so on other platforms, letting hospitals tend to more serious patients,” said Saurabh Arora, Founder and CEO, Lybrate.

“Because of the lockdown, the physical activity of people has come almost to a halt while screen time has risen. Owing to that, queries relating to wellness issues have risen significantly,” added Saurabh.

Founded by former professionals from Facebook and Snapdeal in 2014, Lybrate has more than two lakh doctors and health experts from varied branches of medicine from across India. The company raised $10.2 million from Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners and Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata in Series A funding in July 2015. It received $1.23 million in seed funding in August 2014. _