What every Indian patient must know about digital healthcare risks

For a lot of patients these days, their first visit to the doctor is on a screen. Instead of going to the clinic, you can have a video call. A wearable device keeps track of your heart rate, and an app keeps track of your prescriptions. India’s healthcare is going through a quiet but big change. Digital tools are no longer optional; they are becoming part of everyday life. This change has made access and efficiency much better. But one thing that is really on our minds is whether digital healthcare is safe?Access Is Expanding, But So Are RisksAccording to reports from the industry, India’s digital health market will be worth almost $48 billion by 2033. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the Unified Health Interface (UHI), and the National Health Stack (NHS) are all government programs that are speeding up this change. These programs together make health data more consistent, and connect hospitals, doctors, and patients on one digital backbone.For patients, the promise is big with quicker appointments, easier sharing of medical history, and fewer barriers to care across states or institutions. But as healthcare moves online, the chances of mistakes, breaches, and unequal access grow. Patient safety used to mean mostly things like being good at your job and keeping things clean. Now it also means things like cybersecurity, data privacy, and digital literacy.Why Patients Need To Know How To Use TechnologyA doctor may prescribe the right treatment, but if a patient cannot use the app correctly to record it, the benefit is lost. This is the new front line for keeping patients safe.Older patients often have trouble with digital consultations or uploading reports. There are gaps in connectivity in rural areas. Not everyone, even younger people who live in cities, knows what happens to their medical data when it is stored online.Seemingly, mistakes like missing a notification, uploading the wrong report, or getting lost on a telemedicine app, can quietly derail care, with very real consequences. These problems are not small; they have a direct impact on health outcomes. It is just as important to make sure that patients can use digital tools safely as it is to make the tools themselves.AI And Telemedicine Are Changing How We Take Care of PeopleThe pandemic made telehealth normal, and now remote care is still growing. Patients save time, do not have to travel, and can often see doctors who would be too far away otherwise. But telemedicine also raises new questions about who is responsible: How is consent documented? What happens if a diagnosis is wrong and there is no physical exam?Artificial intelligence makes things even more complicated. AI-powered chatbots, diagnostics, and decision-support tools are becoming more common. These tools might help patients get more accurate and faster results, but they also come with risks if the algorithms are not well-trained or are unclear. AI can erroneously flag a scan, which can cause unnecessary worry or even miss a serious condition. Technology can strengthen care; however, it cannot replace a doctor’s judgment.Building Trust Through Regulation And SafeguardsThe government is aware of these problems. The Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (DISHA) and the frameworks under ABDM are meant to control how health data is stored and used. Hospitals and new businesses are being pushed to follow global standards for privacy and cybersecurity. But regulation is only a small part of the picture.Patients will trust you when they can see and understand the safety measures. Consent forms should not be full of text that is hard to read. Patients should be able to easily see options for accessing, downloading, or deleting their records on platforms. Cybersecurity cannot be an invisible back-office job anymore; it has to be part of the patient’s peace of mind that their health information is safe.Digital health in India is no longer just a policy goal. It is already changing how patients talk to doctors, how records move between hospitals, and how decisions about treatment are made. As this change happens faster, we need to look at patient safety in a broader way, one that includes not only drugs and machines but also apps, servers, and screens.The question is not if India can make the technology. That part is moving along quickly. The real test is whether patients can trust the system to keep their health and their data safe. Digital healthcare will succeed in the end not because it is faster or cheaper, but because it is safe. And that’s something that every patient has the right to expect.(Dr. Sabine Kapasi, CEO at Enira Consulting, Founder of ROPAN Healthcare, and UN advisor)