The surge of inquiries has also been driven by healthcare platforms offering some services for free amid the epidemic. JD Health, an arm of JD.com Inc, has seen its daily volume of respiratory-related online consultations jump by nine times while mental-health consultations have grown five to seven times, according to Xiao Jianbo, the company's general manager of online healthcare. Baidu Inc said its online doctor consultation platform Wenyisheng, which translates to "Ask Doctor", has been handling around 850,000 free inquiries daily. Compared to other internet services, online healthcare is not used as frequently and does not benefit as much from word of mouth, industry executives say. "The outbreak has in fact educated the market, but I don’t think China’s online healthcare has really taken off because of this," said Simon He, founding partner at Shanghai-based Eminence Ventures.

Source: bd News24 February 26, 2020 10:07 UTC