Digital Healing: Public Sentiments towards Electronic Health Services in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract The study aimed to assess the public perception about the prevalence, satisfaction, and challenges of electronic health (e-health) services in Bangladesh. An online survey with a self-administered structured interview was conducted with 150 respondents to collect general perceptions from both rural and urban people. The study revealed that the prevalence of e-health services was moderate in Bangladesh. During the Covid-19 pandemic, people accessed online vaccine registration (58%), telemedicine (23%), and downloaded Covid test reports (17%). The study did not find association between e-health services and the participants' age, gender, living condition, and marital status based on the results of the Chi-square test and the Mann-Whitney U test (p > 0.05). The Spearman correlation analysis confirmed that individuals were moderately satisfied with their access to e-health services (r = .536), the availability of updated Covid-related information on websites (r = .585), and government advertisements (r = .547). Participants reported major challenges in the form of high internet costs, lack of awareness, insufficient internet speed, and an information gap regarding e-health services in Bangladesh. Findings would be an important guideline to the mass people, health experts and practitioners, policymakers, and government health authorities.