WhatsApp Support Group for 950 Children and Adolescents/Parents with Type 1 Diabetes – Physician’s Perspective on Merits and Demerits

Even though the concept of telemedicine (TM) is more than a century old, we have probably never harnessed the multitude of benefits offered by this technology. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, TM became legal and its practice in hospitals has opened up new avenues for effective and timely delivery of treatment, especially for diabetes. Evidence-based research has found TM-based management of type 1 diabetes (T1D) efficient in delivering equivalent or better care and outcomes when compared to only face-to-face visits. A T1D community consisting of parents and children with T1D was formed in Kerala in 2017. Almost all of these parents had access to WhatsApp and were part of the T1D community on WhatsApp. Here, we review the merits and demerits of utilizing the WhatsApp support group in assisting people with T1D to better manage diabetes and improve their quality of life.