67 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. K. Manocha et al. (eds.), Computational Intelligence in Healthcare, Health Information Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68723-6_4 Telemedicine and Telehealth: The Current Update Dhruthi Suresh, Surabhi Chaudhari, Apoorva Saxena, and Praveen Kumar Gupta Abstract Telemedicine is considered as a tool that is accessible and cost-effective and increases patient engagement. Since its birth in the early 1900s, it has only evolved and grown to be a boon for everyone. Patients can share their medical his- tory, attend virtual health checkups, and have follow-up appointments with their respective medical practitioners. The most beneftted of all would perhaps be the people living in remote and rural areas that have little or no access to proper health- care facilities. The concept of telemedicine and telehealth could still be a novice one to most practitioners. However, the continued advances in technology can demand its usability from a new generation of tech-savvy people due to its convenience, cost-effectiveness, and intelligent features. There are different methods by which patients can interact with their doctors. These include store and forward techniques, real-time interactive modes, remote monitoring, and the use of smartphones for healthcare services like mHealth. The application of telemedicine in healthcare ser- vices is extensive and includes but is not limited to teleradiology, telesurgery, tele- psychiatry, etc. As benefcial as it can get, telemedicine also poses some risks to its users. Security breaches, false documentation, and data privacy risks are a few of the concerns that need to be addressed. This review article aims to make people aware of the concept of telemedicine, how it came into existence, its features, and its drawbacks. It will also touch upon the evolution of telemedicine in India and its application in the COVID-19 pandemic that the world is currently facing. Keywords Telemedicine · Virtual health checkups · Medical practitioners · Technology · COVID-19 pandemic D. Suresh · S. Chaudhari (*) · A. Saxena · P. K. Gupta Department of Biotechnology, R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore, India e-mail: praveenkgupta@rvce.edu.in