Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Health consultancy now goes online Health & Lifestyle

CHENNAI: How many of us go to Google just as we step out of the doctor’s office? All you need to have is a computer, reasonable connectivity and of course, an illness that needs to be ‘Googled’.

Health consultancy has taken a new vehicle — the Internet. Be it communicable diseases, lifestyle diseases or just a red rash that has persisted for a week, the easiest thing is to for it search online. And this is just not only for patients, but also for doctors.

Most hospitals who have a web presence allow for online booking of appointments with specialists, such as Apollo Hospitals’ eDoc. Some sites go a step further to provide basic information on various health issues relevant to their practice. For instance, Dr. Mohan’s Specialities Centre’s website has concise information on complications relating to diabetes — kidneys, eyes, feet and the heart.

There are others who have developed a robust online forum for patients. The latest to join the slim ranks is Chennai’s own M.V. Hospital for Diabetes, Royapuram. As part of an initiative to build awareness on prevention of diabetes foot care complications, the hospital has launched what they define as “India’s first online Diabetic Foot Care Forum” — www.mvdiabeticfoot.com.

Dr. Vijay Viswanathan, managing director, M.V. Hospital for Diabetes, says this programme will help the hospital reach out to patients across the globe and provide information, counselling and guidance for all kinds of foot-related problems. “Everyday, we get at least 10 enquiries online from across the world on tips to handle foot infections, corns, calluses and the like. We are working on the specific foot site to bring it up high in the search engine and even refine the tags so it is thrown up in a casual search,” Dr. Vishwanathan adds. Another recent experiment is an online vision test provided by Krishna Eye and ENT Hospitals. The test, which took three months to work out and is based on the internationally-accepted Snellen’s vision chart, is now available on the web. “It is pretty accurate,” says P. Kanthamani, neuro ophthalmologist at the hospital.

What you get when you go online: www.krishnaeyeandent.com and www.visiontest.com offer you charts that you are used to looking at in an ophthalmologist’s. The ability to read seven lines of text, from a prescribed distance, and on a screen of a particular size, will prove visual acuity. “We make it very clear that this test does not indicate the health of the eye. It is possible to have 6/6 vision and still have a diseased eye,” Dr. Kanthamani says.

It is an easy tool that one can use to check their vision sitting at home. “When we conduct eye camps, the bulk of the work is to test vision. We need a good complement of staff to do that,” she explains. However, she goes on to add that the online test cannot replace the ophthalmologist.

“If people have trouble reading the last two lines on the online chart, we tell them to see a doctor. Generally, we insist that children under five years and adults over 55 years should meet an ophthalmologist regularly. It is not a means to lure them to our hospital … they are advised to go to the nearest ophthalmologist,” she explains.

Dr. Vishwanathan is also quick to clarify that general advice and information can be passed on to those who send in queries, but it is unwise to give particular advice, such as taking a pill or undergoing a procedure without actually meeting a doctor.

The message seems to be: Google if you must everyday, but don’t let that keep the doctor away.

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