Visakhapatnam :
No more waiting for long hours in serpentine queues to consult doctors at their clinics or hospitals as they are just a mouse-click or smartphone button away. E-treatment is the latest medical trend catching up in city with today’s tech savvy, educated, hard-pressed for time urban patients getting their reports checked or seeking medical advice and e-prescriptions from equally tech-savvy doctors online via smartphone apps like WhatsApp, social networking sites like Facebook, email, MMSs and SMSs.
Cardiologist Dr D K Baruah, director (Cathlab) at Apollo Hospital, said, “The e-treatment fad is picking up among the educated, urban patients of the city and could emerge as a popular trend in the next three years. We keep getting emails with medical reports like echo-cardiogram attached asking for diagnosis. The requests are mainly from working couples, especially those in the fields of IT and software, who also seek appointments and send reports of their children online. As many as six-eight such online cardiac cases come every month.” “The biggest advantage of e-treatment is that it saves precious time and travel expenses for patients and enables them to plan the cost and mode of treatment in advance. It also gives the doctor and patient enough time to mentally prepare and reduce stress as well.”
Some doctors have also formed WhatsApp groups to discuss cases and the best mode of treatment, as Dr B Leela Prasad, who specialises in orthopaedics and sports medicine, pointed out. “Orthopaedic doctors from the region have started a WhatsApp group recently to discuss patients’ reports and cases among the medical fraternity, friends and colleagues. We are also increasingly getting X-ray reports from tech-savvy patients through Facebook or WhatsApp messages or emails seeking a second opinion about surgeries or when a medical emergency like fracture takes place when they are out of station.”
Though time saving e-treatment has its advantages and uses, doctors caution against indulging in self e-treatment by relying on online information as misleading results can cause needless panic and stress. “While e-treatment is good for seeking a second opinion and can be used during emergencies when the patient is out of town, they should not solely depend on it as clinical examination by the doctor is always better for accurate results,” said Dr Prasad, who is also the secretary of North Andhra Orthopaedics Association.
Even Dr M Radhika, consultant gynaecologist at Manipal Hospital, is sceptical about treating pregnant women and gynaecological problems the e-way. “I do get enquiries through text messages about minor problems from my old patients who are based in the US and Dubai. But these are patients who I have clinically examined and who had been under my treatment earlier and I’m well acquainted with their medical history. Only for such patients do I suggest remedies or prescriptions through phone or messages but I wouldn’t advice e-treatment for new, pregnant patients.”
Elaborating on the two sides to e-treatment, general physician Dr Kutikuppala Surya Rao averred, “e-treatment is of two types. When the patient himself or herself searches online on his ailment and accordingly tries out treatments, it often leads to disaster. Every week we get a case or two like that. Recently, a panic-stricken woman came to me saying that she had a lump in her breast, which according to information available on the internet, was breast cancer. However, it turned out to be a fat lobule or adenoma, which can be treated non-surgically or through fine needle aspiration biopsy.”
On the other hand, e-treatment can be extremely beneficial for people living in remote areas as it can save commuting time and, thus, lives during an emergency and is also helpful in second opinions. “Some time ago, a friend of mine sent me a photograph of his ulcer-affected tongue from London. The doctors had diagnosed it as cancer and advised immediate surgery. But on examination of the case, I found it to be a stress ulcer that can be treated with vitamins, amino acids and other medicines. Accordingly, I sent him an e-prescription and he is completely cured,” said Dr Rao.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Medical Advice / by Sulogna Mehta, TNN / January 29th, 2014