KOTTAYAM: At a time when social media platforms are widely being used to disseminate myths, fake treatment methods, half-baked truths and hoaxes regarding health care, a group of young doctors have come forward voluntarily to save people from false campaigning using the same platform. InfoClinic, a Facebook page created in October 2016, provides basic awareness about diseases and its treatments.
Two-and-a-half years into its formation, InfoClinic is ready to up its campaign game and as a result is turning another milestone today, on World Health Day, by launching its official website and YouTube channel. Health minister KK Shailaja will launch both the website and the channel.
“There was an increase in demand of people wanting to refer our articles on various subjects, and it was getting a bit hectic to manage via Facebook. “Taking this demand into account, we decided to launch the website. We have already categorised our articles, which come up to 250 in number, and uploaded it. Now people can search the articles by typing in the name of the author or keywords,” said Dr Jithin T Joseph, one of the founders of InfoClinic. Besides articles, InfoClinic has already produced 27 videos on various subjects, which will now be available on its YouTube channel.
After gaining popularity and credibility on social media platforms as a page that provides clarity on unscientific practices, InfoClinic has more than 70,000 followers now. The platform is being managed by a group of more than 30 dedicated doctors specializing in various fields across India and abroad. Their coordinated efforts have made this initiative a huge success.
Apart from leading the campaign to sensitise people about MR vaccination, the group had made sincere efforts to spread awareness and help during ‘Nipah’ outbreak and post-flood scenarios. Amidst all this, the group has faced its share of controversies and once even found themselves shut out of social media after expressing views on the scientific basis of ‘therapeutic’ practices like ‘hijama’.
According to InfoClinic, with the launch of their webpage, the presentation of topics can be made more versatile with pictures, charts and videos. Proper categorisation of published articles with different tags like ‘topics’, ‘authors’, will make reference easier and will further be useful as a data bank, they said.
Website: https://infoclinic.in