Doctors to use social media to check spread of rumours

Doctors registered with Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), which has approximately 1,40,000 members, have been asked to use social media to combat the spread of

Doctors registered with Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), which has approximately 1,40,000 members, have been asked to use social media to combat the spread of misinformation regarding coronavirus.

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“We are in the process of sending ‘what the public needs to know about the virus’ and ‘what precautions to be taken’ to all the doctors through Whatsapp and emails.

Like a chain communication pattern, they will forward the message to their friends and patients,” said Dr Shivkumar Utture, president, MMC.

The Indian Medical Council has also issued new notices with precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“The general public doesn’t know that just by washing hands, the virus doesn’t get eliminated. A person needs to wash his/her hand at least for 20 seconds following six steps. So, through social media platforms, we are reaching people,” said Dr Parthiv Sanghvi, president IMA, Maharashtra. Doctors have urged people not to panic as the data from China, where the outbreak was first reported in December 2019, shows new cases and mortality rate may be controlled with timely intervention.

“There is a need to spread accurate information about the virus. People are hunting for N95 masks, but for the general public, surgical masks are enough as the droplets released from infected patients are too big to penetrate it,” said Dr Ramdeep Guleria, pulmonologist and director of All India Institute of Medical Science, Delhi. In India, 28 people have tested positive for a new strain of coronavirus.