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By Maore Ithula
Three years ago, Mwaura (not his real name) was diagnosed with high blood pressure. After visiting his physician several times, a deal was struck between the two to make his treatment easy.
Whenever Mwaura felt unwell, he would henceforth send his doctor a short text message through his cell phone describing how he was feeling.
In response, the medic would send him a text describing the kind of medication to take or the foods he should eat to manage the condition.
This way, the cost of managing Mwaura’s condition has drastically been reduced. Mwaura is among the fast growing list of e-patients.
On the larger scale, health information online is changing the way patients are accessing medication, how they manage pain and the way they interact with doctors.
But Dr Paul Ngugi, Kenyatta National Hospital’s chief medical specialist and departmental head of medicine says accessing health information online can be counterproductive if the patient is not well versed with medicines and treatments.
The medic says, because online information is explicit in all aspects of medication, it can either be a tool for enhancing access to medication or a hindrance.
Says he, "Internet medical information can help patients access medication at the right time. This applies if the patient accessing this information is objective or if he/she is medically well informed."
"Actually the very opposite can happen because Internet packages disease profiles complete with medication and details of probable side effects. The last information can cause panic and anxiety to patients where side effects appear to be more devastating than the disease itself. Here patients may refuse to go to hospital," Dr Ngugi explains.
And in cases where symptoms replicate in different diseases, patients may pick on the wrong disease and perhaps buy the wrong medication over the counter, says Dr Ngugi.
Health information
He says because information communication technology has not really taken root in Kenya, most Internet searches for health information are done by friends and relatives of patients.
Ngugi also warns that some internet sites are not professionally done and therefore
misleading and can put the patient against their physician.
Nevertheless, the expert agrees that most patients, especially those suffering from chronic diseases, understand their conditions better than their counterparts of yore-courtesy of the Internet.
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