Your family doctor is now online

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For Dr Jyotsna Codaty, a senior consultant of transfusion medicine at the Fortis Malar Hospital in Chennai, the website www.letstalkdoc.com came as a birthday gift from her two children Aditya and Anu.
It was a dream-come-true for Dr Jyotsna, who was thrilled beyond words.
 What is  special about this health website is that you can get that precious second opinion or a third opinion or even a fourth regarding a particular health condition from a panel of leading doctors at the national level.
"I am sure there would have been times when you wished that your doctor had the time to explain to you the intricacies of your illnesses and the mode of treatment, something that the now-extinct species of family doctors would have done?,’’ said Dr Jyotsna, who is in the city on an official visit.
"This website is for anyone and everyone who wants to know more about medical conditions that their own doctors may or may not have the time to explain,’’ she said.
Dr Jyotsna is helped in this venture by hundreds of doctors working in different streams, working in hospitals across the country, from AIIMS to KIMS. ‘’I am an ex-Army person and have been in the profession for forty years now. The doctors who are willingly answering the queries are all people I met during the course of my career,’’ said Dr Jyotsna.
Questions related to diseases, treatment, diet and even the implications of certain test results can be found on the website. It has a Facebook-like appearance with people logged in being able not just to comment on a post, but even like a post with a click on the thumbs-up sign beneath the post.

The best part of the website is that no reader has to pay anything to get his or her queries answered. "When the doctors are busy to visit the website, I send the queries as text messages on my mobile. When they reply, I post it on the site,’’ she said.
Dr Jyotsna said she spends quite a number of hours every day after work on the website. "Sometimes, when the information the patients provide is sketchy, I have to write back to them. Since I am basically a gynaecologist, questions related to gynaecology can be answered in a jiffy,’’ she said.
How does Dr Jyotsna keep away spam and offensive stuff?
"Every person who wants to post has to first log in. I also keep a watch on the matter that is posted. There has been irrelevant material posted in a few cases but until now no offensive material has been posted on the website,’’ she said.
 In addition to the question and answer segment, there is another section with blogs from eminent doctors.
So the next time a test-result baffles you, or when you have a medical doubt, don’t forget to log on to www.letstalkdoc.com. This, as Dr Jyotsna says, may help you from rushing into decisions regarding health.