Ukrainians, like the rest of the world, have grown accustomed to asking Google for answers about everything, including complicated and personal questions about health.
Kyiv’s development strategy calls for all medical services to be digitized and equipped with computers by 2025. Ukrainian medical specialists are just now experimenting with online diagnosis and Skype consultations as well. In another step, general practitioners are expected to convert to electronic medical records as well to work with patients via online chat rooms.
But for most state Ukrainian hospitals and outpatient clinics, modern information technologies are still uncommon.
However, a newly launched website “My Doctor” http://103.com.ua is the latest initiative by the Health Ministry to move into the 21st century. It provides a special offer for all Kyivans to choose a general practitioner online.
They claim to have created the most complete database of all physicians in Kyiv. Everybody is free to register and look through the biographies of physicians to pick the one who is best for them. Online consultation is also possible for registered users.
“It was a good project of the Health Ministry to make such database where all general practitioners are assigned to the districts of Kyiv. Kyivans may then choose and then change the doctor online,” said Viktoria Tkachenko, deputy head of the Family Medicine Institute at the Platon Shupyk National Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education.
The online process also helps hospitals assign cases, Tkachenko said. “The general practitioner is some kind of the gatekeeper and he should be able to find treatment for at least 90 percent of the patients’ requests. When it comes to some difficult issues, the doctor may use Skype or some chat to communicate with the colleagues in other cities or countries to get the best advice. It’s great when talking about some dermatological problems and other specialists may see the patient and discuss the diagnosis online,” Tkachenko said.
Another medical website with the same name “My Doctor” http://miylikar.com.ua/ was launched in 2009 as a private initiative. There’s a list of Kyiv-based clinics and doctors who have profiles. Evheniy Shkredov, the website owner, said that online consultation will not replace personal visits to the doctor.
“Sometimes people just don’t want to announce their question, so Internet communication is the most suitable for them. But I strongly believe that real-time consultation is the most important to get the right diagnosis,” Shkredov said. “We have about 1, 000 active users per day. And most of the questions they address are to gynecologists, traumatologists and cancer specialists.”
About 83,200 registered users on the private “My Doctor” website ask questions to Dr. Evgeniy Komarovskiy, Ukraine’s version of Dr. Benjamin Spock. The “mom’s forum” on Komarovskiy’s website is one of the most popular.
Several private medical hospitals, such as Spizhenko Cancer Clinic, Lisod Oncological Center and Nadia Clinic also use Skype calls or ICQ chat forums.
Native Kyivan Maria Brodskaya tried getting help online once, but found it couldn’t be substituted for a personal visit, and rather seemed a way of luring in new patients.
“I used a Q&A form on the website of one Kyiv’s private hospitals. I sent a question to the doctor about my diagnosis and in some five days received the answer. It was rather general – as my question was,” Brodskaya said. “The doctor added that I need to go for a regular check-up to get the full information about my health conditions.”
People who had access to their electronic health records need to make fewer trips to the doctor. They can just send the result of an analysis directly to the general practitioner. Several medical laboratories, such as Ukrainian Diagnostic Center and Synevo, provide such a special page for test results.
Telephone medical services are also popular. The state emergency number 1583 was launched for health issues. It replaced private service 366 (similar to normal temperature 36.6) which, at Hr 4 per minute, was rather expensive.
“Once I needed to contact a doctor because of bleeding after my tooth was removed. It was rather painful and I couldn’t contact my dentist immediately, so the advice they gave me was rather useful,” said Galyna Chumak, a 52-year-old Kyivan. “When it comes to a serious problem, of course I would rather call 103 [the ambulance].”
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
