Faizel Patel – 30/03/2021
A lecturer at the Department of Pediatrics at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in India says while Googling symptoms of an illness online is not bad and there is a plethora of information online, the diagnosis could be incorrect and have disastrous consequences.
Dr. Kafeel Khan was speaking to Radio Islam on Tuesday about a study conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Havard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy.
The research also shows that people are more likely to accurately diagnose an illness of a loved one after searching for symptoms online, compared to when they try to diagnose them having done no prior research.
Dr Khan says it is always advisable to consult a physician when faced with an illness.
“Googling symptoms is not a good idea, but Googling disease, if you want to study about the disease it’s a good idea. If you want to study about diabetes, hypertension or the Coronavirus, that’s one thing and you should have information. The last say should be by the doctor.”
Dr Khan says there could be a possible misdiagnosis of an illness when searching for symptoms of an illness online.
“I have so many adolescents, especially girls come through because they put their disease like not getting sleep; getting tired easily; losing and not losing weight. In our medical term, if you diagnose a real disease, you are verily correct. But when you Google, Google will give you the most dangerous diseases if you put your symptoms.”
Dr Khan says it is very unlikely that technology will replace doctors who have undergone years of intense medical training.
Listen to the interview with Dr. Kafeel Khan
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