E-drug: Empowering patients with information to encourage rational drug use
---------------------------------------------
In order to encourage the rational use of drugs, rather than focus only on
medical practitioners, I feel we need to concentrate on
patients as well - after all, they have the most to lose if
drugs are used unwisely for them ! This is why we started HELP.
HELP - the Health Education Library for People, India's first Consumer
Health Education Resource Center, and one of the world's largest consumer
health libraries, as determined by the Medical LibraryAssociation, USA,
aims to empower people by providing them with the information theyneed to
promote their health, and prevent and treat medical problems in the family
in partnership with their doctor. We are a registered charitable trust and
a non-profit organisation.
We offer the following facilities:
1. Airconditioned reading rooms, with a seating capacity for 20-25 persons
2. An up-to-date collection of over 5000 consumer health books, 10000
pamphlets, and many magazines and newsletters
3. Audiovisual educational media, including over 500 video tapes. Videos
can be viewed in privacy in the library
4. Computer software , including over 30 CD-ROMs on all health and medical
topics
5. Photocopying facilities, at Re 1 per page
We have access to information on every health and medical topic
under the sun - explained in terms which the layperson can
understand. We have an Internet connection so that we can provide
information on the latest medical research from all over the world.
HELP has become a prototype of the modern digital library. Our website at
http://www.healthlibrary.com, has many full-text health books and
magazines, so that people can read them free! This site receives over
60000 visitors ( 500000 hits) per month, and allows us to extend our
outreach services, by providing consumer health information to internet
users from all over the world !
We are a public library - everyone is welcome ! Entry to HELP is free!
We are open Monday through Saturday, from 10 am to 7 pm. For those unable
to come personally to the library, we also answer questions by post or
e-mail. This is an innovative service called MISS-HELP (Medical
Information Search Services from HELP).
At present, all our materials are in English, and we plan to translate
our educational materials into regional languages in the future.
What are our Goals ?
1. To create and provide access to a reliable and up-to-date
collection of consumer health materials, so that people can become
better informed about their own health. We believe that the best
prescription is knowledge !
2. To encourage a healthy doctor-patient relationship, since the best
patient is a well-informed one !
3. To provide resources which doctors can adapt to their own practise, to
use for educating their patients
4. To be a useful resource for writers and journalists, and thus
improve the quality and accuracy of reporting for medical topics in the lay
press
5. To act as a stimulus for patients with a particular disease to get
together and form self-help support groups, to help each other cope with
their disease
6. To prevent health fraud and quackery by educating the consumer about
health and illness
7. Ultimately, we hope that well informed patients will demand the best
treatment available internationally - and that this will act as an
incentive for doctors to update their skills, and for hospitals to improve
their facilities.
In order to help doctors to "prescribe information" HELP has started a
Please Prescribe Information campaign. We have printed Information
Prescription pads, which are being widely distributed, and are freely
available to doctors on request. We believe that the easiest way for
doctors to educate their patients today is to write a Prescription for
Information! It is important that the doctor then discuss the results of
this information search with the patient, so that the doctor can guide the
patient as to which information is relevant to his particular problem. This
can help the doctor and patient to become partners in making medical
decisions!
Dr Aniruddha Malpani, MD
Medical Director.
Email address: malpani@bigfoot.com
Health Education Library for People
"Om Chambers", Kemps Corner, Bombay 400 036. India.
FAX: 91-22-215 0223. email: malpani@bigfoot.com
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.