People say eating Thai-style omelettes can cure cancer and so can lemonade. They also say pricking the fingertips of brain haemorrhage victims to release blood can save their lives and should be done even before sending them to the hospital. When bitten by a snake, rumour has it that using herbs to detoxify the blood is a sure-fire solution.
People say and wholeheartedly believe so because the internet these days is so abound with such dubious, if not totally inaccurate, information. And given many of these health myths are posted by medical personnel themselves, they are not just fast to catch the attention of netizens but also fast to be shared and followed.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Public Health set up a committee to particularly oversee such health hoaxes so staggeringly available in the cyber world where everyone can be a doctor in disguise. The Health Education Division under the Department of Health Service Support also joins hands in screening health information on websites and social media. The ministry said they have failed to do so in the past because such online health fables surpass the number of staff assigned to filter them.
Drinking iced beverages might lead to paralysis, steamed corn as a cure for cancer, famous chocolate Kinder Joy Surprise as carcinogenic. True or false? Photo courtesy: www.facebook.com/jessada.denduangboripant
The overload of internet health data has also caused headaches globally. An article recently published in The New York Times cautioned patients who turn to websites and smartphone apps for health answers. The article cited an experiment by doctors from Mayo Clinic -- a US-based non-profit medical practice and medical research group -- who tested the wisdom of online health advice. Going online for health advice, the study concluded, may result in getting incomplete information or no recommendations at all.
"Their [doctors'] conclusion: It's risky", reads the article.
Jessada Denduangboripant, associate professor from the Department of Biological Science, Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Science, who regularly debunks circulated health claims on his Facebook page, is of the opinion that such inaccurate medical advice is shared on the internet countless times mostly out of good intentions as those who share them are likely to believe that the data might be useful to their peers and other internet users. Little do they realise that if they share wrong health advice, their actions are equal to a total lack of thorough consideration.
"Health is an issue very close to people's lives," said Jessada. "This is why health information on the internet -- either right or wrong -- always gains a lot of interest among readers. People consume information but they fail to think logically if what they read does or does not make sense. And because some of that health advice is written by medical staff or people with supposed knowledge, internet users do not think twice before believing it."
Jessada, whose Facebook page has more than 232,000 followers, reasoned Thailand's learning culture is one of the factors that leads to health myths being shared on the internet.
"Thai students are told learning is an endless process. But they are never taught and challenged to argue with teachers in class or to think differently when they are in doubt about something. Out of the classroom and out of the textbook, they are never encouraged to chew over things carefully. So they just simply believe."
Parkphum Dejhutsadin, medical technologist at the Thai Red Cross and founder of Facebook fanpage Mor Lab Panda (Panda Lab Technician), which aims to demystify false medical claims circulated on the internet, echoed the same viewpoint. He believes the country's academic issues, especially in terms of science studies, is to blame when it comes to such wrong health advice.
"All Thai students attend science classes but they never apply the knowledge to their lives," he said. "They never doubt or question things that sound unclear, impractical or fabricated."
Both Jessada and Parkphum agree that the impact of people following and sharing false medical data can range from no damage at all to major consequences, including death, which will be the case especially when emergency medical care and proper treatment is urgently required, such as in the case of snake bites.
"Snake bites can kill," said Jessada. "If you use herbs as suggested on the internet, you might simply end up dead. Kidney disease is another clear example. Most of the recipes suggested on the internet as being able to cure sickness are actually more detrimental [to kidney disease patients]."
Depending too heavily on internet health advice is also likely to lead to patients missing the chance of getting real professional treatment, said Parkphum.
"If you have cancer, for instance, and you happen to see on the internet weird recipes that can 'heal' cancer like omelettes or lemon soda drinks, and you decide to not go to hospital but instead try those recipes at home, you delay an opportunity to be properly saved."
Jessada, however, believed that not all telltale health data shared on the internet is bad and that people can and actually should study certain diseases from the web, but only from reliable sources. This will probably be one of the ways to alleviate Thailand's public health conundrums, especially with regard to the lack of medical practitioners in healthcare providers across the country.
"You do not need a hospital visit every time you get sick," noted the associate professor. "Certain health complaints can be studied and primarily diagnosed based on information from the internet. But we must ensure that such information is solid, accurate and is acquired from widely accepted sources. This way we will understand more about diseases. Trustworthy social network pages should therefore be supported."
As a science advocate, the founder of the Mor Lab Panda page urged internet users to be more sceptical when it comes to consuming data from the virtual world.
"Whenever you read something from the internet, act like you are a scientist," said Parkphum. "Question things, do research to see if the information you have is right or mixed up. And when it comes to medical know-how, opt for conventional medicine instead of an eccentric approach."
Jessada regarded internet literacy as the most effective weapon to battle against the intrusion of an overload of circulated false medical advice. To him, this will be a protective armour that prevents netizens from being duped by misleading and deceiving health data once and for all.
"Thai people have had the internet for a long time but we just use it without studying and understanding it," he said. "So without internet literacy, we are not able to distinguish the credibility of data we consume. Legal mechanisms such as the computer bill might be able to serve as a short-term solution. But we must never ignore this issue and think it is just the nature of internet use."
