Dear doctors, why aren’t you being social media influencers??

Picture taken from Unsplash

My hyperfunctioning anxious brain won't shut up and let me sleep so I am writing this at 6 AM in the morning. No, I am not an early morning person but now that you are here, hear me out.

If you are a doctor reading this post, why aren’t you being the top most influential person on Instagram with a blue tick, because, in the reality, you are the superhero that everyone needs to save them from this deadly virus.

You don’t have to work on aesthetic canvas templates or 15sec reels, you just post something relevant and that's all that matters!

Now I see a few doctors, very few doctors who actively voice out their opinions on social media, who try and do their bit to educate people on the kind of precautions to be taken, symptoms to watch out for, diet to be followed and so on.

While I see other doctors on the front line, treating covid patients risking their own lives, I try to remind myself that I should never be in a position where I add to the list of patients who is overwhelming for the doctor out there, who is also human and has a family to go back home to.

Here is my biggest question and concern, why aren’t all the doctors speaking out? While some might say they are busy on the front line, not every doctor is! Some are helping people through teleconsultations, video calls, and other virtual means.

If you are a doctor with time to spare, please share your knowledge on social media because it's the most powerful medium to reach the masses. Every bit of knowledge can help someone, every life saved is a life saved!

Not just doctors, people who are in nursing, pharmacology, epidemiology, therapists, and so on I don’t know how many more fields are out there who can educate and give medical advice, you are all the need of the hour! Because in all honesty, what I say or what the President of the country says doesn’t matter one bit, what a doctor says matters more than what you can imagine, just for the reason being you are a DOCTOR!

Now if you are not a doctor, but knows someone who is a doctor, whether friends or family or relatives or be it any connection, do these-

1. Make a list of FAQs on what majorly concerns the public, ask a doctor and publish the answers for the same. That’s what journalists are doing!
2. Try and encourage them to get active on social media.
3. If your grandparents are doctors who are not tech-savvy, you go ahead and create an account for them and put their advice out there.
4. Try arranging for video consultations or teleconsultations for those who are in need. There are many organisations doing this and you can be an active volunteer.
5. I ran out of suggestions so I will stop here.
6. Oh if some doctor actually decides to do this, don't spam their inboxes with irrelevant nonsense. Please.

Seriously, go ahead and do something in your ability and your capacity to help save a life. Dear Doctors, please speak out more?