Dubai: The Dubai Health Authority’s (DHAs) weekly live Twitter clinic which has completed one year, has been a great help to people seeking medical advice.
The DHA began this initiative last Ramadan to provide health tips to people who are fasting. After the success of the initiative, the DHA extended the programme and held live twitter clinics every Thursday from 10am to noon discussing different health topics.
So far the authority has 14,000 followers and has held 45 Twitter clinics in one year. The clinics have hosted 120 doctors and an average of 60 tweets were posted per clinic.
During the live clinic, residents post their queries about the topic being discussed, while a team of doctors from the DHA provide on-the-spot responses along with health tips such as dos and donts to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Ganem Lootah, director of marketing and communications at the DHA, said that callers appreciate the immediate response to their queries, which are answered by experts in the field.
“For people with very specific queries, we advised them to visit a specialist but overall we were able to disseminate important health tips and information that is useful for a large audience,” he said.
The DHA is the first government entity in the UAE to begin such an initiative, that uses Twitter as a medium for health promotion.
The next Twitter clinic will take place on Thursday, where the DHA will provide Twitter followers with information about geriatric care and advice on how to take care of elderly patients at home.
