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Why every doctor needs their own website !"I used to think that cyberspace was fifty years away. What I thought was fiftyyears away, was only ten years away. And what I thought was ten years away... itwas already here. I just wasn't aware of it yet."- Bruce Sterling. In the past, getting on the Net meant learning how to surf the Web, and having yourown email address was considered to be a status symbol ! However, today, this isno longer enough – you need to have your own website ! This rapid pace of changeis symbolic of how quickly things are changing in today’s world. In fact, it is mycontention that doctors in private practice in India can no longer afford not to havetheir own website. Just like you need a telephone line to practice medicine, awebsite has become an integral part of modern medical practice – and doctors whoare not proactive are likely to get left behind! You are a busy doctor, so why should you take the time and trouble of setting upyour own website ?Every good doctor knows that keeping your patients happy and providing excellentpatient care is key to your success. Your website lets you provide many value-added services for your patients. It can provide basic details such as:
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the timings of your clinics ;
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directions as to how to get to your clinic;
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information on the specialized services you offer;
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why you are better than other doctors
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answers to patients’ commonly asked questions ( FAQs) ; and
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post-procedure instructions . This means you can use your website to serve your patients round the clock withoutrequiring them to call or visit, making your website a valuable support/contactcenter. Your website allows you to answer your patient’s queries by email. Patients arethirsty for information about their illness, and many will use the internet to findinformation. Please do not underestimate your patient’s intelligence. Many willspend hours hunting for information, in order to help them to get better. Even if 
 
they do not have a PC, they can go to the cybercafé. And even illiterate patients dohave relatives who can do internet searches for them ! However, most patientswould much rather get information from their own doctor , and if you provide thisinformation on your website, your patients know they can trust it. Your website willalso save you a lot of time ! Most doctors have now started seeing patients comingwith Net printouts of pages and pages of unreliable and irrelevant information. If you put up your own website, you can guide your patients to reliable sources of information – thus saving your patients the frustration of wading through pages of garbage and misinformation ! Remember that Indian patients want informationabout diseases common in India – so they want information on malaria rather thancystic fibrosis. By providing this information, you establish yourself as a credibleexpert. You can “refer” patients to your website at the end of the consultation, sothey can educate themselves . Patients appreciate this – and word of mouth willhelp you get more patients. Your website can help you to attract new patients . Indian medical care is very cost-effective, and a website is very valuable for informing NRIs of your medicalexpertise. Soon, it will become as routine for patients in India to do “ research “about their doctors, as it is in USA, and your website can help patients to find you !At our website athttp://www.DrMalpani.com- we answer over 20 queries a day, asa result of which we get direct patient referrals from all over the world ! Rememberthat internet positive patients may be slightly different from your average patient ! They are well-informed, used to getting second opinions, and can be quitedemanding. Most are affluent, and know exactly what they want !However, website benefits are not restricted to practise promotion only. Forexample, we sell ovulation test kits and self insemination kits on our website,allowing infertile couples in India to buy fertility tools they cannot get otherwise ! This is an additional revenue stream for us. Our website atwww.TheBestMedicalCare.comallows us to publicise our book, How to Get the BestMedical Care – A Guide for the Intelligent Patient. We now get orders from all overthe world for this book – and get paid in US dollars too for this !Our first website,www.healthlibrary.comis a purely educational site, and by puttingup over 20 full-text books on ayurveda and yoga online in our reading room, we arehelping to promote Indian healing systems internationally. Patients all over theworld are very interested in alternative medicine , and websites can allow Indiandoctors to treat patients from all over the globe.Putting up a website has become very easy , and many companies provide freewebhosting. However, it’s well worth spending about Rs 10000, to get your owndomain name and a commercial webhost. This lets your patients know that you areprofessional and serious about the services you offer. This is an excellent return oninvestment – do not scrimp on it !
 
 You need to have realistic expectations of what your website can do for you ! InIndia, the number of Internet users is not yet as high as in the USA, so don’t expectpatients to start pouring in the day your website goes live ! Just having a website isnot enough – remember that there are over a million websites out there ! You needto promote your website actively. Online promotion usually means registering thesite with all the relevant search engines, so people can “find” you. Offline promotionis even more important, and you need to tell everybody about it! Print the websiteaddress ( URL ) on your business cards and your stationery – and display it in yourwaiting room . Encourage patients to use your website – most will be happy tofollow their doctor’s orders ! And if your website has content which is useful tothem, and which is updated on a regular basis so it is fresh and new, many willhappily visit it regularly – and even refer many of their friends to your site as well . You can also design a monthy ezine, to keep patients coming back to your site. Yourstaff should constantly be on the lookout for interesting pieces for the next month’sissue. This creates a direct link to your web site, but does require commitment tokeep the content fresh. You can employ a webmaster to do this for you, to ensureyou do a good job.Are there are any downsides? The major one for doctors in the US is that of legalliabilities. Protecting patient privacy and confidentiality is a major concern, andwhile this is still not an issue in India as yet, it is likely to become important as theworld shrinks even further. Using simple common sense electronic securitymeasures ( just like banks do for online transactions) can prevent problems.It is true that putting up a website – and updating it - can be time consuming , andyou might want to consider outsourcing it. Your website is an image of your clinic –make sure you do a professional job! Typing errors, poor grammar and deadlinks allcreate a poor impression. Also, make sure you reply promptly to queries andemails! It’s a good idea to check out competing websites, so you can see what theyare doing. This can also provide you with an incentive to upgrade your ownservices. Your website can help to keep you on your toes – both professionally,because you need to update your medical knowledge to provide fresh content foryour website and to answer queries received by email from patients in all parts of the world, which means this is a great method of continuing medical education( CME) ; and technologically, because you will need to keep abreast of computerand internet technology.
A website is valuable even for doctors in rural areas ,who are often cut off from the rest of the world . This is a valuable way of “keeping in touch” , and contributing to the medical knowledgebase.
 The Indian government has started encouraging doctors and hospitals to exporttheir services, and medical services can be a major area of foreign exchange
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