THE HEALTH Professions Council has cried foul on Dr Michael Mol’s Hello Doctor call-in service on TV, saying it is a breach of patient rights – but the doc says it is all a misunderstanding of the services provided.
The council on Thursday warned doctors, other health-care practitioners and the public not to use the Hello Doctor service, which offers access to health tips to subscribers.
Executive director Mol said: “They are saying we’re practicing telemedicine. We are definitely not.
“We are offering health information services designed to enable consumers to make informed decisions about their health. What we offer can never replace a face-to-face consultation with a doctor.”
Mol said any consumers who called in wanting a diagnosis for their symptoms were told to see a doctor in person. The kind of advice offered by the service includes queries such as whether flu vaccinations are safe for young children.
“The sadness on our side is that we’ve done nothing wrong. We are just trying to help,” he said.
“We haven’t had one iota of negative feedback from the medical fraternity, and there have been no complaints from consumers.”
Mol, who is a member of the council, said the warning was disappointing and frustrating.
“I would hope that this body would protect the industry and not do damage. I would love for the council to facilitate the growth of mobile health sector.”
He said it had the potential to help ease the stretched resources of health services in the country.
The council’s chief executive and registrar, Dr Buyiswa Mjamba-Matshoba, warned consumers “not to participate in, or make use of, the advertised Hello Doctor or any other act of unethical telemedicine” that could be in breach of the council’s ethical rules and regulations.
He said that Hello Doctor, which has recently partnered with MTN, was offering text conversations with doctors as well as telephonic house call access to doctors’ services.
“Practices such as these are in breach of patients’ rights such as practitioner-patient relationship, patient confidentiality and informed consent,” Mjamba-Matshoba said.
“Business models and health-care practitioners disregarding our rules and regulations will be investigated.”
Andy Milne, chief executive of Hello Doctor, pointed out that the company had been engaging with the council on the issue for over two years and had not received any response to its last submission to the council in August 2012.
“At that time we indicated that if we did not receive a reply, we would assume there were no objections and there has been no further contact from the council until now.”