Doctors and journalists must work to dispel medical misinformation, says N. Ram

The focus of the two-day summit is on macular surgery. Experts at the conference say several maladies that affect the macula can instantly rob the vision resulting in central blindness and thus it is important to restore and repair the macular area

The fifth annual Retina Summit 2023 hosted by Sankara Nethralaya was inaugurated in Chennai on Friday.

One way to counter medical misinformation and disinformation is for professionals and news media to point out credible sources on the subjects, said N. Ram, Director, THG Publishing Private Limited at the inauguration of the fifth annual Retina Summit 2023 hosted by Sankara Nethralaya on Friday.

Touching upon the ill effects of infodemic, coupled with the abundance of misinformation online, Mr. Ram told medical professionals that it is the social and professional duty of doctors to flag them as unreliable, low quality information. “Fact checking and verification done by professional journalists become supremely important in this scenario,” he said. 

N. Kumar, Vice-Chairman, The Sanmar Group, appreciated Sankara Nethralaya’s efforts in providing medical services, and said such hospitals play an important role in medical tourism, which proves beneficial both for the patient in terms of lower costs and the country’s economy. 

The focus of the two-day summit is on macular surgery. Experts at the conference said several maladies that affect the macula can instantly rob the vision resulting in central blindness and thus it is important to restore and repair the macular area. 

Doctors from Sankara Nethralaya including Chairman Dr. T.S. Surendran, Dr. Pramod Bhendre, Dr. Lingam Gopal, and Dr. Girish Rao were present at the inauguration.