By Fred Chukwuelobe
They are increasing by the day. Prof. Habakkuk, Steph Ify, etc. They are all over social media, particularly on Facebook and YouTube, dishing out health talks. They have large followers who watch and listen. But there’s a danger and it has to do with the messages they send out and their competence. The other danger is also evident in the increasing incidences of heart, kidney, liver failures.
How do I mean?
In our days in secondary schools and universities, we encountered these illiterate medicine merchants in commercial ‘luxury buses’ who hawk various medications that they market as being capable of curing many diseases and ailments; almost every ailment. In our ignorance, we patronized them. Not just because of their advertised potency, but because they are also affordable.
What we failed to avert our minds to was the possibility of one medication curing different diseases. These merchants were also not controlled by the relevant agencies.
Now, these modern day healthcare ‘preachers,’ as I’d prefer to call them, are doing the same thing, but with a different approach and sophistication. They also engage in uncontrolled and unregulated advertisements of uncertified medications.
If they’re not warning about the different foods and drinks to avoid in order not to develope certain sicknesses, they are telling their viewers what they should take at what amount to manage their illnesses and avoid exacerbating their conditions.
In a country with very poor healthcare facilities and fake medicines, these messsges resonate with a number of people. Going by the fact that our hospitals are poorly equipped and unprofessionally managed, with those able to provide appreciable healthcare expensive, a number of people engage in self medication to manage their health challenges with dire consequences in most cases. So, they find these online healthcare teachers useful.
However, many do not ask about the medical backgrounds of these people. Many do not know their expertise in the medical field they teach in. Many do not interrogate their messages.
That’s the essence of this post: To advise folks to take their teaching with a pinch of salt. What they say may well resonate with you. However, it is better you ask questions and seek opinions of healthcare experts/professionals in the particular field these ‘social media healthcare professionals’ teach on.
No one healthcare person will have solutions on all medical conditions. For you to expressly and expertly talk on diabetes, you must be an endocrinologist. To talk on food, you have to be a dietician. To speak to parents on children’s sicknesss, one has to be a pediatrician. To talk about cancer, one should have expertise in oncology and be an oncologist, etc.
Anybody who does not specialize in the field of medicine they teach about should be watched. No one person has the knowledge to talk on all fields of medicine. This is because experts attend workshops regularly, update their knowledge on their specialized fields regularly, keep abreast of latest developments in their field of medical practice. This is not the same with these latter day ‘online doctors.’ Granted that they possess some degree of knowledge in what they teach, they do not have comprehensive knowledge to be taken seriously and wholeheartedly.
People should understand that every food or drink should be taken in moderation. Regular exercise is advised. At least, three times weekly exercise of a minimum of 30 minutes is recommended. Staying hydrated is also key. Drink water even when you’re not thirsty. Sip water intermittently. These are common medical issues that do not require medical expertise.
For those who can, complete abstinence from many of the so-called non-alcoholic beverages is recommended. They contain nothing other the the following five elements:
1. Sugar
2. Preservatives
3. Colouring
4. Water
5. Gaseous elements.
These are not good for the body and for our consumption. Five Alive, Orange Juice, Energy drinks, take you closer to your grave because there’s no life or energy in the contents other than the five elements enumerated above. There is no single orange in them because if there is, they packs will be very expensive. The country does not have enough orange or apple orchards anywhere to supply the needs of the producers. What tastes like orange juice or apple juice are sugar and artificial flavors.
So, while you may want to follow these online healthcare providers, be conscious of what they teach and seek opinions from experts in the field.
Many of these online healthcare teachers advise diabetics not to eat carbohydrates, foods, and fruits with high Glacemic Index (GI), but they forget that those on medication could suffer hypoglycaemia (lower sugar), which will require that they take foods and fruits that contain sugar to bring it up without relapsing into hyperglycaemia (high sugar).
Nobody knows more about Covid-19 than infectious diseases experts. Nobody knows more about our eyes that optamologists. And so on, and so forth.
As you listen and watch them, remember that discretion is the better part of valor.
(c) Fred Chukwuelobe