City's biggest civic-run King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital and Medical College now wants to promote itself on the world's biggest social media platform 'Instagram' by enhancing its image and changing the perception of people about the public hospitals. Following which the hospital authorities have sent the proposal to the higher authorities for approval. Civic officials said for now there is no plan of starting an instagram page for a particular hospital, but they will look into the proposal made by the hospital.
Senior official from the KEM hospital authorities on the condition of anonymity said despite the public hospitals having achieved many milestones but the perception amongst the citizens has never changed and they criticized for the lack of services and facilities, especially on social media or whatsapp which gets viral within a moment without any clarifications. Due to which they decided to start an instagram page for which proposal has been sent to the apex body of the BMC and if it gets approved then KEM hospital will be the first civic-run hospital to have its own social media page.
“The idea of starting an instagram page is to make people understand that the public hospitals are very much equipped and capable of performing complicated surgeries, operations and have good treatment facilities. Through social media we will be able to provide information about the facilities and services provided in the hospital. Moreover we will also share the case study of rarest or complicated surgeries which have been successful which will not only create awareness but it will help us to gain belief of the citizens coming for treatment,” he said.
Recently, the Neurological department of KEM hospital treated a 45-year-old woman who was suffering from seronegative autoimmune encephalitis for six months and she is stable now. “We have many more such case studies which need to be highlighted and brought to the general public and let them know that the public hospitals can treat any diseases. For which social media will play a major role in enhancing the hospital image,” doctor added.
Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner said “Currently we are not in discussion on starting any social media page for the hospital. But we will give it a thought and see if it helps to change the perception of people towards the public hospitals.”
Dr Shailesh Mohite, Dean, RN Cooper hospital said that the idea of bring the public hospitals on social media is really good. It will help many patients and citizens who feel treating at public hospitals is a waste of time and results are not good. Lakhs of Mumbaikars and patients from other states come to Bmc hospitals every year in the hope of getting cured. The negative message gets viral instantly like wildfire across social media. “I am waiting on how this idea will be executed as there should be one dedicated team who will handle all this. Like private hospitals have their own page where they keep sharing the patient's journey and his experience in similar ways we have to do it,” he said.
