Page 14 - Seniors Today -April20
P. 14
Focus | Covid - 19
Garlic,
gurus and
other gyaaan
Covid-19 is worrying because of its
unknown aspects. But that does not
mean you turn to dubious “sources”
for information, writes Dr Noor Gill
We had a 58-year-old lady, looking as fit tumour quicker than you can pronounce
as a fiddle, walk into our OPD in the ENT astrocytoma. Don’t you dare Google what
department with her daughter-in-law that is – you don’t have it!!
walking by her side. They came and sat as
instructed, and so began the montage. She Inviting trouble
received a WhatsApp forward from a dear When you go to WebMD for a solution
friend of hers who believes in some ‘guru ji’ instead of somebody who actually has an
and he said, in fact guaranteed, that if they MD as a qualification, a testament to his
blocked their ears with a clove of garlic, authenticity and hard work for a rather
it will protect them from contracting the substantial fix in the form of a prescription,
coronavirus. Needless to say, she thought you’re inviting more predicament and
it was a great idea and that WhatsApp was inconvenience than explanation and
a reliable source of medical advice about a solutions.
disease even the medical professionals know With the ongoing pandemic, everyone
little about. confined to their homes and the door shut
With the internet full of data and closed and the doctors fighting for PPE, the
knowledge about anything and everything only source you think you have to turn to
under the sun, in fact even about the sun is the world wide web – and it throws your
itself, acting as the ‘jack of all trades but the way symptoms as vague as cough, nasal
master of none’, it has the masters feeling discharge, fever and death. All of which
like fools. could be because of a flu, or your summer
Now when we have a headache, we don’t go allergies kicking in, or something to do with
see a doctor who has a degree; instead we the fact that you’ve been watching Kuch
look for an internet connection and a reason Kuch Hota Hai with all this time on your
to worry. The pain in our temples accelerates hands.
from a simple tension headache to a brain In medical school, by the time we reach our
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