“Can I give my daughter Paralen? She has a fever,” writes a worried mother about the advice of the influencer and doctor Marek Dvořák on Instagram. However, according to the Czech Medical Chamber, on August 4, he cannot answer. It is bound by the rules that prohibit any health creator on Instagram, even if he is an expert, to provide individual information.
At the beginning of August, the Czech Medical Chamber issued something like “instructions” for medical content creators. According to him, the creators should always truthfully admit their qualifications and also state the sources of their information. In this way, the Chamber wants to prevent misinformation that is common in the Internet world, but in this case they may mean a deterioration in health.
“The quality of information on the Internet is very different, some of which are misleading, false to directly dangerous.
Instagram is not an ambulance
According to the rules, the creators should always pay attention to transparency, not to cooperate with any commercial company and not to promote medicines that are only on prescription. Instagram can be used as a platform for educational content, but it must have certain boundaries. Doctors are afraid that the code will circumvent exactly those on which it is aimed – the laymen who marry professionals.
“The Czech Medical Chamber has disciplinary jurisdiction only over its members. That is, all those who act as health coaches, biohackers or alternative therapists – and often spread complete nonsense – are out of its reach.
It is also forbidden to provide individual advice, as would do, for example, doctors in the outpatient clinic. This problem was also encountered by the doctor Marek Dvořák, who produces the content of health on Instagram. According to him, the Code makes sense, but criticizes its enclosure.
“When my mother writes me on Instagram that her child has a fever, and I will write her decently and factually that she can give paralen by weight and watch the condition-it is wrong. asks.
Do we observe truthfulness?
We do not have regulations in the field of medical content, despite the fact that there are several creators in this area. One of them is the doctor Katarína Dostálová, who presents herself on Instagram under the name “pneumologist for people”.
Her profile is followed by 26,000 people and a similar code would welcome in our country. “If I want to present myself on Instagram and bring some medical content in an understandable and believable way, they must know who I am, what I do and what practice and qualifications in the field,” adds Dostalová.
The target group of creators about a healthy lifestyle is also young people and today’s generation, which, according to research, is more careful than any other. Biana Talianová is a personal coach who has been involved in her body and health for years. She was inspired by instagram profiles many times on her way.
“Nowadays, there is a lot of information and one can be easily lost in it. It is important to watch individual foods on yourself – in my opinion, the diet is the basis of health, along with movement,” says Talianová.
