Skip to main content

WikiDoctor

I know there are plenty of wikis around. I got interested in contributing to the wikipedia quite recently. I had another project on my mind - inspired by a friend. A website for Indian patients. The aim would be to provide simple, reliable, evidence-based, health/disease related information in english as well as every regional language of the country. The lack of a strong regulatory body for the medical profession combined with the collective ignorance of the common Indian public results in some very sad situations. I have often been a part of this in the past - a hapless spectator watching the system fail again and again. The surest way forward in my opinion is to empower the people with knowledge. With knowledge comes enquiry. With knowledge comes the freedom of choice. Patients can question the decisions taken by their healtcare providers. The informed patient is a formidable entity who can take on the medical practitioners whop often try to squeeze every last paisa out of a sick patient and his/her family.

This is where WikiDoctor comes in. A wiki in English and every Indian language, providing healtcare information. Eminent and 'honest' healthcare prefessionals will contribute to its developement. The information provided will be simple and evidence-based. Articles will be written to dispose off myths and superstitions using simple logic and common sense. Maybe a few articles about some of the top healthcare institutions in India.

A wiki dedicated to the dissemination of health related information to the common man in the Indian subcontinent. And, I cant wait for the day when a farmer asks me about the complications of a certain procedure that I propose to do on him. I cant wait for the day when patients in India act as a check on fradulent practices and medical incompetence. And, what better way to start off than start experimenting with building a wiki myself.

So, here is where I have got to so far.

* Wiki software research - complete
* Basic understanding of how it works - complete
* Chosen a wiki software - complete (initially chose pmwiki, then switched over to mediawiki for scalability)
* Installed a local mediawiki server on my computer - complete
* Uploaded an experimental wiki on to the internet - complete with pmwik

Pending jobs
* confirm name for wiki - WikiDoctor sounds good
* customise mediawiki
* translate into my own native language first
* design the first page to allow navigation to all major sections of the site
* create several stubs
* choose a good skin
* buy a domain and host the website
* get people invloved

HOLY S*&! - that is a lot of work!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Leaking Aneurysm

The worst of partialities is to withold oneself, the worst of ignorance is not to act, the worst lie is to steal away. - CHARLES PEGUY (1873-1914) A few months ago, I was faced with an exceptionally difficult situation. It was fairly routine to start with. A 68 year old man was brought into A&E with a leaking abdominal aneurysm. He was in hypovolemic shock and I was the surgical doctor on call. It was obvious that he needed urgent surgery and I spoke to the vascular surgeon on call and agreed to transfer the patient to the oeprating theatre while he got to the hospital. The patient was on the operating table, fully anaesthetised, 30 mins after I first saw him in A&E. And, he was deteriorating fast. The consultant anesthetist asked me if I had clamped the aorta before. I said that I had never done it before though I had assisted numerous aneurysm surgeries and knew how to do it. I said I probably could do it if the situation was desperate. At this stage, I asked the theatre s
4 comments
Read more

Bollywood Movies on Goolge Video

I was browsing Google Videos today and clicked on the 'Top 100' link and chose 'India' to see what was being posted by my countrymen. I was very surprised to find two videos that were over 2 hours long at the first and third positions. The first one had 158,314 views and the third one had 33,453 views. They both turned out to be complete Bollywood movies. Now, if this isn't copyright infringement, then what is. Google does not have an easy mechanism to flag a video as copyrighted material. Check out t his page for yourself to see what I mean. One of the videos was posted by a site called megaload .com. (no hyperlink here to save you the trouble. Take my word for it when I say...) It turns out to be a parked domain with only a zillion pop-up ads to boast. Come on guys...if you want to watch a movie, pay for it. But, just look at the number of views and the ratings. I bet most of these have come from outside India. I live in the UK and it is not very often that
1 comment
Read more

தமிழில் விக்கிபிட்டல்

Wikipital is now available in Tamil. There are a few issues that I will iron out over the next few days. It took a good deal of work to get the MessagesTa.php file in order inspite of the fact that many of the messages have already been translated for the tamil wikipedia project . The completed file has got a much larger number of translated messages than the default tamil translation file that comes with Mediawiki . I am sure this will be useful for numerous Tamil Wiki projects.Check out my exclusive entry to download this file. விக்கிபிட்டல் உடல் நலம் மற்றும் மருத்துவம் சம்பந்தப்பட்ட தகவல்களை இலவசமாகவும், கோட்பாடின்றியும் அளிக்கின்றது. கூடிய விரைவில் மற்ற மொழிகளிலும் விக்கிபிட்டல் உருவாக்கப்படும்.
Post a Comment
Read more