One
stop shop for healthcare information, medical research now online
Medical students and
doctors in India can access healthcare information, including research articles
from multiple reputed medical journals, courtesy an online initiative by Merck
Sharp & Dohme (MSD).
Explaining how the medical
initiative ‘Univadis’ was different from the explosion of information already available
on the Internet, MSD Managing Director KG Ananthakrishnan told Business Line
that the portal had tie-ups with different independent medical journals,
including the Lancet and BMJ, providing them all to medical professionals under
one roof. And in the case of Lancet, some research articles would even be
available a week ahead of the published version.
This is not a marketing
tool, Ananthakrishnan said, adding that the company does not promote any of its
products through the portal. The medical fraternity can access a host of things
from the entire text of some Lancet research papers to tools such as medical
calculators to three-dimensional images, among other things, on the site.
Besides, it can be customised to individual requirements.
Swashraya Shah, MSD Senior
Director (Medical Affairs), said doctors in the country were estimated to spend
about 54 per cent of their browsing time looking for authentic medical
information from reputed institutions. It is available in over 40 countries, including
China and Russia, where it launched in the last couple of years, he said,
adding that localised content would follow, but at a later date.
Outlining Lancet’s
involvement with the portal, David Collingridge, Lancet Oncology’s
Editor-in-Chief, said the Lancet articles on the portal were filtered and
selected by their own editors. So not only do medical professionals gain access
to different publications in one place, they also get research articles
filtered and hand-picked by Lancet editors.
Responding to how the
medical journal keeps an arms-length from MSD in the online initiative,
Collingridge said independence was key and there was no bias from the company
in the selection of articles. There are strong firewalls, he said, adding that
they would not have got on board if it wasn’t the case.
For a campaign journal
like Lancet, it was important that their voice be heard in more regions.
Through the portal and its recent foray into China, India and Russia, Lancet
gets to address the largest demographic for healthcare reform, he said.
In fact, says Anjan Sen,
MSD Senior Director (Strategy and Commerical Operations), in countries such as
Greece, Brazil and China, the Government was in partnership with the
initiative, especially when it came to continuing medical education.
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