Health issues often attack out of nowhere. When in agony, it’s doubly troublesome to locate help. Whom to consult? Is the clinic far? Is the doctor reliable? The specifications for your needs are countless. Of course, if you’ve lived long enough in a place, you do get to know hospitals and doctors but, even so, in the modern context, it is a veritable challenge to find the right place, fee and specialist.
Practo, thus, comes to the rescue. I’ve read a whole lot of negative reviews on it here, now, as well as positive ones. For me, thanks to Practo, I can navigate the complicated web of finding a doctor more painlessly than before.
The practo.com home page has three options on the top right: Log in/Register, Practo for Doctors and Consult.
Log in/Register: You can log in with Facebook or go through the registration.
Practo for Doctors: This is a more complex page but seems to offer doctors a space to display their skills, manage patients and address public questions to showcase their talent.
Consult: This is where I would normally go. This page claims to “Resolve your health issues”, allow you to “Connect with qualified doctors", “Get quick medical advice” and, best of all, “Ask Your Free Question”.
Practo Consult offers the options of “Consult For Doctors” and “Find a Doctor”. I usually head for the second option.
Scrolling down you can search for your problem or symptom.
Next to that you have the option of “Filter Consult feed by speciality” with a whole lot of tags to make it easier.
To the right of that is a heading “Recently Answered Questions” which can increase your knowledge about health issues.
Further down, to the right, a box called “Consult Live Sessions” advertises such sessions.
And, conveniently, the box “Ask Free Question” recurs.
However, right from the home page, you can cut to the chase and “Find and Book” your appointment using a search box where you type your location, locality, the kind of doctor or hospital you seek.
Under that is a list of headings: Doctors, Diagnostic Labs, Spas & Salons and Fitness.
Below that is another list: Dentist, Ophthalmologist, Dermatologist, Homeopath, Ayurveda, Cardiologist, Gastroenterologist, Psychiatrist, Ear-Nose-Throat(ENT), Gynecologist/Obstetrician, Neurologist, Urologist
For all the complaints one might have, I have one thing to say: it’s a splendid medical website for India!