Tough action needed on healthcare news stories

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The “Dial a Doctor” piece is the tip of the iceberg, says Bekaert.

A Dubai doctor is calling for tighter regulations for health journalism, in the wake of a dispute with a local newspaper.

Dr Piers Bekaert, director of local clinic Dial a Doctor, is considering legal action against a local newspaper over published claims that Jebel Ali Hospital is fronting the UAE's first "dial-a-doctor service".

The front-page article, featured an interview with the CEO of Jebel Ali Hospital, Advet Bhambani, detailing the launch of the hospital's ‘800 Doctor'- a dedicated on-call service. The article, headlined "Dial a Doctor" asserted that the service was the first of its kind in the UAE.

The piece failed to acknowledge that a company called ‘Dial-a-Doctor' has been operating this service in Dubai for more than 18 months and, until six months ago, owned the 800 Doctor number, which, Bekaert claims, was relinquished for commercial reasons.

Bekaert, owner of the trademark Dial-A-Doctor, branded the article as "rubbish" and called for tougher action on inaccurate reporting.

"We have to live with stupid publicity because there is no regulatory body, either from the journalist's perspective nor from the doctors," he told Medical Times.

The feature is the tip of the iceberg, Bekaert said; adding that medical news is frequently poorly reported in the region's consumer press.

" Newspapers are full of poor medical news. It's misleading the population, highly commercial and it's scandalous."

Bhambani admitted he did not know about Dial a Doctor when he conducted the interview with the tabloid, but stood by his statement, suggesting that no-one has attempted such a fully-integrated service. He admitted, however, that the feature was misleading.

"There was a lot more detail that could be further clarified," he said. "But the word ‘dial-a-doctor' was a phrase used by the newspaper. It had nothing to do with us."

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