Millions of Australians are logging on to find treatment for health concerns and an increasing number of government and commercial Internet sites are attempting to answer the massive demand.
Anyone doing a quick web search can find an astounding range of health sites with questionnaires addressing health concerns from diabetes to so-called sex addiction.
But with serious reservations about Internet self-diagnosis being expressed by some health professionals, could Internet health sites be making a buck at the expense of Australian consumers' health?
A conference held by the Victorian branch of the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists late last month looked at the impact of Internet self diagnosis on the health industry.
The conference heard there are more than 15,000 health-related sites in Australia and 43% of Internet users sought information from the internet for health related concerns last year.
A lot of health information on the Internet is reliable but some is terrible, and increasingly clinicians find their patients are using the Internet to seek inappropriate cures which can delay treatment or result in adverse health outcomes, said Louise Johnson, the Executive Officer of OT Australia in Victoria.
Attempting to answer the demand for credible health information are sites such as the Federal Government's own health information site HealthInsite, launched in April and a major Australian-based Internet health site MyDr, endorsed by HealthInsite, which was launched hard on HealthInsite's heels last month.
But it seems such sites, even the commercial ones, have not been established as major short-term money-spinners.
-The business opportunities are there, but MyDr's earning potential is still a long way off", said Mary McCaffrey, the General Manager of MyDr which is run by Atmedica - owned by medical publishing and information giant MIMS Data Systems.
-You can't say you're going to set up a health site as a dotcom stand alone and expect to make millions. MyDr is operating hand-in-hand with MIMS Data Systems existing medical information and software supply business", said Ms McCaffrey.
-MyDr is not a self-diagnosis tool, we totally separate ourselves from that kind of site. It's one thing to provide information and quite another to try to treat someone's problems", she said.
-The biggest issue [for health sites] is credibility. We're still in the very early stages of development, but we've put in place Australian editorial content and we've been accredited by HealthInsite so the long-term prospects look good", said Ms McCaffrey.
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