Finding a doctor suited to your specific medical needs could soon be easier than ever, with an upcoming private project creating an easily-searchable online directory of medical professionals sorted by location, specialisation and more.
“People already have access to recommendations, whether you’re getting it from someone on the street corner or on social media, but it’s completely unregulated,” said physiotherapist Andrew Cole, one of the minds behind the Malta Health Directory.
“With this system, we’re giving people a more informed route to a medical professional suited to them. We’re not telling them whom to go to, just giving them the options.”
The directory, which is currently in the process of populating its database, will at launch allow the public to be able to search for professionals by location, specialisation and a number of tag-words, with the creators promising more services as the project evolves.
Mr Cole said the only similar directories currently available are the official records kept by the public registry, organised as a single alphabetical listing, and private records kept by the Medical Association of Malta and the Council for the Professions Complementary to Medicine.
We’re not telling them whom to go to, just giving them the options
Together with Matt Demarco, Neil Martin and Michael Stivala, all in their mid-20s, he said the goal was to create a user-friendly resource for both doctors and the public and which reflected the digital shift that healthcare has undergone in recent years.
“We want to create a healthcare community. If I’m a physio and I need to refer someone to a GP or an orthopaedic consultant, I can search for people close to the patient and offer them the choice,” he said.
Mr Demarco stressed that the directory would not be a self-help website or “online doctor” and that professionals’ reference numbers would be cross-checked with the national registry to ensure credibility.
He added that the group had consulted extensively with other professionals and with the health authorities and, despite expecting initial resistance to the idea, they were met with overwhelmingly positive feedback.
“A lot of the professionals we thought would be resistant to change are actually offering us their advice on how to make it even better, so the community feel is already developing,” he said.
“The archaic ‘here’s my business card, tell your friends’ model is fading, so this is also an opportunity for younger and fresher healthcare professionals to get their information out.”
The directory will soon be available for free at www.maltahealthdirectory.com