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Congratulations to our 14th winner !
Online referral clinic now offering to post scripts
Dr Ragheed Hermiz from Wagga Wagga , NSW has won $ 1,000 .
RACHEL WORSLEY AN online clinic that sparked controversy by offering specialist referrals without face-to-face GP consultations has branched out again .
For $ 20 , Qoctor will now post patients a private script for medications such as the contraceptive pill , antibiotics and sildenafil .
The clinic is also selling and dispensing private script medications , offering two repeats of the contraceptive Laila-35 for about $ 34 .
Patients are required to complete an online questionnaire before one of the GPs at the clinic signs the script .
To obtain the contraceptive pill , for example , patients are required to answer questions in the affirmative such as , “ I confirm my BMI is under 35 ” or “ I am up-to-date
Dr Boylan says Qoctor has dispensed around five scripts a day , most of them for contraceptives or antibiotics .
with my Pap smear ”.
The questionnaire ends with the patient confirming that they understand the limitations of an automated consultation and that it may not replace the need to see their regular GP .
Australian Doctor reported in March that the website was offering
Call for free flu vax for all as cases soar
MICHAEL WOODHEAD / AAP THE severe flu season has prompted calls for vaccination to be made available free for all .
With rates of influenza almost three times higher than they were last year , RACGP president Dr Bastian Seidel said a $ 250 million preventive program would cost far less than paying
for hospital care .
National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System figures show 137,566 laboratoryconfirmed influenza cases to date in 2017 , compared with 53,139 cases in the corresponding period of 2016 .
“ It would be key to vaccinate everyone from six months of age
onwards — not only the ones who are at risk ,” Dr Seidel said .
Australia ’ s Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said wider eligibility for the flu vaccine was being actively considered .
This year ’ s quadrivalent vaccine , selected by the WHO , had been a moderate-to-good match for the virus .
“ But for reasons still being evaluated , vaccine protection hasn ’ t been as strong as in previous years , so there have been more vaccinated people [ who have still developed the flu ],” Professor Murphy said .
There had been 100 flu-related deaths so far this year , he said .
referrels to specialists via a patient questionnaire .
At the time , RACGP president Dr Bastian Seidel expressed concern about online scripts . “ Completing requests via an online survey can easily result in misdiagnosis ,” he said . Qoctor director and Melbourne GP Dr Aifric Boylan
said the questionnaires used were often more thorough than questions asked by GPs in a standard consultation .
“ In a clinic , doctors don ’ t always ask all the questions they should . You always forget to ask every question that is relevant . With this questionnaire , patients get asked all the important questions ,” she said .
Asked whether a 12-yearold could access contraceptive pills using the questionnaire , Dr Boylan said customers needed to supply their date of birth and credit card details .
“ An under-16 is unlikely to have [ a credit card ] and payment would appear on a parent ’ s bill ,” she said .
Dr Boylan added that Qoctor had dispensed around five prescriptions a day since the new service launched , most of them for contraceptive pills and antibiotics for chlamydia .
Hundreds of thousands contract flu each year .
From Actinic Keratosis
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