WITH so much materials available on the Web these days, it is inevitable that medical guides and references would make it there too. In many places, access to medical advice is scarce and incomplete. There are even instances when people may be afraid to go to a doctor and ask questions in a face-to-face manner. Or, they may just want to be more alerted about health issues, treatments for new ailments, and new drugs that are being introduced to the market and their effectiveness.

With the Web accessible to all, users can now go online and seek help on their medical issues, find out more on particular diseases and get treatment advice.

There are many sites available on medicine and health awareness. One site in particular was developed to be a comprehensive resource for medical and health issues. Dr Koop's Web site at http://www.drkoop.com is named after the former US surgeon general, C. Everett Koop. It is a Web site for those who want to find out more about the latest offerings in the health sector as well as obtain medical advice from experts who make the medical team in this company. The Web site is divided into several categories-News, Family, Resources, Wellness, Community and Conditions.

The News section provides current stories on what is happening in the health industry and stories on lifestyle and health policy. Readers can get an idea on what is happening at the legislative level on healthcare, new developments in drugs and disease treatments, and ways to keep them healthy.

The Family category features stories written by doctors on family wellness. Dr Nancy Snyderman, in particular, writes about women's and children's health issues such as walking during pregnancy, children's fever, the advantage of health screen for older women, and stress-related concerns.

As a daily columnist, she also posted questions which are then listed on their bulletin board for others who may have similar problems to read, and then archived for future readings. There are also specific links to men's health and the elderly, all of whom have very distinct health concerns.

Staying healthy. The Resources link brings readers to sites that provide related information on healthcare. For example, there is a link to watch streaming video clips produced by healthy.com (http://www.healthy.com) which enables you to watch health-related video clips online.

These Webcasts include topics such as staying healthy after a stroke, menopause, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and many more.

Simply click on the topic that you are interested in and the Webcast will be played. These Webcasts can be played via the RealPlayer tool or Windows Media Player.

You can also use the site's Drug Checker, a powerful tool that checks the drug of enquiry for any adverse reactions. This is to educate users on various interactions that a specific drug may have. With the Drug Checker, simply search for the drug of choice (for example, paracetamol) and click on the link on drug interactions. The site will then search its archives on any adverse reactions this drug may have and the conditions that may trigger it.

Although the information may not be as comprehensive as you may like it to be, it does give you some educated views of drugs.

The Wellness category provides users with an advice section from Dr Koop himself, a section on Alternative Medicine and a Fitness and Mental Health Centre.

Dr Koop's Web site also provides a Community link for users to chat with one another and post questions to each other on some specific topics. It does require users to sign up for free as a member to enjoy these privileges.

The site also has a link on Conditions. This is the site's search engine part where users can browse through a drop-down list of diseases from the Disease or Mental Health Centre and read more about it.

It also has links to topics like how to detect symptoms of a particular ailment, how to administer first-aid to a particular medical condition and search the Medical Encyclopedia.

In the Medical Encyclopedia, users can browse through its alphabetical listings to a particular health topic, click on it, and access information on description of the condition, how to spot symptoms, treatments prescribed and contact for further information.

Other interesting offer of this Web site is the virtual pharmacy. Called the Personal Drugstore, this is an electronic commerce leg of the entire site.

This virtual pharmacy allows you to access your local pharmacy's Web site, enter your prescription online, and then pick up the drug from them.

Dr Koop's Web site also has a community programme where it cultivates partners from all over the US. These partners are health organisations that can help the user locally. They are listed by the region which include medical centres, hospitals and healthcare providers.

Besides Drkoop.com, MedicineNet (http://www.medicinenet.com) is another Web portal that offers medical guidance to global users. Like Drkoop.com, it is a Web site powered by a network of US board-certified doctors and physicians dispensing in-depth information on health-related concerns.

As part of its Web offerings, it has a Disease and Conditions section for identifying ailments; a Procedures and Tests section with articles on how the condition works; and a Medication section with information on the type of medication needed to treat the condition.

All these information will let you to be a better informed individual to practise preventive medicine.

　　From Healthy.net