Pandemic impact on blood banks, elephants
Laughter can be the best medicine at this time of stress and concern over the Covid-19 pandemic. For months, we have consumed a lot of information from many sources on what we should do and not do in order to be far from the deadly virus.
No matter how useful this information might be, it sometimes can make us even more nervous. However, you will feel the opposite at DungFamMedDoc, a personal blog by a family physician who comes up with a simplified and amusing version for all those serious instructions and recommendations and presents them in the form of a comic strip on his Facebook page.
Created a year ago with the purpose of promoting the relationship and mutual understanding between family doctors and patients, the page has attracted many followers who have fallen in love with the cute character with the big-head and dazed look in a white gown who calls himself Mor Dung, or Doctor Dung.
“This character is intended to tell patients there’s always a lovely and friendly doctor like me out there ready to stand beside them and understand them,” said the anonymous doctor, who only revealed that he is working at a family medicine unit at a university in the Northeast of Thailand. Most of the ideas behind the stories on his Facebook page come from his working experience and what has been happening in society. That’s probably why the page has gotten a lot more followers over the past few weeks, since the doctor began to post amusing updates on the Covid-19 situation, using his ample sense of humour.
In the cartoon, the adorable character of Mor Dung is seen both educating and entertaining readers with correct information about the Covid-19 disease.
The posts include panels that show how to properly put on and take off a PPE suit, how to protect ourselves from catching the coronavirus while in public, how to consume news wisely, and how to cope with panic attacks.
More recent posts provide both Thai and English versions of how to differentiate between Covid-19 and influenza as well as a summary of the disease.
“I’d like all Thais to maintain harmony and strictly follow what the doctors recommend, and we will be able to end the outbreak real soon,” said the doctor. “But don’t lose heart if people around you don’t follow suit, just start with yourself. At least it can reduce your risk of catching or spreading the virus.”
Visit facebook/DungFamMedDoc.