Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TIKTOK DOCS
Fans flock to vids as medics give advice with song and gags
FUN-LOVING medics have bagged hundreds of thousands of internet fans – with chirpy TikTok videos.
They have built up celebrity followings with clips that completely debunk the myth that doctors are boring.
They circulate advice on issues ranging from women’s health, sleep and anxiety to busting anti-vax myths and urging take-up of the Covid-19 vaccine.
But they liven them up with songs, kids dancing in the background – and the occasional joke. Pharmacist Nyrah Saleem garnered 65,000 followers in two months. Nyrah, 24, says the videos are a way to help more people than she can reach face-toface at Mount Chambers Surgery in Braintree, Essex.
She says: “My aim was always to connect with the community and make a change through being fun – not just reeling off textbook lines.
“It’s a good way to get young people listening.”
Her clips range from explaining why people get dark kneecaps and underarms to practical advice on how to reduce bloating and deal with acne.
Nyrah adds: “It’s about mixing fun and education. My biggest video was a jokey one about how pharmacists struggle to read doctors’ writing – it has been liked 135,000 times.”
Some four million TikTok users tune in for NHS surgeon Dr Karan Rajan’s tips on issues ranging from sunburn and sleep to antibiotics and painkillers. Dr Nighat Arif – a GP who appears on daytime TV – has nearly 145,000 TikTok followers and posts largely on issues relating to women’s health. Her children can be seen dancing on one clip.
And “singing GP” Dr Jamie Parker, who is based in Nottingham, “spreads the word about the Covid-19 vac” to his 157,000 fans. He was propelled into influencer stardom early in the pandemic when his cover of Frozen soundtrack Let It Go – with the lyrics changed to Stay At Home – went viral. Huge influencers can earn millions through paid partnerships and advertising deals. Nyrah, of Ilford, East London, hopes to monetise it through 20-minute private consultations.
Fans can book a slot for £5.99, and she donates a cut to charity.
Nyrah, who has taken 15 appointments in two weeks, said: “People usually want advice on something they are too embarrassed to ask about in an actual pharmacy. People think pharmacists are just behind the counter, but I want to show they can come to us, reducing doctors’ workload.”
A quarter of British TikTokkers are aged 18-24. And Ofcom says 44% of eight to 12-year-olds have accounts, despite the platform’s minimum user age of 13.
The BMA public health medicine committee said TikTok docs could “help reduce the health inequalities which have widened in the last decade.”