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Dubai: Doctors have started using text messages to advertise their services.
Dr Abdul Kareem Al Zarouni, head of the health advertisements department at the Ministry of Health, said more than 100 doctors have jumped on the text advertisement bandwagon.
His department monitors and licenses medical advertisements.
To send SMS advertisements, medical professionals have to acquire a medical advertisement licence from the Ministry of Health, who checks the accuracy of the claims.
Failing that, doctors risk being fined a minimum of Dh1,000 to losing their licence, depending on the nature of the offence.
A dentist, a recent convert to medical advertising via text messaging, said: "I found I get more responses from patients receiving text messages than from a newspaper."
"It's cheaper and people remember it longer because they can save the message," he said.
However, not all are pleased. "It is annoying. It's going to clutter my inbox and I won't be able to receive real messages," said a 26-year-old Emirati who asked not to be identified.
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