It often begins with a late-night Google search.
A teenager worried about irregular periods types symptoms into a search bar. A parent watches three Instagram reels about fevers before deciding whether to visit a doctor. A young man is trying to find online what’s a good source of protein.
For millions of Indians today, the first consultation often happens not in a clinic, but on a smartphone.
The internet has transformed the way people access health information. It has made medical knowledge more democratic, more immediate and more accessible than ever before. But it has also created a parallel problem: misinformation now travels as quickly as information itself.
From miracle cures and “detox” remedies to viral videos promising to boost fertility or reverse chronic illnesses, health misinformation has become one of the defining public health challenges of the digital age.
Against this backdrop, a new kind of Indian doctor has emerged — one who wears scrubs in the clinic and creates reels in the evening.
On this Doctors’ Day, the stethoscope is increasingly sharing space with ring lights, microphones and editing software.
For many doctors, becoming content creators was never part of the career plan. It became necessary.
Fighting misinformation one reel at a time
Few people understand this shift better than Dr Tanaya Narendra, better known online as Dr Cuterus.
With nearly two million followers on Instagram, the doctor and educator has built one of the world’s largest online communities dedicated to women and sexual health.
On this Doctors’ Day, the stethoscope is increasingly sharing space with ring lights, microphones and editing software. Photograph: (AI generated)
Her journey into content creation began not because she wanted to become an influencer, but because she was angry.
“I started creating content because I was tired of seeing all the misinformation and active disinformation around women’s health,” she says.
Instagram was flooded with videos encouraging women to do things that were not medically right.
“Realising that I have the actual qualifications and education to debunk such nonsense, combined with my genuine mental exhaustion — plus a healthy dose of my angry feminist traits — led me to becoming a content creator,” she says.
She began posting videos explaining periods, contraception, sex education and reproductive health in language that people could actually understand.
The response was immediate.
The questions patients are often too embarrassed to ask
Social media gives doctors something that clinic consultations often cannot: visibility into the questions people hesitate to ask out loud.
According to Dr Tanaya, many myths stem from social pressures around appearance and gender expectations.
“Women are policed very strongly in their appearance, so a lot of myths tend to focus on the shape and size of breasts, sagging and genital pigmentation,” she says.
Fertility anxieties dominate another large category of questions.
“There is so much stress about women’s fertility that many questions are about whether periods affect future fertility or what might damage their chances of having children.”
Dr Tanaya regularly encourages vaccination between the ages of nine and 45 and stresses the importance of regular Pap smear screening after the age of 30.
Men, she says, carry their own set of fears.
For doctors creating content online, these anxieties become visible at scale.
What appears in comments sections and direct messages often reveals concerns that never make it into medical textbooks.
The age of “Dr Google”
Doctors entering social media are responding to another reality: people are already searching for health advice online.
Research published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that a significant number of people search online for symptoms before receiving a formal diagnosis, while surveys suggest that self-diagnosis through internet searches has become increasingly common.
India’s enormous digital population has accelerated that trend. The country now has over one billion internet users and around 500 million social media users, creating an unprecedented appetite for health information online.
A recent study found that 66 percent of Indians have encountered health or wellness scams online, many amplified by social media personalities and misleading health claims.
For doctors, social media increasingly feels less like an optional platform and more like a public health intervention.
When content changes policy
Perhaps the clearest example of online influence translating into real-world impact is Dr Tanaya’s work around the HPV vaccine.
She used her platforms to explain how vaccination could prevent cervical cancer, one of the leading cancers affecting Indian women.
“The biggest example of my content having a positive impact is the HPV vaccine,” she says.
She points to the recent expansion of HPV vaccination efforts in India as evidence that public awareness campaigns can create meaningful change.
“When content starts impacting policy, you know you’ve truly made an impact in bettering the lives of millions of Indian women.”
Her advocacy remains deeply personal.
“Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in Indian women, and India leads the world in deaths from this cancer,” she says.
“The best part is that this is entirely preventable.”
She regularly encourages vaccination between the ages of nine and 45 and stresses the importance of regular Pap smear screening after the age of 30.
Can doctors be both healers and creators?
The rise of doctor-creators has also raised questions around burnout, ethics and the pressures of maintaining an online presence while practising medicine.
For Dr Tanaya, balance became essential.
Today, she divides her week carefully between patient consultations and content creation.
“I see patients three times a week and work on content and advocacy three times a week,” she says.
Earlier attempts to do everything at once proved unsustainable.
“All it did was make me feel like I’m not doing enough in every sphere of my life.”
Her philosophy is simple: “A burnt-out doctor cannot heal, and neither can they create art.”
Importantly, she maintains strict boundaries around patient privacy.
“I never include patient pictures or videos in my content. Everything I create is purely awareness-based.”
Better communicators, better doctors
Far from distracting from clinical practice, Dr Tanaya believes content creation has made her a better physician.
“Being a content creator has made me a much better doctor because I now understand what people actually care about and how to communicate with empathy,” she says.
She hopes more doctors will enter the digital space.
“I would recommend more doctors come onto social media so it also enlightens our community about the challenges of online misinformation.”
That may ultimately explain why so many Indian doctors are becoming creators.
They are not abandoning medicine for content.
They are taking medicine to where patients already are.
Because in 2026, healthcare conversations do not begin at the hospital gates. They begin in WhatsApp groups, Instagram feeds, YouTube videos and search bars.
And if misinformation can travel through those spaces, perhaps trusted doctors should too.
Why are doctors becoming content creators? The positive impact
As more Indians turn to search engines and social media platforms for health advice, doctors are increasingly stepping into the digital space themselves. Their presence online is doing far more than simply gathering followers — it is helping reshape how health information is shared, understood and acted upon.
Some of the biggest benefits of doctors becoming content creators include:
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Helping combat misinformation
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Taking reliable information to where people already are.
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Making medical information easier to understand.
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Creating safe spaces for sensitive conversations.
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Improving preventive healthcare.
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Influencing public behaviour and policy.
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Humanising doctors.
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Bridging healthcare access gaps.
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Encouraging scientific thinking.
