Facebook to go into healthcare?

MANILA, Philippines – Facebook is reportedly trying its luck with healthcare as it sets up for development of health apps, according to a report on Reuters.

The social media titan is said to be brainstorming on the idea, meeting up with experts in the medical industry, as well as entrepreneurs. A new Research and Development unit to test health apps was also brought up.

An online support community for people with ailments is also being considered after employees noticed that people with disease would search the site for advice, rather than search for medical websites.

Warm reception to pages like PatientsLikeMe further proves that people are becoming more open with their medical condition within the website.

Another factor is the positive reception to their “organ-donor status initiative” back in 2012, that made 13,054 people register as organ donors from the daily average of 616.

Facebook is not new to medical efforts. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan donated $5 million to Ravenswood Health Center in East Palo Alto back in January of this year. – Rappler.com