EXPECTING her first child in October,Ms Diana Bok, 27, has tons of questions and fears about her pregnancy.

Now, the housewife can have all of them addressed, in the comfort of her home, thanks to “webinars” on pregnancy.

The series of free weekly seminars which will be aired online was launched yesterday.

Each “webinar” will feature a 25-minute lecture by a doctor, and a 15-minute question- and-answer session, where a moderator poses queries sent in by the audience to the doctor.

Over one year, 52 weekly sessions will be aired. The first session will take place on Sept 15. Doctors from Asia and Australia, including those from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and National University Hospital, will tackle a variety of pregnancy-related topics.

These include intimacy during pregnancy, the latest fertility technology, and aligning the spine during pregnancy. Webinars are used here by the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Human Resources Institute, but their audiences do not get to interact with the presenters.

The project, by drug company Obimin and multimedia health platform FlyFreeFor- Health, aims to let the public “enjoy live armchair-interactive seminars with renowned doctors borderlessly”, said the platform’s founder, Dr Wei Siang Yu.

The borderless and partially anonymous nature of the webinars allows for more open learning and discussion on sensitive issues, he said.

“We aim to be the default online source for the latest and unbiased pregnancy-related information,” he added.

Assistant professor Tan Thiam Chye of KKH, who will give webinars on pregnancy myths and non-cancerous tumours in the womb, said that having such webinars is “a marvellous idea”.

Patients can participate in talks from their homes without having to gather in one location, making it more convenient for them, he said.

It will also make doctors more accessible to patients, and make health care safer for them, because the doctors can clear up their misconceptions, he said.

To tune in, participants have to register on the website www.pregnancynme.com. They will be given a calendar of webinar dates and topics, and a webinar code for each session.

They have to send an SMS with their e-mail address and the code to a mobile number to receive the webcast link via e-mail. They can then click on the link 30 minutes before the session starts, to participate.

The sessions will be moderated by a nurse trained in information technology.

Participants can type their questions on their screens, and the moderator will ask the doctor on their behalf.

Ms Bok plans to join the webinar on managing spotting during pregnancy, as she suffers from it sometimes and thinks that the session will be useful.

“It can be quite difficult to get hold of my own gynaecologist when the problem occurs. Now, instead of rushing to the hospital, I can ask questions online and get answers directly from a gynaecologist. I feel safer,” she said.

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