Welcome to shifa.org, an online medical discussion forum and virtual medical school where participants and students have online conversations with medical professionals in the form of posted messages and video meetings. Most forums have a tree-like structure that includes broad categories/topics. Each new discussion is called a thread. Users contribute their comments through posts.

Medical professionals respond to the initial discussion question or by responding to text comments. Furthermore, online communities may have synchronous forums that allow real-time interactions among users or asynchronous forums where users participate on their own space and time and do not receive immediate responses.

shifa.org also provides an online teaching and learning environment where volunteer medical professionals and medical students can present course materials, engage and interact with other members of their virtual class, and work in groups together. Volunteer teachers can share files, create assignments, grade assignments and communicate both offline and online with students in a paperless way.

Select the desired category from the menu before posting your question.

• Dr. Gohar Awais