Külli Friedemann, head of healthcare services at the agency, said: "We need to address the issue of dealing with non-evidence-based practices, and we have started discussions on what needs to be changed in the legislation."

Ruth Kalda, professor of family medicine at the University of Tartu, went as far as saying licenses should be revoked and practices suspended in the case of medical professionals who did not provide science-based care.

She said: "If the actions are deliberate, and the refusal to provide evidence-based care is systemic, then there should be mechanisms in place — whether it's revoking the license of a family doctor or other doctors, or even suspending their practice altogether."

Last week, the Health Board had issued a warning about a family doctor who had allegedly shared misinformation via her social media account.

This included information about vaccines, and also about chemtrails — a conspiracy theory that the contrails often left by high altitude jets contain chemical or biological agents, secretly used by governments to influence or control populations, or for other nefarious purposes.

Friedemann said: "There is a public expectation that doctors act in accordance with their profession, which raises expectations about what they share, for instance, on social media, as there is always an assumption that doctors share evidence-based information."

"In this case, we saw a lot of information that has long been debunked and is not actually evidence-based," she went on.

There are reportedly also some doctors in Estonia whose prescribed alternative treatments prevent patients from receiving the correct care in time, which can cause health risks, sometimes severe ones.

The Health Board and Estonia's medical sector could look to other countries, including Estonia's nearest friendly neighbors, to see how they address the issue of alternative medicine, including when it is provided as a "side gig" by a registered medical professional.

Karmen Joller, a doctor and Reform Party MP, said: "Next Friday, I, along with politicians from our party, am going to Finland, to study how the quality of healthcare workers is monitored there," noting that: "This is a global problem, not just an Estonian one."

"Of course, oversight is necessary. But we want to understand how it should work. Because right now, we don't really have it, at least not in this area," Joller continued.

"When it comes to doctors who sell essential oils or homeopathic remedies on the side, they are essentially exploiting people in vulnerable situations. In my opinion, this is a crime. And this is not only a crime against those individuals, but if they, wearing white coats, spread ideas that vaccines could be harmful or advise people not to take certain medications, then I believe this is a crime against the people of Estonia as a whole," Joller went on.

"Aktuaalne kaamera" was on Sunday unable to reach Helen Lasn, the doctor at the center of the social media posting controversy.

All concerned parties have, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported, acknowledged that the issue is a sensitive one, as doctors are often acting sincerely, genuinely believing in the correctness of their approach.

If a patient suspects that their doctor may be using inappropriate methods or spreading misinformation, they should in the first instance report it to the Health Board.

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