Tag Archives: medicine

WHO Global Initiative for Emergency & Essential Surgical Care

surgeryWay Back in 1980 Dr H. Mahler, the Director General of the WHO in his address to the Biennial World Congress of International College of Surgeons in Mexico has identified surgery as an essential component of the larger global agenda of “Health for All” .The concept of “primary care and health for all” has at that time been freshly ratified in the historical Alma-Ata declaration in 1978 in USSR.And yet today-in 2012 more than 30 years later we are faced with the raw truth that approximately 2 billion people worldwide do not have any access to basic surgical care.

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Dualities : Living with Cancer

Cancer We are often pulled in different, opposing directions, and take time to find the balance between acceptance and anger, surrender and control, individual and group, being and thinking, living and dying. How we find balance and what that balance is influences our attitude. Continue reading “Dualities : Living with Cancer”

Wrong Site Surgery

 

SurgeryWrong Site Surgery WSS (and wrong site procedures: wrong site anaesthetic, implement fitting, etc) might not be as uncommon as you think. Here is an insight into the problem.Continue reading “Wrong Site Surgery”

Zero Discrimination , Zero Infections : World AIDS Day

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World AIDS Day is back again-this time with the theme of ” Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infections. Zero deaths from AIDS-related illness. Zero discrimination  ” . 

Zero – the number discovered by the Indians and which numerically holds no value is infact the most significant value of all times. While antiretroviral therapy which has now a strong evidence base to rely upon has made possible for mankind to speak of Zero infections and zero deaths from HIV and AIDS related infections what worries me is to how to achieve the” Zero Discrimination” goal.Continue reading “Zero Discrimination , Zero Infections : World AIDS Day”

Why do doctors prescribe expensive branded drugs ?

We all know that there are generic drugs available , which cost a fraction of what the expensive branded drugs do, but are as effective as them. Even though a considerable amount of money would be saved if doctors prescribed only generics, why do doctors continue to prescribe the expensive branded drugs ?Continue reading “Why do doctors prescribe expensive branded drugs ?”

A Non Systematic Review on Diwali

With Diwali- “the festival of lights” round the corner  I thought of running up a (non) systematic review of medical literature on the effects of Diwali. The review aimed to capture the effects of Diwali on health et al .

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Healthcare Information : The Need To Recognise Its Importance In Public Health

“We live in a world with infinite possibilities. Hearts are transplanted, DNA is decoded, and new medical discoveries are made every day. Yet we continue to be stymied by how best to reach those in resource-poor settings with the most basic care and medicines that we take for granted” –Bill Frist & Richard Sezibera. The Lancet, 2009;374:1485-1486

International agencies, national governments and various stakeholders from across the world in a bid to break this paradox, where in spite of all the progress being made by mankind humanity is at stake, had in the past tried various models . Almost everything has been tried – from “free medicines” to “compulsory licensing” , from primary health care centres in the remotest district to sophisticated state of the art tertiary care centres, from basic sanitation and drinking water to massive eradication drives but the one aspect that has largely being ignored is understanding and meeting the healthcare information needs of the people.Continue reading “Healthcare Information : The Need To Recognise Its Importance In Public Health”

Lesson to Learn from The Death of a Celebrity

One fine morning in the autumn of 2012 Indians were informed about the sad demise of the greatest comedian’s of post liberalisation India, Jaspal Bhatti .  ” Bhatti was sitting in the rear seat of the car and received serious head injuries which killed him.”–was the entire summary of the end of the life of a humorist who had an uncanny ability to laugh at himself while exposing serious issues of importance to the common man .  In death too he exposed anomalies in India’s motor safety laws and the lackadaisical attitude of those supposed to maintain it.

For starters, there is a whole lot of confusion about the offence one commits when travelling without seat belts while sitting in the rear seat of the car in India .Continue reading “Lesson to Learn from The Death of a Celebrity”

Cranberry Juice Now Unlikely to Prevent Cystitis

Medical Management of Appendicitis

Appendectomy has been the cornerstone for the management of appendicitis ever since Mac Burney published his classic paper in 1889. Since then, it has remained, unquestionably, the mainstay of treatment. Medical management with antibiotics is considered only when surgery is not possible or when diagnosis is uncertain.Continue reading “Medical Management of Appendicitis”