Bitter medicine

THIS PIECE WAS WRITTEN SOMETIME BACK I AM POSTING IT ON THE OCCASION OF MY SUPERANNUATION ON CHANGE IN LIFE Preamble Dr Susan E Kersley is a retired doctor and a life coach. She has a website www.thedoctorscoach.co.uk .She wrote a series of articles in the British Medical Journal Career Focus on the whys and wherefore of change in life, from A to Z to be precise. They can be accessed at youcanchangeyourlife.co.uk.They were all eminently readable articles and they set me thinking__to change or not to change, that is the question. Apologies to the Bard, but, do I suffer the slings and arrows of an outrageous fortune, do a sea of troubles bother me ?Whether I should take up arms and effect a change, or continue to nobly suffer in the mind, if I don’t? What follows are some of my musings. Why pen them down? Because they may just turn out to be your own, and we may be brothers in arms. Change is an inevitable fact. The world constantly changes.’ All things must change to somet

It is no longer unusual to read of doctors or medicos going on strike It happened in Rajasthan and then inDelhi in the Safdarjung Hospital "What is this malady and is there no tonic for this" is the question most frequently asked by the press and media and one they want us to mull over. SURE THERE IS but to determine the “tonic” we need to first analyze the ‘Etiology’ or cause of the malady In all the strikes called by the medicos all over the country so far there are two main reasons 1. Increase in pay and allowances 2. Scuffle with patients attendants and a demand for security Let us take the second cause first Have we ever wondered why there are no scuffles in private or corporate hospitals? The security there does not allow anyone beyond the stipulated to enter the hospital wards or ICU no matter who or what I wonder if any one even remotely related to the Gehlot family would have dared to barge their way in at The Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon And yet we are hell bent on

The hue and cry over the destroying of the documents related to the 1971 war is difficult to fathom At that time the Indian Government was very keen to let the people, especially the foreign press, to know that what was happening in East Pakistan was a war of independence by the Mukti bahini.India was no part of it. It had no training camps, nor was it supplying them arms. The Indian Government vehemently denied when it was suggested by Pakistan that the Indian soldiers were fighting in East Pakistan disguised as Mukti bahini.One only has to pick up the news papers of the time or read the public speeches of the then PM Indira Gandhi. Now suddenly we want to know everything and every truth. What we are forgetting is that this is precisely what Pakistan is doing, and denying, in Kashmir. They have the training camps, they are supplying the arms and their soldiers and intelligence personnel are infiltrating and fighting in Kashmir. The Kashmiri are after all fighting a war of independence

I was watching the DVD of My Name Is Khan. Two issues stand out in the film, the plight of the Muslim community in the aftermath of 9/11 and the autistic individuals attempt to redeem his pride and honour thereof. In the portrayal of the life of an autistic, it appears a very amateurish attempt, as it is and inevitably will be compared to the compelling performance of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Tom Hanks in Forest Gump. Even the performance of Hrithik Roshan as a mentally retarded character in Koi Mil Gaya was more convincing. On the other issue of the plight of the Muslim in post 9/11 US, the film seems to be a very puerile effort. It does not adequately bring out the psyche of the non Muslim toward a community viewed as the direct perpetrator of hate and revenge towards the American. There were scores of American and non American families in the apartments right across the Hudson who were actual witnesses to the demolition of the twin towers and that horrific experience is a ling

It is not given to everybody to do extraordinary things. It is more important to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way Dr P K Sethi There have been two people who have impressed me in my life, who have shaped my personality and character in a substantial way. One was my teacher,’ my friend philosopher and guide ‘as the cliché goes, Dr P K Sethi. The other was Dr B Mukhopadhya. Dr Mukhopadhya, an orthopedic surgeon and one time Dean of Patna Medical College, was an extraordinary man of extraordinary accomplishments. He was the first Indian Hunterian Lecturer of Royal college of Surgeons, England, and was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1970 and the B C Roy award in 1989.He was a Rockefeller and Smith and Nephew fellow and the founder secretary and President of I O A, as also the founder fellow of the Indian Academy of Medical Sciences . However, it’s not his tremendous achievements which impressed me. I belong to that genre of non-achievers who when confronted with such exalted accomplish

The Times of India in its edition of 29th March published a news item on how the doctors are making huge profits by prescribing vaccines received by them at discounted prices from the companies.It is alleged that these are prescribed even when not required. There are two basic issues involved here Is it appropriate for Doctors to get vaccines, or medicines,at discounted prices? The company fixes an MRP. It gives a percentage discount to the wholesaler and another certain percentage to the retailer.If it "sells" the same drug to the doctor directly and passes on this wholesalers and retailers margin to the doctor, it is nothing more than pure direct marketing strategy.Any number of well established reputed firms do it.AMWAY for instance markets all its Healthcare and other products likewise. and so do many others.This could not possibly be an issue What seems to irk is the other issue that 'doctors prescribe these vaccines even when not needed' The WHO schedule for vac

Preface: Years ago Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a classic masterpiece Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the dual personality of human beings. His contention was that every person has a good and a bad guy within, and, which predominates when determines individual behaviour. My contention is slightly different, and that is, that this is not always a subconscious involuntary psychological transition. I believe each person essentially chooses good or bad as a personality cult, conscientiously and in full cognizance. What he chooses may have a rational or irrational basis, but nevertheless his belief in his righteousness is complete and firm. Just as “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was received with much skepticism and awe, the logic and rhetoric of these Mr. Hydes in Dr. Jekylls is equally hard to accept or digest, but just once, may be for a moment, be tempted to pause and think “Is there some truth in this, is this justifiable, or is this possible?” Did I hear a “Why n