Rakesh Khera (MGIMS Class of 1986) took to urology like a duck to water. Much water has flown since he acquired his MCH in Urosurgery, but his insatiable thirst for knowledge remains unquenched. Rakesh has just put up a book on Urinary Tract Infections. Although UTIs are common, doctors do not know how to handle …
Written by
SP Kalantri
On Dr Mandeep Mehra
Dr. Mandeep Mehra (MGIMS Sevagram alumnus; Class of 1983) today published a landmark trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. His paper showed that a mechanical pump implanted in the heart of patients with advanced heart failure could make the patients breathe better, and walk longer—without increasing the risk of pump-induced strokes. To earn …
Presentation before the Vice-President
“Move fast. Don’t waste your time. I already know the background of your institute,” Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice-President, seemed to be impetuously impatient and in a haste, as I was about to make my PowerPoint presentation. Mr. Naidu had come to Sevagram this Sunday to inaugurate the operating theatre of our hospital. My …
Anaesthesiology
Unbelievable, but true. Robert Liston, a Scottish surgeon (1784-1847) practised orthopaedic surgery all over Britain. He obtained specialisation in amputations, practising in an era when anaesthesia was in infancy. Cutting and sawing on a conscious, screaming patient took strong nerves and a strong stomach. The shorter the operation, Liston thought, the lesser the pain the …
More is not always better
Atul Gawande, the surgeon-researcher-public health activist in his recent essay describes the current medical practice so succinctly : “Millions of people are receiving drugs that aren’t helping them, operations that aren’t going to make them better, and scans and tests that do nothing beneficial for them, and often cause harm.” Once a test or a …
Bevan Congdon
Bevan Congdon died today. I remember his two towering sixes in the 1969 Nagpur test (India vs. New Zealand) – incidentally, the first cricket match that I saw live at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur. A connoisseur’s dream, he scored match-winning sixty-plus in the first inning and had no problems reading the variations in …
Tongue twisters
I am unable to pronounce the names of many new drugs. I tried hard and then gave up. Incurable diseases and unpronounceable drugs- the combination is deadly.
Vidarbha wins Ranji trophy
Vidarbha did it! What a victory! This day reminds me of Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 World cup in England: the Vidarbha team was as much an underdog as the Indian team was in 1983. Thirty-five years ago, a bunch of Indian players took over the mighty West Indian team and made history by defeating …
Vidarbha inching towards a victory
Rajneesh Gurbani seems to be in sublime form! This morning, he scythed through Delhi’s middle and tail for a hat-trick against Delhi— no mean achievement in a Ranji Trophy final— and went on to claim four wickets in just six balls. He bowled intelligently today: neither Mishra, nor Saini, nor Shorey could read his incredible …
Dr Sushila Nayar
26 December brings vivid memories of Dr. Sushila Nayar—fondly called Badi behenji—across the kaleidoscope of mind. She was born on this day—103 years ago. Five decades ago, she began working to implement mission impossible—designing a medical school in Sevagram. She fought all odds, relentlessly and ensured that her dream of starting a rural medical school …