Science, Stories and Sevagram: A Physician-Teacher's Reflections
SP Kalantri In 2020, Covid virus— a black swan— wreaked havoc across the globe, killing more than 1.5 million people, infecting many more and causing economic devastation. And although research developments progressed very fast in 2020, the pandemic set the course of science afire. The coronavirus spread. And as fast did the scientists, researchers and public health activists move. No … Read more
Aruna Born to Shri Kisangopalji and Vasanti devi Ruthia on April 11, 1954 in Nagpur, Aruna was the middle sibling— Chandrashekhar (1948-2017) and Anand (1956-2010) were her brothers. She used to live in Kirana Oli, Itwari, then a relatively sparsely populated area. She went to the Nityanand Kanya Vidyalaya, near Balaji Mandir on Dharaskar Road. … Read more
I call her Badibai—the elder mother! Ever since I was born, she treated me with so much love that she richly deserves this name. Badibai was born in Barsi, a town in Solapur district in Western Maharashtra, on 26 February 1942. As was the custom those days, she was delivered at her nani’s home. The … Read more
Pushpa, my elder sister, was born on 17 May 1946, fifteen months before India became independent. I always called her Jiji, and never by first name. She was the third of the six siblings, and like all of them; she too was delivered at home that my father rented in Marwari Mohalla, Wardha. Education Class … Read more
Snake bite is common in our area. Every year, we admit about 200 people with venomous snakebites to MGIMS, our teaching hospital, 10% of who die. Is it possible to distinguish survivors from non-survivors? Can we use simple signs and symptoms and labs to do so? Here is my Powerpoint presentation: I spoke on this … Read more
India has the world’s second-largest COVID-19 outbreak. India desperately needs effective treatments. But the way the country’s drug regulator is handling potential therapies concerns many of us. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved several repurposed drugs for ‘restricted emergency use’ for treating the disease. On what basis were these drugs approved? Was … Read more
Ten thousand. This five-numerical figure has fascinated people for a long time. As an example, Sunil Gavaskar’s 10,000th run. I can vividly recall Gavaskar nudging a quick single through the slips to become the first cricketer to reach 10,000 test runs. I had watched that moment on TV—the fourth test match against Pakistan at Ahmedabad … Read more
My colleagues and I wrote our concern in Lancet Infect Dis about the inappropriate and irrational use of Hydroxychloroquine for preventing and treating Covid in India. We wrote this when the pandemic had just started. The Indian Council of Medical Research, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has recommended chemoprophylaxis with hydroxychloroquine for … Read more
Poetry and medicine. For centuries they have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Ancient mythology tells us that Apollo was the Greek God of medicine, music and poetry. John Keats abandoned a career in medicine to concentrate on writing. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote poems throughout his medical career and continued to do so long after he … Read more
I see three challenges ahead vis-à-vis COVID-19 in India’s rural areas. First, many rural healthcare workers are exhausted and burned out. Second, lifestyle diseases like diabetes, high blood-pressure and heart problems have become more common in rural India in the last decade or so. Third, officials and healthcare workers have to contend with the spectre … Read more