Dr. S.P. Kalantri

Dr. S. P. Kalantri is a physician, teacher, and researcher who has spent over four decades practicing medicine in rural India. He is currently Professor of Medicine at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sevagram. Through his memoir “Stetho in Sevagram,” he reflects on a lifetime of clinical practice, teaching, and the ethical challenges of delivering care in resource-limited settings. His work explores the intersection of medicine, society, and the everyday realities of patients and doctors in rural India. He has a longstanding interest in evidence-based medicine, medical ethics, and the social determinants of health, and has contributed extensively to clinical research and medical education.

Are India’s best hospitals India’s best?

On 15 November 2009, The Week released its annual list of the country’s best hospitals, categorized by specialties such as cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, and paediatrics. The rankings were based on a 14-city survey conducted by The Week in collaboration with IMRB, a market research agency. The survey included responses from 10 specialists across … Read more

Mammograms – much ado about nothing?

A day before, I wrote that we should not sell mammography as a screening modality in resource limited setting. Today’s Annals of Internal Medicine carries recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on screening for breast cancer in general population. Interestingly, USPSTF in 2002 had advocated for routine screening mammography at age 40; … Read more

Mammography in a rural teaching hospital

A year before, our hospital acquired a mammography unit, aimed at early detection of breast cancer in women. We did so at the behest of Medical Council of India (MCI) – provision of mammography is one of the several prerequisites for granting approval for MD (Radiodiagnosis) post-graduation programme. Eager to win MCI approval, we spent … Read more

Not even ‘till death do we part

Taori sir and bhabhi. Forty years back, an arranged marriage brought you together. Sir, you joined the department of Biochemistry in a medical school that was beginning to take roots in Sevagram. Bhabhi chose to be a homemaker. Your children went to the same medical school where you served as a faculty for three decades … Read more

Medical Representatives and Doctors

Smart ties, black bags and glib tongues. It has been more than four years since Kasturba hospital saw medical representatives on campus. We took this measure to counter the growing perception that interaction between doctors and medical sales representatives was harming our patients’ economic health. Not an easy decision. Some doctors clearly felt uncomfortable. “Medical … Read more