Medical Practice

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

Marriages—so goes a popular aphorism-are made in heaven. Now researchers are discovering new ways where they can make them happen—in the acknowledgment section of a scientific paper!

Dr. Anita Borges at her best! I was glued to her hour-long talk—and could hardly take my eyes off her histopathology and IHC slides—as she explained in her inimitable style how pathology is rapidly evolving. For over 150 years, histopathology—focused on organs, tissues, and cells held sway in pathology. But over the last two decades, … Read more

Cardiac stents became cheaper—and relatively affordable— this year. Beginning this evening, knee implants in India are all set to get about three to five fold cheaper. Surely, this news should be music to the ears of those who were forced to spend their life, knee-deep in pain and misery.  And this was not a knee-jerk … Read more

Spent a Friday morning with the SEARCH team, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. Learned a great deal about a study that asks key questions about stroke in a rural tribal community. When researchers ask a research question that comes from the community they serve and try to find an answer that can help the underprivileged people live longer- … Read more

We ought to congratulate Sri Lanka for eliminating malaria. Yes, there is no malaria in Sri Lanka. The success story is remarkable for several reasons. The country is poor. Eight of ten Sri Lankans live in villages. The rural milieu provides an ideal environment for malaria mosquitoes to breed, grow and multiply. And the government … Read more

Four hundred thousand patients in the hospitals in the United States die every year because of medical errors—from mistakes that could have been prevented.  The BMJ article, published three days ago, says that “if the medical error was a disease, it would rank as the third leading cause of death in the US.” Preventable medical … Read more

When I began practising Medicine at MGIMS, whenever I ran into a medical problem, which I thought I could not solve, I would seek a super specialist’s help. This indeed made sense. After all, their years of training and rich experience would help me order the best test, choose the drug that works or pick … Read more