Science, Stories and Sevagram: A Physician-Teacher's Reflections
Some research studies make you sit up and take notice when you eye their titles and read the findings. The Lancet study published on 31 October 2022 is one such. A study everyone entering an OT must read. Why did I like this study? Because, hundreds of thousands of studies are published every year. But … Read more
Molnupiravir. Another drug that has created a lot of hype or hope among public. But does it really deliver what it promises?
The ICMR has increasingly drawn criticism from India’s doctors and scientists, who have questioned its drug recommendations & lack of transparency on data related to variants. Countrywide, doctors started writing these prescriptions, which artificially inflated the cost for Covid management,” I said. “Big Pharma was laughing all the way to the bank and ultimately the … Read more
High hospital bills and black marketing of drugs and oxygen make the treatment of Covid-19 prohibitively expensive. Malini Aisola, co-convenor of the All India Drug Action Network, ET’s Kiran Somvanshi and I discuss the flaws in the existing setup and the steps to fix the financial burden of Covid-19.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. So I asked my colleague to read to me the recent COVID-19 guidelines from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), in the Union health ministry. I couldn’t believe my ears either. The nine-page PDF document talks about how to treat, investigate and monitor patients with a COVID-19 infection. What are the … Read more
Remdesivir. Hydroxychloroquine apart, no drug during the current pandemic created as much controversy, generated as much hope, led to as much black marketing and eniced as many physicians and people as Remdesivir did. I was not sure if remdesivir indeed reduced the chances of dying in hospitalised patients and wondered if the hype and hope … Read more
I designed an evidence-based management protocol for managing patients admitted to our teaching hospital with Covid19. The concept was minimalist: excluding irrational, untested, unproven therapies and focusing only on those which have been shown to work in large randomised trials. Here is a YouTube link to the powerpoint presentation:
The novel anti-Covid medicines look promising and appealing, but I’d urge caution in interpreting the study results…
Last week, the district collector called a meeting. The meeting was attended, among other, by local MLAs, MPs, bureaucrats and doctors from the two medical colleges in the district. The second wave had peaked and more patients were seeking hospital admissions than the hospital could provide. ICU beds were at a premium and hospitals were … 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