Reflections on Medicine and Life by Dr. S.P. Kalantri
Dr. KV Desikan. Ninety-one-year-old man. This morning, I spent an hour and a half with him—forgetting our age differences—and spoke to him on a variety of topics—his tryst with Sevagram, his leprosy work, his medical maladies and how he copes with them, and the modern doctors. With organisational and administrative skills and energy as enormous … Read the essay
Varun Bhargava (VB) came to Sevagram in 1969. He belonged to the first batch of MGIMS. Four years later, he graduated from MGIMS, went to PGI, Chandigarh to earn his MD (Medicine) and established a highly successful practice in Nagpur. His 100-bed hospital—driven by ethics and science— evokes a level of respect and admiration that … Read the essay
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 the essay
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 the essay
Did I stir up a hornet’s nest when I tried to examine the benefits and harms of mammography? I’m glad I did. I might have been less than generous in my remarks about mammography, but that does not diminish my unqualified admiration of those who believe that it works. I am happy that some of … Read the essay