Science, Stories and Sevagram: A Physician-Teacher's Reflections
On June 23, Patanjali Ayurved claimed that its preparations, ‘Coronil’ would cure COVID-19 in just a week. Scientists, researchers, physicians and media registered their strong protest and expressed robust disbelief for the outrageous and misleading ads. The company claimed that their medicine was tested in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) among COVID-19 positive patients and … Read more
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, an Indian pharmaceutical company, to sell generic versions of Favipiravir for the treatment of COVID-19. This drug, originally invented by a Japanese company, was meant to treat influenza. After the outbreak of COVID-19, doctors in China and Russia started using it to treat COVID-19 … Read more
Dr Priya Mendiratta wrote a post on my poem on Favipiravir and Covid. Thank you Dr SP Kalantri for still guiding us to always practice ethically, not abandon logical thinking and scientific approach . Dr Kalantri’s thoughts on Favipiravir, a new oral drug launched in India yesterday by Glenmark to fight Covid19 infection. He is … Read more
On 18 June 2020, Dr. C. S. Pramesh, the Director of the Tata Memorial Hospital texted me a message and then called me asking if I would be willing to do a talk on Covid and research during Pandemic. A day after. Although I had little time to prepare, I didn’t blink an eyelid to … Read more
WHO had resumed trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine as a part of the Solidarity Trial to find a cure for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. The trial had been stopped because a study published in The Lancet said the drug wasn’t as effective as touted. This study is now under the scanner after investigation by the … Read more
How are COVID-19 vaccines being developed? Several drugmakers have announced that they are moving to Phase 2 of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials; the Oxford vaccine by Serum Institute of India backed by Adar Poonawala has started Phase 3 clinical trials. What do these phases mean? Should we think that we are close to a getting … Read more
No other drug, at least in the early phase of Covid pandemic, evoked as much interest, publicity, blind and demand as Hydroxychloroquine did. It took a couple of well -designed randomized controlled trials to indicate that the drug does not work, and is associated with serious adverse events when used to prevent or treat Covid. … Read more
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been the biggest buzzword across the world lately. Until December 2019, this was a meek drug, used mainly by rheumatologists, internists, and dermatologists for inflammatory diseases. Its cousin Chloroquine has been the most popular drug for malaria. We have known and used these drugs for decades. The antiviral properties of these drugs … Read more
I woke up this morning, thinking about Hydroxychloroquine and COVID__19 . And wrote a poem…
This book profiles the art and craft of the class of 1973. A class that is 48-year-old now. It seems like it was only yesterday that we got into Government Medical College Nagpur. 45 years after our admission, when we paused to reflect on how we changed and evolved between 1973 and 2018, we realized … Read more