The pandemic has laid bare all governance and health systems like never before. While the need to find a vaccine or cure is urgent, norms are being flouted, sometimes for reasons of national pride and plain commerce. An editorial analyses the hurried re-purposing of drugs, vaccine production and inadequate policy responses in the wake of the pandemic. We have a full section brimming with multiple ethical perspectives on Covid-19, including the need to focus on clinical ethics and palliative care, the lack of access to care for the aged and cardiac disease patients, recourse to hit-or-miss prophylaxis, the potential for Covid of AYUSH therapies, the merits of “slow research” in frantic times, and that major effect of the lockdown ─ domestic abuse.
Covid-19 apart, our second editorial closely examines the DNAR guidelines recently issued by ICMR. We also have articles on whether clinical examination is still needed for prostate cancer, the planning and impact of ethics training, the stereotyping of nurses, and the value of a students’ pledge. Book reviews on important current topics complete this issue.
Cover credit: “A Night Train to Yesterday”, courtesy of Aman Bhargava (https://instagram.com/thedivtagguy)