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April 01, 2008
The National AIDS Prevention and Control Policy of the government of India states that testing for HIV infection should be voluntary in nature. But from time to time various state governments and the central government have announced their intent of introducing mandatory premarital testing. Thoug...
April 01, 2008
Measures of mental health services, including rehabilitation initiatives, have been pronounced to be inadequate the world over. Indicators such as mental health policy or legislation, financing of mental health care, availability of community mental health services, mental hospital beds, general ...
January 01, 2008
Jyotsna Agnihotri Gupta’s interview of Dr X who runs a sperm bank is rather old (December 2001), but her questions remain pertinent today. The doctor’s honest responses allow us to peek behind the curtains of a sperm bank and learn of the possibilities for unethical practice. They also allow us ...
January 01, 2008
Understandably, medical professionals and patients, the world over, are agog to see the effects of stem cell transplantation in the treatment of diseases where current remedies have failed.
January 01, 2008
Medicine is one of the few professions that sets a code of behaviour for its practitioners. In the past the relationship between the doctor and patient was paternalistic. Today this has changed. Advancement of medical science and technology has made a tremendous impact on medical practice. Rising...
January 01, 2008
There has been a sea change in the ethos of medicine in India in recent decades. Academic dishonesty of an alarming nature has been reported in medical colleges. Moral degeneration and corruption have engulfed the establishment at the highest level. The head of the Medical Council of India was fo...
October 01, 2007
Registering clinical trials is considered an ethical and moral imperative. The launch of the Clinical Trials Registry-India provides opportunities to all in India to fulfil this imperative. The CTRI requires prospective registration, disclosure of all 20 items in the WHO Trial Registration Data S...
October 01, 2007
In India, healthcare providers initiate counselling and testing, diagnosis and treatment. They determine where you get tested, the shop you buy medicines from, which drugs you buy and which brands of these drugs. This is the background of the current debate on provider-initiated testing. Accordin...
October 01, 2007
This article looks at some ethical challenges in cosmetic surgery. Enhancement versus therapy, risks, patient autonomy, beneficence and informed consent are issues that need to be considered when considering cosmetic surgery in today's world.
October 01, 2007
The public-private partnership is an initiative to improve efficiency, effectiveness and equity in the provision of healthcare services. This essay comments on the lessons that should be learned from some examples of such partnerships in various Indian states.