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Category: Discussions
January 01, 2001
Conventionally one conceptualises the research relationship as one between two sets of free agents — researchers and participants — who may have different levels of control over the research process. However, conducting research on women inevitably absorbs into the interaction several other playe...
October 01, 2000
The approach to ethical medical practice is easy to define. It rests on the premise that the doctor's primary ethical commitment is to his/her patient. The doctor is supposed to spare no effort to see that everything is done in the best interests of the patient, for his/her survival or well being...
October 01, 2000
here has been an explosion of qualitative research in public health over the 1980s and '90s. It has delved into a wide range of issues, from the most public to the most private, often relating to some of the most socially and culturally sensitive of subjects. It has wide and deep ramifications fo...
October 01, 2000
Informed consent is a commendable concept: it gives patients the power of participating in decisions concerning their own management, to a greater degree than ever before. The qualifying adjective is superfluous, for the word consent (cum, together; sentire, to feel, perceive) clearly implies sha...
October 01, 2000
The field of dermatology is seen by many in the medical fraternity as a "hassle-free" subject. However, it has its role to play from a public health viewpoint. People's skin is the focus of much debate in India. Most public health issues relating to dermatology in India stem from poverty. At the ...
July 01, 2000
The future of health care has become an important social and political issue over the last decade. One major issue in this debate is how to keep costs under control while meeting consumers' increasing expectations. The per capita cost of health care in developing countries is much less than that ...
July 01, 2000
Diabetes is the second most common chronic disease in childhood (the first being asthma). It is a disease for which there is no cure as of today. Diabetes in children is usually of the insulin dependent variety. The condition poses a major challenge to diabetic children and to their families.
July 01, 2000
As diabetes is a chronic disease, it has become common for unethical people to offer instant cures, and even advise patients to stop treatment with time-tested anti-diabetic agents.
April 01, 2000
Although the false incidence (children born with neural tube defects or NTD) and true incidence (foetuses with NTD) of spina bifida is on the decline in the developed world, the same cannot be said of spina bifida in developing countries. In a country like India, the socioeconomic consequences of...
April 01, 2000
Multidrug resistant infections are on the increase and include common community-acquired infections such as typhoid, malaria and tuberculosis. Multidrug resistant typhoid fever assumed epidemic proportions in the country some years ago, initially catching physicians unawares. As the epidemic wors...