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Category: Discussions
April 01, 2002
Family practice is perhaps the oldest form of modern medical practice. It also involves the largest number of medical professionals. In India, where around 70 per cent of health care is now delivered by the private sector, family physicians form the largest group of health care providers coming i...
April 01, 2002
Hippocrates, had he been living now - in India, in Mumbai — would have been too confused to write his famous oath. Perhaps, he would prefer to have nothing to do with it.
April 01, 2002
It is a matter of concern that general medical practice as it should be is slowly disappearing in our country, especially in the urban areas. There are many reasons for this. Specialisation has a glamour and prestige attached to it, as a result of which specialists also make more money than do ge...
April 01, 2002
According to the Oxford New English Dictionary a doctor is a person who is qualified to heal an ill person. Today medical professionals have come a long way. Once seen as witch doctors-cum-magicians, now they stroll the corridors of high-tech hospitals with regal airs. In a dehumanising technical...
April 01, 2002
Based on my experience of 20 years in urban general practice I would like to present the following thoughts regarding the declining ethical values in medical practice. I will initially make some general points and then focus on family practice. I believe that the root cause of differing standards...
April 01, 2002
As a consultant physician in a small town in Maharashtra, I would like to share my thoughts on how general practitioners can best contribute to people's health.
January 01, 2002
One day in early 1993 a doctor from BARC hospital brought to my office a friend from Kota in Rajasthan. The latter, a middle-aged medical practioner, had a son afflicted with DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy). He also had an unaffected daughter but did not know whether she also had the defective ...
January 01, 2002
The major ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) issues that have arisen in the context of developments in genomics and health in developed countries are also of relevance to developing countries. The question before the World Health Organization (WHO) today is: what role can it play vis-à-vis ...
January 01, 2002
The successful completion of the human genome sequence can be counted as one of the most important scientific achievements in biology in recent times. The analysis of the draft sequence by two groups, the human genome consortium and a private company (1, 2), has revealed astonishing insights into...
October 01, 2001
I recollect one of the first lectures in my first year of medical college where my venerable professor thundered: "... the first thing that a doctor should have is confidence. If you kill a patient, kill him with confidence." This is a classic expression of the necessity felt by the medical profe...