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Category: Editorials
October 01, 2001
The news that patients at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Trivandrum were administered an experimental drug without their knowledge should not surprise us. However, the very fact that this trial took place is a reflection on the inadequacy of existing mechanisms to protect participants from u...
July 01, 2001
On May 4, 2001, the Supreme Court, in a judgement on a Public Interest Litigation filed by Dr. Sabu George and two organisations (CEHAT, Mumbai and MASUM, Pune), took the government and other bodies to task for their non-implementation of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Preven...
April 01, 2001
The murder of Dr Vasant Jaykar, a well-known cardiologist practising in private hospitals in Mumbai, created panic among the city's medical practitioners. This was understandable because Dr Jaykar's murder was 'commissioned' by the aggrieved brother of a patient who died while under the doctor's ...
January 01, 2001
Mumbai's JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College, two of the oldest and most prestigious medical institutions in the country, were in the news recently, but for the wrong reasons — the 'leakage' of exam papers for the final year medical exam. Apparently a few hours before the commencement of a theo...
October 01, 2000
The medical profession has been traditionally considered a noble profession. In civil society, the profession gets respect, as doctors are usually revered. This is all the more true in the Indian context. Over the years, the medical profession has been deified and mystified. People have posed eno...
July 01, 2000
Universal access to education and health care are fundamental necessities for any society to progress. No nation has achieved a developed status without fulfilling these two basic requirements. Even developed nations with capitalist economies have ensured universal education and wide health care ...
April 01, 2000
The recent announcement that a National Population Policy was approved by the Union cabinet provides an opportunity to examine the approach to the 'population problem', and its relevance to the ethical choices available to medical professionals.
January 01, 2000
Resident doctors of public hospitals in Mahaharashtra were on strike again, demanding parity in their stipend with other states. This was their sixth strike in two decades. The usual pattern is that the strike is carried forward for two to three weeks and then withdrawn in the face of government ...
October 01, 1999
By the time this issue reaches readers, the din and dust of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will have settled and a new government should be taking shape. In the state of Maharashtra, a little before these elections, another election took place which involves the practitioners of modern medi...
July 01, 1999
The work of medical professionals is perhaps even more intricate than that of many other professions. It is also more trying because the pain and suffering of ill people is visible and discomforting not only to the patient but to the people around. The physician or surgeon has a three-fold res...