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Category: Editorials
January 01, 1999
"Alternative" or "complentary" doesn't say it quite right. Ayurveda, Unani and many other healing systems predate the development of Allopathic medicine, and for many centuries provided care to the majority of the population. They continue to do so even today, despite the economic and even cultur...
April 01, 1999
As India stumbles on the threshold of the 21 st century - even as it is yet to come to terms with the basic needs of its billion people - the human immunodeficiency virus continues its spread causing as many as 16,000 new infections a day worldwide. Most of these new infections occur in the devel...
October 01, 1998
What role does the ethical physician play in promoting human rights? Are physicians equipped for this job? Some may feel this topic is too abstract, far from the life of the average doctor. However, ethical medical practice is based on the understanding that all people – medical professionals and...
July 01, 1998
Every time health workers go on strike, a battle is waged not only between strikers and their managements, but also between the right to strike and the ethics of not doing so. The latter battle appears to be important, for it raises some controversial issues.
April 01, 1998
Members of the medical profession possess expert knowledge that can benefit society. They are, thus, duty-bound to do all they can to educate the general public on matters pertaining to health and the prevention and treatment of disease.
October 01, 1997
The essay by Dr Bhatt on the need for private coaching classes for medical students, published in the previous issue of this journal, was probably intended to provoke debate or, simply, to provoke.
January 01, 1998
Attending a national medical conference last year, after a long gap, I was taken aback by the magnitude of the pharmaceutical industry’s presence in the conference’s every small activity and event. Industry advertising seems to have scaled new heights.
July 01, 1997
A patient died in a reputed private allopathic hospital in Mumbai due to a wrong blood type administered during transfusion by an homeopathic doctor. This death led to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) being filed in the Bombay High Court raising issues with regard to the quality of care provide...
April 01, 1997
In the section entitled Vox Populi in this issue we have reproduced seven extracts from news items entitled 'The first Indian porcine xenotransplant'. This episode raises vital issues.
January 01, 1997
Few issues in medical ethics have interested the layperson as much as the topic of euthanasia. Not only do medical journals frequently contain articles on it, but even the general public has access to material on the subject. The Karen Ann Quinlan case introduced the topic to the Western world ab...