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Category: Research Articles
April 01, 1998
Working in a hospital where patients are dichotomised into "general" or non-paying and "private" or paying patients brings up some interesting questions and has stimulated my thoughts on this issue. Most hospitals in India belong exclusively to either the private or public sector. Such a stark co...
April 01, 1998
The economic basis of health care is undergoing revolutionary change. The US is progressively converting from a system based on fee for service to a system based on so-called managed care. As is often true, changes in basic economic approaches usually result in changes in medical practice as well...
October 01, 1997
Over the four-and-a- half-year span of medical training, students are extensively grilled on how to diagnose diseases and treat patients. The rules of conduct, which should guide his behaviour when interacting with his own professional colleagues, is hardly ever touched upon in the medical curric...
October 01, 1997
In 1903 the Wright brothers flew for the first time in a machine heavier than air. They soared 30 metres above land for 12 seconds. No one would have imagined that this technology would one day lead to the manufacture of aircraft which would cross the sound barrier and transport hundreds of peopl...
October 01, 1997
With fraud and sleaze so visible all over the world in politics, finance and public life, finding that these also exist in medical research should come as no surprise. Yet it does, and medical scientists still react as if a case were unique. And they manage it so badly, with the whistleblower oft...
October 01, 1997
As commonly understood, a surrogate mother is one who is hired to bear a child that she turns over at birth to her employer. The word 'surrogate' means 'substitute'. Nelson and Nelson point out that 'mother' is the person who gives birth to a child.
October 01, 1997
Recently, the headline 'Rent a womb' highlighted the plea of a woman from Chandigarh to legitimise her surrogacy for a woman who could not conceive. The couple was so anxious to have a child that they were ready to adopt one. Nirmala Devi, who worked for them as a maid, decided to offer her womb ...
October 01, 1997
AIDS no longer is an affliction of any particular group. Estimates reveal that women are being increasingly affected, and the infection rate among women is equal to that among men.
October 01, 1997
"While returning from my morning walk, I saw a bird in a cage. It reminded me of people imprisoned in prejudices. Prejudices are also cages, very subtle and self created. First we create them, then becoming imprisoned in them, we lose all capacity to fly in the open sky of truth. And just now I s...
October 01, 1997
Ad-hocism is rife in the medical profession in India. We seem to keep abreast of current medical knowledge from the information received from medical representatives and from industry-sponsored conferences. There is no programme for continuing medical education worth its name. Very few doctors ta...