Category: Uncategorized

Index Home Today, when I was shuffling through my cache of postage stamps, I found a window to a remote land in the Pacific. This was Pitcairn Islands, and the set of postage stamp was about a midwife, Lily Warren. As I began my journey to search for the person, and the health services on the… Continue reading A midwife on Pitcairn, an Island of just 35 people

Index Home This blog is not about medicine, but about finance. It is still about health, but financial one. Money has a notional value, and in Indian culture, it is often equated with Maya – “a magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not what they seem.” According to ancient Indian… Continue reading When money was no longer there….

Index Home UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) launched GOBI initiative in the year 1982. This was a notable global health strategies aimed at reducing child mortality and improving child health. The acronym GOBI stands for Growth monitoring, Oral rehydration therapy (ORT), Breastfeeding, and Immunization. All of these are key interventions to combat the leading causes… Continue reading GOBI: When simple measures in childcare went global

Index Home Family planning and birth control share a bond with one another. On one hand, phrase “to plan a family” is participatory, thought provoking, and sounds like a management exercise. On the other phrase “controlling birth” seemingly empowers humans to do, what only nature could or mostly could not achieve. These two phrases are like… Continue reading Family planning: Have we completed a full circle ?

Index Home Our journey from sixth month onwards, is one of curiosity and mobility. Now babies can see near as well as far, and their tiny eyes are grasping the world around them. As they see and touch almost everything, they also start making sense of sounds. This is also the time for the first meaningful… Continue reading Development milestones from six months to one year of life

Index Home Many developments take place from birth, to first six months of life. In the first one month, newborn is a neonate. Subsequently, the period upto one year of life, is infancy. Developments in this period are milestones in our journey. Many motor milestones in the first six months can be picked up from postage… Continue reading Milestones from birth upto first six months of infant life

Index Home Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809. When he was three, he accidentally injured one of his eyes. Over next two years, injured eye got infected, and let to complete blindness. Louis as well as his parents were determined to get an education for him. At age 10, Louis Braille had enrolled in… Continue reading Braille: Just six elevated dots, to see the unseen

Index Home 1976 is a landmark year for Global Blindness Prevention. After years of apathy, blindness prevention and control was on World Health Organisation (WHO) agenda. Only a year ago in 1975, World Health Assembly had adopted a resolution on problem of blindness. The assembly zeroed in on six leading causes of blindness at that time,… Continue reading Legacy of “Foresight prevents blindness” campaign

Index Home Eyes have always intrigued us. Eyes reflect our intent, emotions, wisdom, and even romance. While science attributes eyes with sight, for art and literature these are windows of our thought and vision. Indeed, these are two windows of our soul, be it thoughts of wisdom benevolence, mischief or cruelty. Since time immemorial, looking into… Continue reading The art and science of sight & looking into ones eyes

Index Home We donot attribute middle ages or the medieval period, with any major scientific advancement. Europe, in these times was a battleground for religions. Since christianity was on a rise, ancient pagan believers and jews were cajoled, coerced and even threaten to embrace this new religion. By 10th century AD, Christianity was firmly placed as… Continue reading Maimonides a philosopher-physician of medieval times