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Index Home Plants are ancient. Evolution of plants began about 400 million years ago. Humans arrived much later on the scene, only about 4-million years ago. Beginning of agriculture and first civilisation is even more recent, only about 12,000 years old. Tiny, small, large or gigantic; versatility in size, produce, and function of plants has always… Continue reading Plant remedies for health in Indian stamps

Index Home Latin word datum means ‘to give’. In english this word means a ‘single piece of information‘. As information grows from singular to pleural, it becomes ‘data’. We subconsciously collect and process data all the time. For instance, a mere look at the watch tells us minutes, which our brain processes as remaining time for… Continue reading Count, analyse and interpret: Data for health

Index Home We have all heard the story of James Watt, who probably inspired by a fluttering lid of a kettle, invented steam engine in 1769. About 35 years later, Richard Trevithick, a British engineer developed first steam-engine powered locomotive. Thereafter, trains ruled surface transport, as automobiles were more than a century away. By 1850s, passenger… Continue reading “Hospital on a train” & its postage stamps

Index Home About four decades ago, in 1980 there was no public internet (or World Wide Web). While idea of internet (or connected computers) did exist, it started taking shape only in 1990s. Unlike today, we did not have compact personnel computers, or laptops and even mobile phones. All these developments were also a decade away.… Continue reading Telecom and health in 1980 and origins of Telemedicine

Index Home Australia, a continent unknown to the remaining world, was formally colonised by the British in 1788. British sent fleets of convicts, and by 1841 they had more than 1,65,000 of them. With each fleet, came medical personnel, and started setting up hospitals. First tent-hospital was set up in area which is now Sydney in… Continue reading Australian postage stamps on it’s medical legends

Index Home Refuge is to seek protection. Thus, a refugees is an individual who looses protection in their country, and is forced to flee. This loss of protection is usually a consequence of war, ethnic strife, or persecution. It may also be due to disasters such as famines or floods. However, current definition requires well founded… Continue reading Refugee health: distraught and displaced

Index Home While we knew for a long time, that blood travels inside conduits or vessels, we did not have much of clarity, till the middle of 16th century. It was only in 1540s, when Andreas Vesalius, a surgeon, anatomist and a medical illustrator drew it all. He first dissected actual human cadavers, and produced illustrations… Continue reading How did we start seeing our vessels: A history of angiography

Index Home Israel honoured two medical scientists, with a postage stamp-set in 1994. Both, worked on vaccines to prevent infections that are common in the tropics. Both were born, and received their early schooling in regions that were once part of Russian Empire. Being Jew, and faced with persecution, their families migrated westwards. India benefited from… Continue reading Medical scientists on Israeli stamps, and their Indian connection