Index Home Today India has more than 780 medical colleges, and about 64 standalone postgraduate institutes. There are more than 70,000 hospitals in India. Healthcare system in India is ancient. We first interacted with modern medicine through Portuguese physicians. However, British East India Company (EIC) established first hospitals. First modern hospital was Cogan’s house (west 1664)… Continue reading Medical colleges and hospitals in India
Author: rjoshimgims
Heart dominates, but does it ?
Index Home Heart has a special place amongst all organs. While brain, blood, liver, skin and kidneys all work silently – heart is loud. It is the only one to beat, and to generate a perceptible pulse. Heart-beat and pulse are signs of life. Hence, dominant position of heart in all systems of medicine, should not… Continue reading Heart dominates, but does it ?
Diabetes: Not so sweet
Index Home A not so sweet disease Diabetes is a chronic disease. Individuals with diabetes have high blood sugars, pass more urine, and get more thirsty. While urine is sweet and sugar in blood is high, disease is not so sweet. Individuals need to restrict their diets, exercise more, and take tablets or insulin injection for… Continue reading Diabetes: Not so sweet
Small-pox: An enormous burden that was relieved in 1980
Index Home Small-pox had a high mortality, a third of all infected would die. Survivors would become blind, and carry a scarred face for life. Every infected person would have fever, followed by a typical skin-rash. Disease earned its name from the small-bumps that covered entire body. But, small it would not remain as it devastated… Continue reading Small-pox: An enormous burden that was relieved in 1980
Malaria in postage stamps, A 1962 story
Index Home Malaria is an infection, caused by a tiny bug – Plasmodium and its species. This bug enters human body by a mosquito-bite and multiplies, leading to fever. Bug also exits through a mosquito completing a cycle. Malaria cycle was discovered in 1897 by Ronald Ross, which earned him 1902 Nobel in Medicine. We however… Continue reading Malaria in postage stamps, A 1962 story
Leprosy: Saga of an eternal discrimination
Index Home Leprosy is an infection, affecting skin and the nerves. We discovered organism causing this infection, Mycobacterium leprae in 1873, nine years before its more famous counterpart Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Saga of discrimination and leprosy is eternal. Society discriminated against sufferers of this disease, and scientific community against Dr Gerhard Hansen – a Norwegian Physician who… Continue reading Leprosy: Saga of an eternal discrimination
History of Pharmacy: to make, produce and dispense
Index Home When physicians were their own pharmacists Most ancient physicians formulated their own remedies, and dispensed them too. Physicians and their family members held on to recipes as a closely guarded secret. Identification, formulation, and dispensing was a family affair. Most physicians had their own pharmacy. While ancient pharmacopeias (or materia-medica) exist, their wider dissemination… Continue reading History of Pharmacy: to make, produce and dispense
Fundraising for Tuberculosis elimination
Index Home Need for Fundraising Discovery of TB-bacillus in 1882 was a landmark event. Excited by this discovery, next ask was to find a cure. Individuals who contracted TB included rich and the famous. Clamour for effective treatment was at a record high. Bernard Shaw depicted this in his famous play – A doctor’s dilemma. In… Continue reading Fundraising for Tuberculosis elimination
Tuberculosis: A wasting illness
Index Home TB: A wasting affection of the Lungs Tuberculosis (also known as TB), is a disease with devastating health, social, economic and cultural consequences. Greeks called it pthisis, and Romans called it consumption. Both these words mean “getting wasted”, or to “whither away”. We also know it as “white plague“, with sufferers becoming pale, before… Continue reading Tuberculosis: A wasting illness
Selfless service in faraway lands: humanism in healthcare
Index Home Humanism: What does it entail ? Healthcare is often equated with self-less service. Healthcare providers are trained to be non-discriminatory, to view every sufferer as a human, regardless of race, religion, creed, social or economic status. This humanism is often a tough ideal to uphold, especially when conflicted with self-preservation, and financial well-being. Humanism… Continue reading Selfless service in faraway lands: humanism in healthcare