It is a pity that one is forced to make the same points again and again. I can see the Pediatric Surgery ward in my mind’s eye. Not that long ago, JIPMER, Pondicherry. A leg with an abcess full of pus- drained. But too late. The blood infection is sure to claim this five-year-old’s life. […]
Category: Rational ruminations
The Secret
The posting in Dermatology was one, as an Intern, I had looked forward to. The full name of the specialty was Dermatology, Venearology and Leprology. In addition to diseases of the skin, it dealt with sexually transmitted diseases and leprosy. It was one of those cooler departments that an intern desperately looks forward to. I […]
Medicine- A Science in flux
A CARPENTER in his early fifties came to the OPD, complaining of weakness in his right arm. He was seen by Sooraj, one of our young assistant professors. I remember this patient well. I was a third year student at that time. The professor admitted him in the ward. Soon he could not lift his […]
Ayurveda and the practice of Surgery- The legacy of Susruta.
“We are going for ‘Puttur Kettu’ “ I was puzzled when a patient with fracture of an arm bone said this, during my posting in Orthopedics. I was doing my Residency in surgery in JIPMER. Others told me that this was common. Puttur kettu was a traditional system of setting broken bones that was common […]
Terrorists are extreme politicians.
The images are disturbing. Children, blown to smithereens. Human beings, with eyes gauged out. Hands and legs crushed to an amorphous pulp. Have you seen men and women who come to the hospital after blast injuries? I have. If three hundred people have died, twice that number, I can tell you, have a fate worse […]