A LIFE OF LAYERED DREAMS
YEAR 1995 An airy and luminous room. Light poured through the windows, but sunlight failed to reach where I sat, on the first bench in the middle of the classroom (in the later years I translocated to the back benches, for better education as they say). I was of an age when I could easily…
THE INDIAN STATE OF MEDICAL AFFAIRS
India’s healthcare industry is notoriously a’ la mode in several ways, for obvious reasons. Remember, the recent doctor strike 2.0? Well, it lasted for 6 days and has a Wikipedia page on it. India is a hub for clinical trials. Two reasons- greater patient availability and friendly drug-control system. On November 20, 2016, a headline…
WHY YOU SHOULD STOP ASKING YOURSELF THE QUESTION ‘WHY ME?’?
If you would have told me, back in my growing-up years, that I would be writing on ‘why you should stop asking yourself the question ‘why me’? I would have disbelieved you. I have asked myself this more often than I would like to accept. You see, each of us ask our self this question,…
CROWDFUNDING: A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN & THE INDIAN SCENARIO
Homo sapiens, that is us, the self-proclaimed powerful species has a thirst for constancy- outlive the dangers to its survivability factor. Dangers created as ancillaries to the species’ greed for progression. This need for survival is the mainspring for alternatives. Since ages unknown we’ve had alternative medicine – to treat and cure seemingly difficult diseases…
FINANCE OPTIONS FOR MEDICAL EXPENSES IN INDIA – PROS & CONS
Going purely by experience, mine and of those around me, two kinds of expenses are the most worrisome – education and healthcare. Both are rising at an alarming rate, with no hope of an immediate mechanism for putting them in check. I know of couples opting for a single child in order to be able…
‘GOD HAS BEEN KIND’
The grass was green, the sky was blue and life was nice… It was the summer of 2011. I was posted in Kolkata. Life was coasting along rather satisfactorily for me. I was in my 30th year of service in the Indian Army and had seen reasonable success by way of being bestowed with the…
CHALLENGES OF HOME-BASED CARE AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM
Ira was given all care at home for 16 months after our initial stay at the hospital. During those months, we as a family, faced several challenges regarding daily care giving. These pointers may be useful for not only patients who have undergone critical surgeries or who are bedridden but also for elderly family members…
WHY INDIA NEEDS TO WAKE UP TO PALLIATIVE CARE?
What is palliative care? How many of you can answer this without google-ing it? (Let me know in the comments below.) Palliative care has been around for more than 75 years in this world and yet many of us don’t even understand what it means. I didn’t know anything about palliative care. Back in August…
TERRIBLE, THANKS FOR ASKING!
For a lot of us, talking to a grieving person or family can be quite a challenge. How do I ask? What will he/she think? Is this the right thing to say? People either dread the answer or the uncomfortable silence. How you ask and what you say rarely matters, especially if it is well-meaning.…