A friend asked me why do you have such strong opinions about C-19 treatments & rampant poly-pharmacy being practiced while being an Ophthalmologist.
Why indeed?
Because "Science, data and critical analysis". I don't have to be treating C-19 to know what works and what does not.
Reading has been my coping mechanism to stay sane during this whole year since the pandemic started. Too much information can be paralyzing for many people. I would however prefer to sift through it all and process it. An alternative is not acceptable.
I would encourage my colleagues no matter which speciality they practice- to read more, understand more and keep looking at data about this virus and affects
It is when doctors critically analyse data and relay scientifically validated opinion-everyone in society is better off
It is difficult for those who are fighting on the frontlines to constantly give out real-time treatment insights because they cannot analyse outcome data.
It is other physicians outside the frontlines that should aid in understanding this dreaded disease for everyone else.
Early on, we were all in a fog of war with too little information to go on. But right now more than year since, we have so much data, information and studies. Internet has been liberating in this and physicians everywhere need to counter the toxic fake news online with science.
The amount of pseudoscience and quackery practiced during this pandemic has been unprecedented.
All the AYUSH evangelists have had a field day at our societies' expense
My own networks, family and friends have not been immune to this. I have been able to counter it with science
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Ayurveda is not science. It is a belief system like religion. People including doctors should stop calling it science because any traditional medicine which has been shown to be effective as per modern EBM standards becomes modern medicine. Ayurveda has no scientific rationale.
Same goes for Homeopathy/Unani/Siddha/_____any traditional medicine.
Qinghaosu became the antimalarial drug Artemisinin through evidence collected by YouYou Tu. It doesn't mean Chinese medicine is scientific.
Ayurveda should aim to nurture researchers like YouYou Tu and not try to co-opt modern medicine and try to encroach into it pretending to be science.
Yesterday my patient on the operating table bled buckets. He wasn't on blood thinners-no explanations.🤷♂️
After surgery he told me he was taking a herbal concoction of Ginger, Garlic, Turmeric & Asafoetida thrice daily to prevent covid.
Need to change my Pre-op instructions. 🤦♂️
Since many are asking.
Pre op bloods were done 3 weeks back. BT, CT, PT, aPTT, INR were all within normal limits. Considering no co-morbidities the blood work wasn't repeated just before surgery. Hadn't considered this history.
Quietly, NMC has replaced MCI. While I'm happy that a corrupt body like MCI is out, I'm not sure NMC is make it any better.
Several people have had concerns regarding the mandate, centralisation tendencies and scope of NMC and I have written about those concerns earlier. 1/n
Now that we have no choice but to accept the new reform I hope they progress upon the opportunities available. The above article raises several such issues and it is important to keep the eye on the target over a long period of time. 2/n
My article on the NMC when they first came up with the draft in 2017.
I've been fortunate to have found incredible mentors in residency & Fellowship. They treated me like colleagues not sub-ordinates/slaves. I was lucky but anyone entering residency shouldn't need to be lucky.
This culture of bullying in medicine doesn't stop just at residency. 1/
Though I have only good things to say about my own residency, I've heard enough of the experiences of my friends/ Srs/Jrs who've come through the various medical college residencies around India. Toxic culture in an average Indian medical college residency is almost a given. 2/
One of the weirdest things I've heard and know it for a fact is that there is/was one HOD who put a daily roster for his surgical residents to watch over his house being built. Residents were counting cement bags instead of treating patients. 3/n
When we speak of lack of access to healthcare we don't speak of equitable spread of resources state-wise. Kerala has 70,000 doctors Vs Jharkhand having 6,000 (all specialities). Kerala and Jharkhand have around the same population to serve.
More than 60% of doctors are in 6/28 states-MH, TN, KA, KL, AP, UP. States with highest shortfall-UP, CH, OD, MP has 60% of population. 2/n
So a kerala has a 1:500 Doctor patient ratio while for Jharkhand the same is 1: 8000. 3/n
There's a myth that our ancestors lived more healthier and longer lives because of Ayurveda and that modern medicine is killing people.India's life expectancy has improved from 22 yrs in 1920 to nearly 70 yrs in 2020- that's 100 years of modern medicine. Ayurveda is >2500 yrs old
In fact, India has more than doubled life expectancy since Independence. In 1950 life expectancy in India was 34 years. Thanks to immunisation programs,antibiotics, pulse polio/Smallpox vac, malaria/TB management, and hundreds of other programs introduced in Independent India