I’m on a plane flying home from Nigeria, where I’ve been participating in a workshop on writing and publishing in journals, reading scientific papers, and encouraging evidence based practice. I had a wonderful time. The workshop had around 100 participants, and they were exuberant and highly responsive. The debate was intense, and some struggled with […]
Natural disasters, a history of corruption, high population density, and extreme poverty. Am I talking about Haiti or Bangladesh? When the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Port au Prince and brought devastation, the usual providers of humanitarian aid raced to the scene. But this time Bangladesh, long the recipient of such emergency services, is on the giving end. A 30 […]
Poking around the bookshop at the Wellcome Trust, as is my occasional habit, I recently came across a small book, not much bigger than my hand, that, in spite of my seasonal poverty, I knew I had to buy. (I have never quite succeeded in aligning my passion for books with their price, some infant […]
Would you like to contribute to a book on complex chronic disease? The book has been written for the Spanish government, which currently has the presidency of the European Union and wants to draw attention to the importance of complex chronic disease. You probably don’t recognise the term “complex chronic disease,” but it’s actually the […]
After all the formalities, the potential bride’s father asks, “How much?” The father of the groom-to-be lets out a crooked smile and says “Two million rupees”. The bride’s father is tensed. He tries to negotiate. The bargaining goes on and finally a price is agreed between the two and the wedding is fixed. This is […]
A recent review of medication safety revealed a 9% error rate, of which 50% were significant and 2% potentially fatal. Just think of the significance of that for a moment, perhaps between amending drug charts – for every 500 drug orders written by a doctor, 1 patient could die as a result. […]
The government’s dementia strategy, which promises a memory clinic on every corner rather than a chicken in every pot, is not working. That’s not surprising as it’s the easiest thing in the world to come up with grand sounding strategies but one of the hardest to get them implemented. As the economist Alan Maynard says, […]
The fantasy that doctors are primarily concerned with patients and not much at all with money goes deep and is highly reassuring. Everybody was upset by two health ministers – Enoch Powell and Ken Clarke – observing that almost all of their conversations with doctors’ leaders were about money. […]
When she was five, Hannah Jones was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Although successfully treated, the drugs weakened her heart and by the time she was twelve it was clear that without a transplant she would die. She declined the offer. Faced with a major operation of uncertain outcome, the prospect of a lifetime on medication, and […]
I’ve recently caught myself acting irrationally about denture cleaning tablets. Let me explain. I’ve decided to have my teeth straightened. This involves wearing a brace (but as it’s a high-tech one, only for a few weeks). Said brace requires a daily dunking in what the BBC would no doubt call ‘a proprietary denture cleaning solution’ […]