Someone less than familiar with Israel might wonder how during this crisis we handle Israeli Arab patients who walk around the hospital in a bright red kaffieh and use the helicopter pad as a place to pray. After all, we are in the midst of a war just a few miles from the hospital involving […]
Category: Guest writers
Philipp du Cros on drug resistant tuberculosis
My name is Philipp du Cros and I work in the Manson Unit of Médecins Sans Frontières UK, providing assistance to our programmes treating tuberculosis (TB). This year I have worked in five countries in Africa and Asia, with a particular focus on trying to improve care for patients with drug resistant TB. I wanted […]
Peter Lapsley opens up with closing down
I make no apology for beginning with a sad but salutary tale. Governments are charged with spending their health budgets wisely and to best advantage. The prevention of illness – call it “health education” – is a very wise way in which to spend some of the money; far better both for the public and […]
Ohad Oren wants to preserve the beauty of medicine
The news item was embedded in the margin of the paper. “100 Years Ago – In Our Pages,” subtitled “1908: Fraud Beauty Doctor” would have attracted the attention of anyone at least minimally concerned about charlatans, quacks, or fakes in medicine. Originally published on November 6, 1908, the piece in the International Herald Tribune tells […]
Mark Clarfield on a hospital under rocket fire
My hospital, the main institution serving southern Israel, has come under rocket fire since the very first day of the war. As a result, there have been far reaching changes in its functioning. Extra staff: doctors, nurses and orderlies have been added to the emergency room on every shift. All leave has been cancelled. […]
Mark Clarfield at the southern Israeli front
Despite all of the problems working as a doctor in southern Israel during these trying times, life must go on. For example, I really had to get my car serviced today. So despite all the pressure on me to get to work, on my way in I stopped at the Honda garage just a few blocks from […]
Richard Smith: Can poetry define health?
Reflecting on the challenge by Alex Jadad and Laura O’Grady to define health, I begin to conclude that it can’t be captured in a few words. Disease is a simple concept compared with health, and diseases can be defined — but with all the paraphernalia of pathophysiology, epidemiology, symptomatology, and the like. Defining health will […]
Tony Waterston on the situation in Gaza
The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. We deplore the inadequate response of the Israeli and other world governments to the humanitarian crisis. The bombing of an already severely damaged population, half of which are children with a high prevalence of malnutrition, has already led to many hundreds of deaths and disabilities. The health services […]
Vidhya Alakeson on US health reform
As with his presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s approach to health reform will leave little to chance. His strategy for enacting the first major coverage expansion in more than 40 years is starting to take shape. He is building public support for reform early in the hope that it will be enough to counter the opponents of […]
Jeremy Laurance’s top medical development of 2008
What was the most significant medical development of 2008 and holds the greatest promise for 2009 and beyond? There is no shortage of candidates – polyclinics, Lord Darzi’s “once in a generation” next steps review, the windpipe transplant, the gene therapy trial for blindness – to name only a few. […]