The Indian state of Kerala has the highest alcohol consumption per head in India (8.3 litres against the national average of 4 litres,[1] while also being credited with the highest literacy rate (including female literacy),[2] best social indicators, and best infant mortality.[3] Kerala has the historical mix of influences from the spice trade, its early […]
Category: South Asia
Richard Lehman’s journal review—8 September 2014
NEJM 4 Sep 2014 Vol 371 892 A terrific piece by Rita Redberg discusses sham controls in medical device trials. Whenever sham procedures are used in the control arms of such trials (or in surgical trials generally) they reveal a huge placebo effect. For example, renal denervation therapy produced huge sustained falls in recorded blood […]
Veena Rao: India’s getting closer to a national programme to address malnutrition
There’s good news finally. India’s new government announced in its budget speech, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley on July 10 2014, that: “A national programme in mission mode is urgently required to halt the deteriorating malnutrition situation in India, as present interventions are not adequate. A comprehensive strategy including detailed methodology, costing, time lines, […]
Saurabh Jha: The sunnier side of India’s free market for medical imaging
What would medical care be like in a genuine free market? Nobel laureates in economics have opposing views. But does India have the answer? There, healthcare has a strong private sector: patients usually pay directly and the insurance industry is just emerging. Milton Friedman believed that markets would work just fine in healthcare. Kenneth Arrow […]
The BMJ Today: Bladder cancer—things can only get better
As diseases go, bladder cancer has a pretty raw deal. It lacks the attention and research funding given to other urological cancers (I’m looking at you prostate cancer), and—perhaps most worryingly—it is the only one of the top 10 cancers in the UK for which survival is getting worse. One particular problem is delayed diagnosis, […]
The BMJ Today: Debating transparency, in research and practice
The UK Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine lent its support for greater transparency in clinical trials, according to a News article on thebmj.com. President of the faculty Keith Bragman said, “We have a responsibility to patients.” The announcement came alongside publication of a survey of nearly 400 of its members, of which nearly two thirds reported […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—1 September 2014
NEJM 21-28 August 2014 Vol 371 711 I have a new little grandson called Timothy. He is lucky being born in August because respiratory syncytial virus generally lies low at this time of the year. Most babies get RSV at some stage of their first year, and the earlier they get it the worse it […]
The BMJ Today: When money and medicine mix
Earlier this year, The BMJ published an editorial urging doctors in India to fight back against corruption in medicine. Kickbacks and bribes are a global problem but India, “with rampant corruption at all levels, is prominent in this international field,” the authors wrote. Since the publication of the editorial in June, the article has been accessed […]
The BMJ Today: If wishes were sustainable development goals
Fourteen years ago, leaders from across the world came together at the United Nations headquarters in New York to pledge their efforts towards achieving eight targets for global development. Together, these targets became known as the millennium development goals or MDGs (with three of them directly devoted to a health objective). Since then, The BMJ, […]
The BMJ Today: Ebola, Edinburgh, edifices
Ebola and the forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence have, among other things, spared UK national newspaper editors the anxiety of how to fill column inches in the “silly season” month of August. The BMJ can at least drop a print and iPad issue, as it is doing this week, but we and other general medical […]