Last month police in India arrested Saibal Jana, a doctor with 35 years’ experience caring for patients from indigenous and other marginalised rural communities. The arrest was made on the grounds that he absconded by not attending hearings for a court case filed 24 years ago. The case involved 52 people implicated in an agitation for […]
Category: South Asia
Sunil K Pandya: The Indian Medical Council’s new code of ethics favours industry
The Medical Council of India is entrusted with the task of maintaining high standards in medical education and practice. Its code for professional conduct was recently modified. One would expect an improvement, but the Council, has again decided to prioritise those with clout in the medical profession, in the form of doctors’ professional associations, and […]
Soumyadeep Bhaumik’s review of South Asian medical papers—March 2016
Can direct observation of treatment (DOT) for childhood TB be done by a family member instead of the current system where it is done by healthcare workers in DOTS facilities? A trial in India aimed to answer this question which might have a significant impact on overburdened health systems and on the economic costs associated […]
Prashant Jha: The BMJ’s free access trial for South Asian content
In 2015, at the BMJ South Asia Awards in Mumbai, we announced a plan to open up access to content relevant to South Asia for readers of The BMJ from the region. Since November 2015, online readers from any of the eight countries in the South Asian region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan […]
Oommen C Kurian: Should India lift its ban on prenatal sex testing?
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), the flagship scheme of India’s ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD), is trying to address a declining child sex ratio—919 females per thousand males in 2011—by focusing on the worst-performing states across the country. Earlier this week, the ministry announced a substantial expansion of the scheme, now covering quarter of the country. […]
Soumyadeep Bhaumik’s review of South Asian medical papers—February 2016
We are now officially in a new era of global health—the era of the Sustainable Development Goals. The month of January saw the publication of some papers from South Asia which provides an opportunity to learn from the previous era of Millennium Development Goals. […]
Aeesha NJ Malik: Improving children’s eye health in Pakistan
1.5 million children in Pakistan are blind. Many from eye diseases which are preventable and treatable. Often children don’t know they have a vision problem because they assume they see the way everyone around them sees. However childhood visual impairment or blindness has a huge impact—its effects last a lifetime and affect not just the […]
Chris Baker: Child obesity in India? Tell me something I don’t know!
In recent years an abundance of observational studies have drawn attention to the rising prevalence of child overweight and obesity in India. A recent meta-analysis of studies in South Asia, including 57 datasets from India, concluded that 14% of children and adolescents were overweight, with the more affluent and those in urban areas being at […]
Soumyadeep Bhaumik’s review of South Asian medical papers—January 2016
“Study the past if you would define the future,” said the great Chinese philosopher Confucius, and what better way to start the year than to look back at what happened in the past year in South Asian research as we lay the foundations for 2016. Last year saw quite a few papers on what has always […]
Vithika Pande: Lessons from dais—can we learn from traditional systems?
Many attempts have been made recently to better understand the social determinants of health (World Health Organization report “Commission on Social Determinants of Health). However, understanding health from a cultural lens is equally important and it is essential to consider this while designing health policies and programs. In India there has been a rich and diverse set […]