One thing about the current swine flu pandemic is that it has brought with it a universal sense of fear. As with all fears, individuals respond differently, but we know what they are feeling because the sensation of fear, which varies from a mild anxiety to incapacitating panic, is so much part of our constitution that some see it as a normal component of the human condition. more…

I’m excited to have started at the Ola During Children’s Hospital in Freetown, after hearing so much about it from the Welbodi Partnership, the charity I’ll be working for over the next year.

On first impressions, things at the hospital look good.  There are freshly painted wards and uniformed nurses.  There are notices on the wall:  “Drugs for inpatients are now free” (thanks to a German charity).  The outpatient benches are lined with parents and kids, waiting to be called into three consulting rooms.  The observation ward is full of children, one loudly fighting off the advances of a nurse brandishing a cannula. more…

It’s nice to know how others see us. Several weeks ago, a journal editor based in Europe asked my opinion on a contentious paper he had agreed to publish, had posted online, but about which he now had concerns. I told him that I did not have the scientific expertise to provide a thorough review of the methodology.  However, I did know that, some years ago, one of the authors had been erased from the medical register by the GMC. This followed criticism and a complaint by a High Court judge before whom the doctor had given evidence. The basis of the Court’s criticism was regarding the same subject area as the paper which had been sent to me. more…