A large portion of my work as a doctor in Nepal is to treat infections. Even in chronic conditions – COPD, diabetes, malignancy – I find that infectious micro-organisms take the toll more rapidly than the disease itself. It is fascinating how these minute beings have the power to bring human life to a standstill.

Fever without an obvious localising site often presents a diagnostic dilemma here. One of the reasons is that the spectrum of micro-organisms we are dealing with in Nepal is very different from that elsewhere. In a study looking at the etiology of febrile illnesses in adults presented to the Patan Hospital in Kathmandu (Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 70(6), 2004, pp. 670-675), the most common organism isolated was Salmonella enterica (typhi and paratyphi) causing enteric fever. Perhaps this is why some researchers on enteric fever refer to Kathmandu as the “typhoid capital of the world.” more…

Sitting in the comfort of my room and sipping a cup of tea, I listened to Melinda Gates and others this morning – live.  The TedxChange was an event organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and TEDx to mark the tenth anniversary of inception of the millennium development goals. Focused on the theme “The Future We Make”, the event took place in New York City, but was watched by thousands of others, like me, live on the internet.

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The term international medical graduate or IMG, here in the United States (US), applies to those who are applying for a higher medical training in the US but did not graduate from a US medical school. I am an IMG. After completing my medical school from Nepal, I am now in the US with the determination of pursuing my further training in internal medicine here. more…

Last week, more than 3,000 global leaders working in the field of maternal and reproductive health gathered in Washington, D.C for the Women Deliver 2010 conference. With the theme of delivering solutions for girls and women, the conference focused on sharing solutions that can help us achieve the millennium development goals on maternal and reproductive health. more…

Last week I participated in the “Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Workshop” organised by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) in Bangalore, India. We had gathered there to formulate a set of guidelines and protocols for adolescent reproductive health services specific to Asia.  more…

Yesterday, I witnessed a doctor being beaten up at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital of Nepal. The doctor was exiting the hospital grounds when a group of people stopped him. Few words were exchanged and suddenly, one of the persons from the group repeatedly punched and kicked the doctor. The doctor shouted for help. The police rushed in. They stopped the assailant and asked him to leave. No arrest was made. more…

The Oli family had already borrowed a hundred thousand Nepalese rupees (around 800 Pounds) for the treatment of their daughter with epilepsy. They needed more to continue the treatment. Unable to get this money, the parents and the epileptic daughter committed suicide.

Health care has to be paid for by patients or their family in Nepal. Health insurance or government funding of free health care is virtually non-existent. Hence, health care is one of the prime reasons for indebtedness here.  We have all been reading about these statistics here in Nepal since our medical school days. But when once in a while, a family commits suicide or makes it into the news, the numbers and figures suddenly seem to have a different meaning. more…

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 how most of the people tie the knot in my community, the lowlands of Nepal. Although called as the “dowry” or the gift that the bride’s family offers to the groom’s during the marriage, this is usually not a willingly offered gift but a sum of money negotiated in advance.  Many marriages are solely reliant on the amount of these dowries. And guess who are at the forefront for taking these dowries? Doctors! more…

The BMJ has now called for applications for the Clegg Scholarship 2010. So, I think this might be the right time to talk about my own experiences as a Clegg Scholar and how I have fared since then.

If you ask me to name one thing that Clegg Scholarship is all about, I can’t. I might be tempted to say “medical journalism.” But confining it to this domain only would be an injustice to the multitude of opportunities that it provides. more…

The adrenaline rush was unbearable. I could feel my palms sweating. When I tried to clip the microphone on to my coat, my hands were trembling. Eager looking eyes of the audience were pinned on me. I took a deep breath and with my heart still pounding, I said, “Hello everyone!”
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