Wednesday was an unusual day for the prime minister of Nepal. Right when he was about to leave for the capital from Nepalgunj in his helicopter, he received a call from one his acquaintances pleading to air-rescue a pregnant woman with placental haemorrhage from Rukum, a remote hilly district of Nepal.

And so a rescue mission started. The prime minister postponed a cabinet meeting and flew to Rukum and the lady with the haemorrhage was air-lifted to Kathmandu. more…

Last week was a research-filled week for me. Two biomedical papers to review in the early part of the week and the South Asian Forum for Health Research (SAFHeR) meeting towards the end. Could not ask for more. more…

There is a famous proverb in Nepali which says we learn something either by reading about it or by facing it. I prefer the latter because of the everlasting impression that “facing something” leaves, in contrast to the hazy-sketchy memories of reading. I have been reading about HIV and AIDS since my first year in my medical school but never have I really thought beyond my textbooks until earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur at the 22nd East Asian Medical Students’ Conference (EAMSC). It was at this conference that I really saw HIV from different perspectives which changed my own perception of this condition. more…

Thamel is a busy tourist hub in Kathmandu. Its streets are lined by numerous shops, massage centres, bars, pubs, hotels, restaurants and even strip clubs, popularly known as dance restaurants. Life in Thamel begins with nightfall. This nightlife used to continue throughout the night. But not any more. A new directive by the home ministry requires that all night businesses should close by 11 pm. The ministry says its prime reason for doing so is to curb the sex trade. more…

I have just read a BMJ news story about doctors being beaten up in Nepal for the death of a patient. While this may seem to be quite shocking for the western society, it is an everyday reality for us, medicos, living and practising in Nepal.

Over the past five years such incidents have been occurring at regular intervals. As rightly mentioned in the article, high expectation from a doctor is one of the prime reasons for violent behaviour on the part of relatives of a patient. Doctors are seen as god in the Nepalese society. The popular belief is that they can treat and cure any condition. Hence, nothing can and should go wrong after a patient is brought to a hospital. And if it does, it is because the doctor did not try hard enough. And with this thought comes anger which leads to violence. more…

My attention was drawn to a story in yesterday’s Guardian newspaper about alleged abuse of eleven Iraqis by British soldiers, coming less than a month after the BMJ covered a press conference organised by Physicians for Human Rights, which I attended. more…

“I want to live”, read the caption to the life-size photograph of a young man attached to the dialysis machine. I had seen this photograph at a hospital gate in Nepal almost everyday for three months before I came to London two weeks ago, and it is likely that it is still there. Surprisingly, he is not asking anyone to donate him a kidney. He has already found a suitable donor. All he is asking for is money to cover the travel, transplantation and drug costs. more…