Much has been made recently about the appalling rates of open defecation in India, a country that has on other development indicators shown stunning successes. Almost 600 million people in […]
South Asia
Richard Lehman’s journal review—22 September 2014
NEJM 18 September 2014 Vol 371 1100 The way I have ureteric colic is so classical that just watching me sweat and groan is enough for anyone to make the […]
The BMJ Today: Medicines have a new competitor—gamification
Gamification is a theory, not just a trend. It is the use of game mechanics to solve real world problems, and that includes those that originate in the body. If […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—15 September 2014
NEJM 11 September 2014 Vol 371 1016 Ticagrelor has had mixed fortunes since it was introduced as a new thienopyridine platelet aggregation inhibitor a few years ago. The PLATO trial […]
Roy K Philip: New “Kerala model” on alcohol policy: Great public health initiative or an “alco-pops” repeat?
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]