Health Adda

Overweight Indians may have some cause to cheer as a recent study on one million Asians surprisingly failed to find an increased risk to life of Indians and Bangladeshis who had increased Body-mass Indiex (BMI). Body Mass Index, a measure of whether a person’s weight is appropriate for his or her height, has become a standard measure across the world, of an individual’s health. You can calculate it by dividing your weight (in Kg) by the square of your height (in metre), or simply by feeding your height and weight and getting it from a calculator available on several websites (try www.gastroindia.net ). Despite the problems of defining what is “normal” in population studies, a BMI range of 20-25 has long been held as the one associated with the least risk of dealth, while progressively higher risk has been observed in overweight ( BMI 25-30)   and obese   (BMI more than 30) individuals, mainly due to   increased frequency of heart disease and cancer. A recent study publ...

Of all India’s paradoxes, the weirdest seems to be the way it provides health care to its people. W hile it offers high-end care to medical tourists as well as Indians who are able to afford the high costs, millions of Indians continue to have limited or no access to basic healthcare. Responding to this challenge and listening to the calling of their profession, a band of dedicated young Indian doctors have started providing medical help to those who need it most, at the cost of their studies, careers and comfort.  Called “Doctors For You (DFY)”, this group shot into fame recently when they were awarded the “best medical team in a crisis zone” award by the prestigious British Medical Journal group for helping victims of the 2008 Bihar floods. When millions were rendered homeless during the Kosi floods in Bihar, DFY deployed 110 of its members to treat villagers for diarrhea, chest infections, snake bites, typhoid and malaria. During the 6 months the group treated around 130,000 pa...

Some heroes do not get to have their pictures splashed in newspapers, but become heroes all the same. As they say, ‘Everyone can become a hero, only the radius may differ’. Take Ramesh for example. He is a 46 year old male nurse in the nephrology department of SGPGIMS. During his youth he did what many of us did in our teens and twenties: hung around with friends around ‘nukkars’ and in front of cubbyhole cigarette shops (there was no gutka then), got coaxed by peers to try that first puff, coughed and choaked but went back to prove our manliness, took to it to gain acceptance of our friends, made it a habit, and finally got hooked and became daily smokers. Ramesh’s addiction took him to become a chain smoker, puffing  40 cigarettes a day, and finding it difficult to do without tobacco for long stretches. His wife, Jorgen’s repeated reminders, pleas and naggings fell on his ears like water on a duck’s back. Then came his two lovely children, Renata and Renee (now 19 and 14) who so...