Health Adda

Of the many things patients have taught me is why they like some hospitals and hate others. You will find streams of grateful patients in a shabby government hospital for in stance, while there would be many who would choke on their drinks in a party with the mere mention of that hospital’s name. The factor that seems to sway opinion most is the final outcome of an index patient; if he was brought in moribund and finally walk out, then all the dirty linen, the “paan” stained corridors, the constant drone of mosquitoes and the rude words from nurses are often forgiven, and the hospital assumes the symbol of a new life. If the end goes awry, as often it does in a referral hospital where critically ill patients are shunted to, the hospital becomes blotched in the minds of relatives and friends across generations. But how do first timers, who have often come in for a consultation or procedure react to a new hospital? The initial impressions often prove crucial. Was the entrance clean and ...

Around 10 million people in India are unknowingly consuming high levels of arsenic in their water,  with  many showing signs of chronic poisoning. A recent investigation showed that the ground water (wells, deep tube wells) of several parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar contain far higher levels of arsenic than is considered safe and permissible for human consumption. The plight of people residing in these regions came to light due to the dark spots and patches on their skins and by their rough and scaly palms and soles. People from adjacent regions could smell there was something wrong with inhabitants of some villages and declined marrying into these homes out of fear of some infection. While the disease is not infectious, arsenosis, as it is called in medical science, is a disease that is being increasingly recognized across the world. Geographical regions with high arsenic content in ground water and human inhabitants of the regions showing a characteristic disease p...

Indian children, being loyal to their parents in contrast to their Western counterparts, are often diffident to blame them for their misery during exams. In Manthan 2012, an inter-school debate organized by HOPE Initiative, in which 100 high-school students from 43 schools participated, several children finally admited to what their teachers had always suspected: the main source of stress during exam times was in fact, their parents. Researchers have noted that the phenomenon of exam stress occurs more often in the Eastern hemisphere, especially in countries such as India, Japan and Korea. It has its origin in the aspiration of parents to see their children better-settled and financially secure. Paradoxical as it may sound, this parental desire that claims several hundred lives every year by suicides, often stems from their concern for the welfare of their children, a sentiment that abounds in Indian parents. It also has roots in unfulfilled desires or yearning to see their children c...