Stories

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  • A Palestinian Israeli Doctor

    A Palestinian Israeli Doctor

    Dr Abuelaish was no ordinary doctor. He was a rare Palestinian who had trained and worked in an Israeli hospital.

  • Dev Anand’s tryst as a doctor

    Dev Anand’s tryst as a doctor

    For many of us, Dev Anand is a part of old memories of younger days. The impact of films on our lives has been huge. We often locate events in our childhood and younger days to movies, scenes dialogues and songs from films

  • Anatomy of a murder

    Anatomy of a murder

    What followed Kerala doctor Vandana Das’s death is textbook default responses. There was immediate horror and indignation. Also much high-pitched discussion and lament about poor security in hospitals. Some of it is an understandable fallout of doctors feeling insecure

  • Running for our lives

    Running for our lives

    The value of brisk walking, jogging and running as a low resource form of exercise should make it the exercise of choice for countries like India. But this is not easy, especially in urban India. Mumbai is a classic example of a severe challenge to accessing open spaces and running tracks

  • F minus to F Plus

    F minus to F Plus

    Objective health journalism is at a challenging cusp. It is needed much more than before and yet is under threat as never before. And as Justice Srikrishna observed at the RedInk awards, the media and the judiciary are our final bulwarks.

  • The Sukoon Hospital

    The Sukoon Hospital

    Many of us may not have the fortune of a sudden death while we are asleep. Nilaya is somewhat easy to translate in English. Home or abode. Many of us may be lucky to have one. It is Sukoon that is difficult. Both to translate and experience.

  • Remembrance of things past and uneasy

    Remembrance of things past and uneasy

    Should Mumbai and other Indian cities have a public memorial to those who died of Covid? After all many needn’t have? What should such a memorial be like?

  • Why I still remember Bed No 10 after decades

    Why I still remember Bed No 10 after decades

    A recent dahi handi death brought back memories of a young man who had to spend his last months in a hospital bed.

  • A difficult history question on independence day

    A difficult history question on independence day

    In a modern nation’s collective consciousness, its Independence Day is an uplifting landmark. But as the nation matures, it could also be a juncture to take stock of where we are. And even raise uncomfortable questions.

  • Mumbai’s best hospital

    Mumbai’s best hospital

    Which is the best hospital in Mumbai? For most ordinary Mumbaikars, this is a facile question. Even unkind and inappropriate. Choosing a hospital for the poor is largely about something they can afford.

  • A doctor and a scientist - Dr RD Lele

    A doctor and a scientist - Dr RD Lele

    Dr R D Lele passed away a few days ago. Though I had few opportunities to interact directly with him, I had a chance to see his work in nuclear medicine, listen to his talks and read some of his writings.

  • A different Ganesha

    A different Ganesha

    If Mayor Kishore Pednekar even partly implements what she said, it could be Ganesha’s best gift to his devotees. He will live up to his reputation as the god who demolishes obstacles.

  • What I would have liked to ask the Sexpert

    What I would have liked to ask the Sexpert

    I had not performed a circumcision for years. Anyway, the young man recovered well. I sent a note to Dr Watsa thanking him for the referral. Then something strange happened

  • The sense of an ending

    The sense of an ending

    Many things around us are ending. 2020 for example. But as long as we know that it’s not the end but just a sense of an ending, we can even savour the moment.

  • Don’t cry for me Argentina

    Don’t cry for me Argentina

    The little-known story of the unknown Argentinian cardiac surgeon, who devised the world's most famous surgery - the cardiac, or coronary bypass.

  • The small warriors of a big pox

    The small warriors of a big pox

    Those who survived smallpox were lucky. For the rest of us, the only reminder of the disease is the pockmarked faces that we still see. There was nothing small about smallpox, though.

  • Lage Raho Munnabhai

    Lage Raho Munnabhai

    Last week, I had that standard call for advice but with a new twist. After the usual pleasantries, I was asked, “My daughter is deciding her future. Do you think she should be pursuing medicine as a career?

  • A quiet Diwali wish

    A quiet Diwali wish

    Despite judiciary and state intervention, is there enough awareness amongst ordinary citizens how their occasional chance of public enjoyment and assertion is harmful to others is another thing? A sensitive subject explored

  • Scapegoats of our being

    Scapegoats of our being

    When we examine the belly of patients with abdominal-pain, we are taught to carefully look for scars. These convey important information. Interestingly, scars also bear testimony to several cultural and surgical trends of certain periods of history.

  • The patient behind the curtain

    The patient behind the curtain

    As the junior most house surgeon at a Mumbai public hospital in the ’80s one almost sleepwalked through work. But even from that foggy memory some incidents come back in a flash, triggered by current events. This is one of them.