Category: mbbshacker.blogspot.com

Scihub is being sued in Indian courts by the journal industry. There are some people worried about it. But it is funny how our knowledge system works. Take this tweet for example: Scientific publishing sure is rigged & broken. But hoping that the very bandicoots that are getting fat from the status quo will take…

Lumbar puncture is a fascinating procedure. It is cheap, it can be done in relatively remote places, and it can be learnt easily given access to enough people who need it. LP has an incredible role in the management of many complications related to HIV. I’ve heard stories about how there used to be 5…

Social media has made our private life public. Facebook, Instagram, even WhatsApp (through stories) thrive on users generating engaging content. Often this content is snaps from daily life. A picture is worth a thousand words, yet can be generated in a second. Image centered social media platforms rely on this to keep themselves going. What…

It is the worst of times. Science is suffering an identity crisis. The world is in dire need of science. Science isn’t used to being rushed. “It is a giant and slow churn”, said a friend once, “and spews a breakthrough once in a while”. Is it possible to make the process faster? That’s what…

There is a viewpoint in JAMA published under the title: “The Moral Determinants of Health” a couple of weeks ago. I went through it and don’t claim to understand it fully. But because there is a draft I’m working on about health as a fundamental human right, I think I understand what the author was…

A couple of days back Glenmark made a press release about Favipiravir which made it sound like they have a “game-changer” and “magic bullet” (according to various media houses). This was based on little evidence about its benefit. There is virtually nothing in public domain that shows that Favipiravir is useful in COVID. CDSCO explicitly…

There is this nytimes article about how one pregnant lady who was also breathless couldn’t find appropriate care despite going to multiple hospitals. I find it nothing surprising. Our country’s public health system has never been able to provide appropriate care to people with medical emergencies (or for that matter, any health issue). Maybe now…

I received from a friend a PDF which happened to be Glenmark’s press release about Favipiravir. The release is full of claims that make it sound like Favipiravir is a wonder drug that is going to solve COVID problems. It becomes my responsibility to refute some of these claims, considering how majority media outlets are…

Under the JK Rowling tweet about “erasing the concept of sex“, I found an interesting article: You Can’t Be a Feminist Without Acknowledging Biological Sex. It brings up an interesting point: The existence of people born with Syndactyly, for example, does not mean that humans don’t normally have 10 fingers and 10 toes. I think…

“Resource-limited settings” is a term that I’ve to now reconsider. I have used it in the past to talk about Vivekananda Memorial Hospital. But when I think about it from the perspective that this article brings, VMH was the most resource rich hospital I’ve seen. Sure, there may not have been a ventilator ICU or…