Tag: kerala
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Using art to educate about breast cancer
Viney KirpalIndia The World Health Organization Global Cancer Observatory states that in India in 2020, more than 178,361 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in women.1 Some of these cases, of which 90,408 were fatal, could have been diagnosed and treated earlier, but a lack of awareness persists throughout the country. Comparatively, in the…
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Sister Kenny: The forgotten Nightingale
Anand Raja Devaraj SushamaKerala, India Medical practices flourish and fall out of favor with time. Some become the norm only to turn redundant later; others prevail after a hard battle for acceptance. A campaign is even more arduous when the proponent is outside the establishment. Sister Elizabeth Kenny and her eponymous polio treatment, the “Kenny…
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Rheumatic fever: Evolution of causal concepts and management
Amogh BJTrivandrum, Kerala, India Nanditha VenkatesanRaipur, Chhattisgarh, India For centuries rheumatic fever (RF) and its sequelae scourged the lives of millions of people. Despite a substantial decline in deaths from the disease, rheumatic heart disease remains a problem, especially in areas of poverty. Over the past few centuries, a growing understanding of its causation and…
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The humanities in a traditional medical school
P. Ravi ShankarAruba, Kingdom of the Netherlands Having been involved with medical humanities for over eight years in medical schools in Nepal and Aruba, I began to think about my own medical education in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The term medical humanities was not in vogue in India during those days, and only…
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Mary Poonen Lukose
K.S. MohindraOttawa, Ontario, Canada In a country where the status of women has been less than impressive, the Indian physician Mary Poonen Lukose blazed fiercely forward in a field dominated by men. Specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, she demonstrated innovation, leadership, and effective organizing capacities, making significant contributions to public health, women’s health, and medicine,…