Category: History of Medicine

History · History of Medicine · Medicine & Doctors · Public health · Recommended movies, books etc.

The history of medicine in India: Some reading recommendations for doctors and other healthcare practitioners

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Over the last two years I have fortunately had the time and resources to read some excellent scholarship on the history of medicine and public health in India. These books and articles have immensely helped me to understand the historical beginnings and trajectories of the different aspects of healthcare in our country. For example, one… Continue reading The history of medicine in India: Some reading recommendations for doctors and other healthcare practitioners

Culture & Life · History · History of Medicine · Public health

The “oppressive” history of family planning and population control in India

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I wrote this for Swaddle on July 8 2018. Here is the original article. I based it primarily on the book ‘Reproductive Restraints: Birth Control in India, 1877-1947’ by historian Sanjam Ahluwalia of Northern Arizona University Below are some excerpts: Birth control began in India not as a free choice by individuals to manage their fertility, but as… Continue reading The “oppressive” history of family planning and population control in India

History · History of Medicine · Medicine & Doctors

Dr PK Sen in 1968 – India’s first heart transplant in the time of Nehruvian science and self-reliance

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This was published in thewire.in on 30th June 2018. Here is the full article, and below is an extract. “When Sen decided to make cardiovascular history around early 1968, large scientific projects had already entered public imagination as modern ‘temples’ a la Nehru. In fact he had previously performed India’s first ever operation on the heart… Continue reading Dr PK Sen in 1968 – India’s first heart transplant in the time of Nehruvian science and self-reliance

History of Medicine · Medicine & Doctors · Public health

Inviting doctors and patients to share experiences and thoughts

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A project on the history of the patient-doctor relationship in contemporary India: My name is Kiran Kumbhar. I am an MBBS graduate from BJ Govt Medical College, Pune (2010), and have previously worked in Pune, Ratnagiri, Mumbai, and Delhi as medical officer and non-PG resident doctor. Currently I am a PhD student at Harvard University,… Continue reading Inviting doctors and patients to share experiences and thoughts

History of Medicine · Medicine & Doctors

The medical gaze / clinical gaze concept by Michel Foucault

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Michel Foucault is well known to researchers and readers in several fields, esp sociology, anthropology, history, and philosophy. Many of his ideas also have to do with another field – medicine – though most doctors, nurses and other healthcare practitioners, at least in my home country India, have hardly heard about him. To be sure,… Continue reading The medical gaze / clinical gaze concept by Michel Foucault

History · History of Medicine · Politics

Black Money and White Violence: How 2016 India Brings Back Dark Memories of Colonized India

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This piece was published in TheWire.in on January 4 2016. Here is the link. Below is an excerpt: “While such absurd colonial arguments do not exist, the colonial attitude surely does, even today. It is this attitude that makes ‘digital India’ devalue the lives of those it refuses to empathise with – the millions of… Continue reading Black Money and White Violence: How 2016 India Brings Back Dark Memories of Colonized India

History · History of Medicine · Politics · Public health

Black Money and the Black Death: What The Indian Govt Can Learn from the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897

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This was published on Nov 24, in theWire.in. Here is the link. Below is an extract: [Just like the demonetisation policy] It was a hastily drafted Bill, barely a page long, but ‘extending to the whole of British India’ and coming into force immediately. It was referred to a Select Committee (of four British and two… Continue reading Black Money and the Black Death: What The Indian Govt Can Learn from the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897

History · History of Medicine · Medicine & Doctors

When India’s ‘National Doctor’ Was Denied Service By an American Restaurant

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I wrote this article on the occasion of National Doctors’ Day in India (July 1). It was published in ‘thewire.in’. Here is the link. Below is an excerpt: Satyajit Ray and Pather Panchali – Satyajit Ray had to struggle to fund his film Pather Panchali, later on a world-famous venture. After several dead-ends, his mother… Continue reading When India’s ‘National Doctor’ Was Denied Service By an American Restaurant