An unusually punctual gathering on the dais greeted me at Rotary Club. Thankfully, this was a gathering of unimportant people both on and off the dais; none of those species of “Very Important People” often sporting Anna-like caps were invited to the gathering and things started on time. P Sainath was supposed to be speaking on “Rural India after...

The story was tragic. A Tuberculosis patient from India who died because the system which was expected to provide for his treatment failed to deliver… and then the dessert arrived. The setting? The official dinner of the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research organized at the Montreux Casino. A photo of the dying TB patient formed the background for 20...

Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today -Mahatma Gandhi Some things are better assumed and neglected, than acknowledged and attended to. In public health research, these often find a passing mention in “Discussion” section where findings are explained, and worse still, may be as a...

It is a shameful day in the history of Indian judiciary, when a doctor who stood as a voice for the poor, oppressed and marginalised is polished off in the most unceremonious way to a life in the prison. What is on trial is indeed justice itself in this case. Over the last few years, my feelings went from indifference (here was a doctor and an acclaimed activist; not...

A lot has been said, something has been tried and many reports have been published about the huge North-South divide seen in the world today. The resource-rich, but economically poor global South continues to reel under socio-economic, political and apparently scientific poverty (if research publications are any index of science!). We, the global South have the...

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. - Douglas Adams It was just another among many Novembers for the Head of department of Anatomy at Mysore Medical College. However, it was a special moment for the close to hundred eager minds assembled amidst the dust and echoes in the biochemistry hall. It was here on that...