RIFLE RANGE BOY

Doctor in The Dock (2022) Author: Ariza Mohamed  I have known Staff Nurse (SN) Theresa since 1988. She embodies what I perceive as a true manifestation of the lady with the lamp. Though she may not be the social reformer and statistician that Florence Nightingale was or her contemporary, the flamboyant Mrs Mary Seacole, the nurse who nursed convalescing Crimean War soldiers to health, she did her own share of saving lives. Growing up in an orphanage, Theresa felt a need to repay society. She did not see the need for a family of her own. "The world already has enough children and enough broken families!" She commented once. Outside her regular busy duties at the Maternity Ward of a public hospital, she managed to squeeze time for inmates of an orphanage, old folks' home and church. Her dedication at work was exemplary, earning the best employee award many times over. She would go out of the line of duty to help her parturient patients, even teaching them the minor points...

George Bernard Shaw is said to have said, "whenever you wish to do anything against the law, always consult a good solicitor first." At a time when the law is often called upon to decide the appropriateness of the action of one in power, doing the right thing in the eyes of the law is more important than ever. It used to be that wars were planned by generals and executed by soldiers with the national leaders as their chief commander. Not anymore now. Over the years, it is increasingly evident that members of the legal fraternity play an ever-important central role in the targeting and other military operations. They are known as war lawyers. Since after World War 2, the world started looking at how badly humans treat each other in the name of defence of ideology. They realised the dire need to dictate how to act 'humanely' in the face of conflict; how to behave with civility looking at the mouth of impending death! Law was applied for this purpose. The War Lawyers int...

Sir Robert Hutchison Father of clinical methods A friend, during our stint as house officers, told me about an incident that happened during his medical student days when he was studying in Manipal, India. An American elective medical student had joined the group's ward rounds. The old Professor of Medicine was showing them the correct technique of examining the respiratory system. He laboriously punctuated the teaching rounds by asking basic science questions and snarling occasional sarcastic remarks, for not understanding the basics. He was showing the green medical students the art of inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. The American student, failing to see the point of such a laborious examination of a single patient, raised his hand. "Professor, wouldn't it be better if we just send the patient for a chest X-ray?" he quipped. That is the state of medicine now. We have lost the art of practising medicine. It is just about diagnostic proc...

Courtesy: Zee News Stemmed a mob in Kolkatta cracked the skull of a  doctor  when his 76-year-old patient with myocardial ischemia and  arrhythmia succumbed to his ailment.  Incidentally, the victim  is  from a minority group.  That makes it difficult for politicians  to make the  'correct' decision . There was a time when it was noble to treat the sick and downtrodden. People who had 'failed' in life, i.e., failed to live up to the expectations beset by the society, would find solace is serving the infirm. It was considered virtuous to live amongst and care for sick. Father Damien cared for lepers, contracted leprosy and was canonised. Florence Nightingale spent sleepless nights holding vigil in her ward to minimise morbidity. Mother Teresa left the comforts of her hometown to answer her call among the poor of Calcutta.   In public life, many non-religious individuals sacrificed time and energy to establish medical ...

Captain America: Civil War (2016 ) #Scenario 1: At the edge of Sahara Desert, in front of a small district hospital.  After a whole month of travelling on camel backs in a convoy with no untoward incidents, a Bedouin lady just collapsed much to the excitement of the entire village. Long story short, the lady had a ruptured tubal pregnancy, underwent a laparotomy and went back home smiling. #Scenario 2: FG was draughted to help out in a small town at the edge of the country when a cholera epidemic hit the state. After attending to the needs of the ever-escalating number of victims, it was snooze time. At an unearthly hour of 3 am, the ethereal time between slumber and wakefulness, the phone rang off the hook. A desperate sounding staff nurse was frantically looking for helping hand. A parturient mother had been laboriously trying to expel her offspring since midnight but in vain. The elusive endpoint appeared so near yet so far. Hearing that a new young doctor from the to...