Sunday 19 July 2015

Why the Rotavac controversy probably shouldn't be one

My article in Firstpost that examines the arguments of a researcher who says the Rotavac clinical trial data points to a high risk of side effects from the vaccine. No paywall, so please read. http://www.firstpost.com/living/doubts-rotavac-anti-diarrhoea-vaccine-may-overblown-2349788.html

Monday 13 July 2015

Interview with an anti-medical-corruption crusader

The president of the Punjab Medical Council (PMC) is an year into his job now, but has been written about in several news publications for his actions against corrupt doctors. One much-publicized achievement of his is his action against ghost teachers at medical colleges: doctors who don't work full-time at colleges, but pretend to, after taking money from the college. Then, they appear at college premises during inspections by the Medical Council of India, allowing the colleges to meet regulatory requirements for faculty numbers and to receive clearance for functioning. Grewal, the new president of PMC, has rounded up 400 such teachers and has initiated action against them.

The problem is that Grewal inherits a broken system of state medical councils that hardly function, as he has himself admitted. He also faces opposition from within his own council, some members of which say Grewal isn't doing as much as he claims. Plus, all news reports about him portray him as a one-man-army against corruption. All these are expected problems when one is taking on a problem as massive and systemic as medical corruption in India. This makes Grewal's work truly commendable, although it also raises questions about the sustainability of his approach, If all his actions as president of the Punjab Medical Council (PMC) are merely those of a single conscientious individual, the PMC will revert to its formal state once his tenure ends. It is a story that has been repeated an untold number of times in the Indian medical scene (consider the dissolution of the MCI after the Ketan Desai scam. The MCI was reconstituted again, but problems continue to persist).

I interviewed Grewal for The BMJ and tried to find out how much he is doing and can do as a president for three years to mitigate medical corruption in Punjab. Here is a link (paywalled) to the interview:  http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3694