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| Sunday, November 21, 2010 |
| Quit smoking, for heaven's sake - Dr.Dorai 1992 to 1998 Batch Article in Hindu
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From http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article902024.ece
A 60-year-old man gets admitted to the intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital with complaints of fever and breathlessness for two days. He is diagnosed as a case of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) with respiratory failure, just hours before he knocks at the doors of death. Though he had troublesome respiratory symptoms for many years, and has been moving around consulting more than half-a-dozen doctors, none has made a precise diagnosis of COPD. Had the diagnosis been made earlier, it would have been possible to prolong his life, if not saving him permanently from the icy hands of death.
This is just one example. The bitter truth is that a large number of COPD cases (of course, a few other respiratory diseases too) go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or under-diagnosed and get undertreated/mistreated in our country or rather throughout the globe, leading to permanent complications and poor quality of life thereafter. A simple test called spirometry would make a precise diagnosis of COPD.
According to the World Health Organisation's global estimates, 210 million people have COPD. The rate of morbidity and mortality from COPD will increase over the next 20 years and make COPD the third leading cause of death (currently the fourth) and the fifth leading cause of disability.
I do not underestimate the potential of the Indian medical fraternity, but the slackness with which it deals with respiratory care needs to be modified. This slackness has been utilised, rather misused, by the self-advertising and recently the legally insulated quacks (in the medical field) and the crude and brutal treatment administered by them has added to the burden of respiratory handicaps.
So what is this COPD? A condition where your airway loses its elasticity and becomes rigid, i.e., your airways which are like rubber tubes turn into plastic tubes.
As a result, there is airflow limitation in and out of the lungs, thereby compromising oxygen supply to the whole body. As a result, the person becomes breathless, coughs up, expectorates troubling himself and his loved ones for years before he dies a painful death.
Tobacco smoking is the main culprit behind the cruel damage. However, smoke from other sources has also been implicated but to a lesser extent. An exponential increase in cigarette smoking in the Indian subcontinent has alarmingly increased the prevalence of COPD.
With global warming, the risk of premature death among chronic respiratory patients is up to six times higher than in the rest of the population.
Hence, much has to be done to chase out this social evil. A mere pictorial warning on tobacco products will not help. Healthier lifestyles should be inculcated and reinforced as the kid grows.
Beware: if you kiss a cigarette, it reciprocates by biting your lungs. So those who smoke quit it today, and those who do not never ever think of starting it. Remember, “Lighting up a cigarette would darken your life permanently.” The theme for world COPD day ‘2010-The Year of the Lung: Measure your lung health-Ask your doctor about a simple breathing test called spirometry.'
(The writer is post-graduate student in Thoracic Medicine, Thanjavur Medical College, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. His email id is: drpdorai@yahoo.com)Labels: 1992to1998_Batch, Author, Dorai, Media, MSM_Articles
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posted by புருனோ Bruno @ 7:49 AM   |
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Discussion Forum: At present this post has 0 comments: |
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| Saturday, August 07, 2010 |
| It’s the birthright of your baby !!
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by Dr.P.Dorai (1992 to 1998 Batch) at http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article558112.ece
Let's convince our young mothers that no mammal in the animal kingdom denies its kid breast milk.
Scenario 1: An air-conditioned consultation room with cozy interiors in a metropolitan city. Enters a young mother clad in an ultra modern dress. The consultant paediatrician examines her baby and asks her whether she breastfeeds her exclusively. She chuckles and names a popular brand of infant milk substitute. Will someone please explain how these brands become popular when The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes prevents any form of advertising? Her purse outweighs the doctor's advice and she walks out coolly just to make another ceremonial visit some time later.
Scenario 2: A semi-ventilated room with naked furniture and a bellowing fan in a rural area. A woman in dirty linen, embracing poverty as her religion visits her doctor. Here too, the same question is asked put up indeed with a tinge of nativity. The reply is almost the same, except that the latter utters it with a different accent and pronunciation.
The above instances are not rare phenomena, but rather a common observation in our diverse economic and social setup. In either case, the mother is neither guilty nor heavy-hearted to divulge that she couldn't or doesn't breastfeed her baby.
Irrespective of their social background, women are indeed ignorant of the fact that it is the baby's right to be breastfed. Of course, how can we expect our mothers to be aware of their child's right when they are ignorant of their own? (Does someone whisper that the women's reservation bill is in its final phase?)
How callous have we become over the years to deny a child its nature's share. What is more unfortunate, we are not even aware of the fact that we deny our little ones the right they deserve. I fear that the digitalised civilisation is turning nature's gift alien to our kids.
A woman's bosom (usually in a semi-naked pose) is projected by our media gurus to advertise anything from perfume to fabric, from necklace to automobile. What a ruthless, insensible perverted notion is this! Our silence has been taken as approval by these elements. Had any one cared to acknowledge that it is the organ nature has gifted to secrete elixir?
The transformation from home to house, from mother to mummy and from joint family to nuclear family dictated and maintained by the digital revolution has started taking its toll. In fact, I feel we have committed ethical and traditional suicide. Human values and culture are being constantly buried. A vast majority of our population is steeped in ignorance and subsist in ambiguity without being able to identify what is wrong and what is right.
Let us contemplate what best could be done to mitigate the situation. Is it not our duty to cut down the shackles which have tied up the minds of our fellow womenfolk? Are we not duty-bound to instil the importance of breastfeeding to our young mothers?
Is not breast milk the birthright of the baby? Let's convince our young mothers that no mammal in the animal kingdom denies its kid breast milk.
Our civilisation has learned the art of stealing — three-fourths of cow's milk and leaving one-fourth to the calf. Even with this reduced milk, the calf survives. So how healthy would be the kid, if the mother feeds the baby with her breast?
Goddess Parvathi breastfed baby Thirugnana Sambandhar, a Saivite saint of Tamil Nadu, when he cried out of hunger. The all-powerful almighty didn't find any other means to suppress hunger. She gave him her milk.
Let's remember these axiomatic truths:
Breast milk is a unique and precious gift of nature and has no price.
It helps the infant fight infection and diseases.
It is easily assimilated by the baby due to the perfect combination of protein, lactose and fat.
There are health benefits both for the mother and the child.
Breastfed infants are less prone to childhood obesity than others.
Breastfed infants have a higher IQ than those that are not.
Nursing mothers who breastfeed have a lower risk of acquiring premenopausal breast cancer and decreased risk of uterine and ovarian cancer.
Breast-fed infants are closer to their mothers and feel secure with them more than others. There is a special feeling of bonding between them which cannot be valued by any scale.
(The writer is a doctor based in Tirunelveli and his email is: drpdorai@yahoo.com)Labels: 1992to1998_Batch, Author, Dorai, Media, MSM_Articles
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| posted by புருனோ Bruno @ 6:25 PM |
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Discussion Forum: At present this post has 2 comments: |
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well sid sir. a thought provoking column indeed.
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Dear sir,
We really appreciate your advice!
I think advertisement about breast milk should be continously telecast during all the tele serials.And most importantly we have the responsibilty to advise all of our patients whenever we have the opportunity! Do the people know that most of the mothers in Western countries die to breast feed their babies at any cost? All the obstetricians and paediatricians here stongly promote breast feeding. Thank you
Sheik raiz
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well sid sir. a thought provoking column indeed.