Doctors, where art thou?
Pakistan has a count of 'athara crore awaam’ (thank you, dear politicians, for continuously repeating this in the television talk shows) while the doctor/patient ratio was a mere 1:1,800 in 2010 – that...
View ArticleGoodbye, Dr House
As the saying "all good things come to an end" goes, "House M.D.", the brilliantly written show, ended last week. There have been numerous television dramas over the years based on doctors and...
View ArticleSmartphone healthcare: Your phone is now your medical test lab
What if the next time you step into your doctor’s office for an examination, she reaches into her white coat pocket and pulls out an iPhone instead of a stethoscope? That’s the idea behind smartphone...
View ArticleDoctors vs pharmacists: Selling drugs gets no respect in Pakistan
Ever watched a Bollywood song and wondered why the back-up dancers, who are as pretty as the main actor/actress, fail to catch a glimpse of the limelight? There are some people who feel like this all...
View ArticlePir Sahab’s orders: Don’t breast-feed your child or eat meat
Recently, a two-month old boy, Faizan, was brought to the hospital where I work, by his grandmother. She complained that he suffered from severe diarrhoea. I immediately asked her to bring Faizan’s...
View ArticlePlans never work out… especially when you get cancer
My life was going according to plan; everything was going well. I had passed my first year of pre-medical with marks good enough to get me into a medical college and now my second year was almost over....
View ArticleLessons from a halaqa in the US: There is more to Islam than we ‘think’
A couple of months ago, I was invited to attend a halaqa (Arabic for group study) at a university in the US where I was a visiting medical student for my elective. The halaqa had been organised by the...
View ArticleDoing hash? Think again
During the first week of January 2014, I was surprised to read three different news stories about marijuana – Washington became the first American state to legalise sale of marijuana for adult...
View ArticleGet well soon Edhi sahib, you are one in a million!
Dear Edhi sahib, As you lay in the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation for your routine dialysis, we hear worrying news that you have been admitted in the ICU. Edhi sahib, I am very worried...
View ArticleHis only crime was being an Ahmadi
Ashir is just two-years-old. Yesterday, he was witness to the most horrific tragedy anyone can imagine. His father – a 50-year-old doctor – was brutally murdered in Pakistan. His crime: He belonged to...
View ArticleWhat if your daughter doesn’t want to be a ‘doctor bahu’?
In a recent conversation with a mother to little girls, I asked her what she had planned for her children with regards to their education. I was merely referring to school choices but she told me,...
View ArticleJodi Picoult’s ‘Handle with Care’: Would you tell your daughter you didn’t...
While browsing through the fiction section of a local bookstore, I came across Jodi Picoult’s ‘Handle with Care’. After ‘My Sister’s Keeper’, which was adapted as an award winning motion picture,...
View ArticleGenetically ‘male’ woman gives birth to twins. Great, but did she have to?
A few days back, I read about a medical miracle that occurred in the Indian city of Meerut. I understand that a ‘genetically male’ woman has given birth to twins. A 32-year-old ‘woman’ had a rare...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....