Re: Bring back good quality paper in the print BMJ
Do not drop the BMJ paper edition entirely - it is read in the bush in Africa
Commenting on Dr Fred Kavalier’s plea for better quality paper in the print BMJ [1] Dr David Carvier says we “should dispense totally with the print BMJ” (21st October) and that this “would perhaps even lead to a small reduction in membership fees” [2]. He states that not many of the 140,000 BMA members who receive their journal weekly can be without on line facilities “if not at work, then at home”. I myself have not been without a weekly BMJ since I qualified at Westminster Hospital School of Medicine in 1959. Indeed I had an airmail edition of the BMJ and The Lancet flown out to me in Africa which I made available to colleagues for wider readership. And now, more than 50 years a continuous BMA member (6142830) and because of which I was graciously made a Fellow (001837) I continue to receive the BMJ entirely free of charge, with no subscription fee whatever, and I make it available to the University of Cape Coast in Ghana where, though on line facilities abound, electricity interruptions have been known to occur seven times within 24 hours.
I would be most grateful if Dr David Carvier and others who may sometimes feel like throwing their print BMJ copies away could send them to The Registrar [Attention Mr Andy Lumor], Universities of Ghana Overseas Office, 321 City Road, London EC1 1LJ (Telephone 0207 713 5776). Generations of medical undergraduates and postgraduates in Ghana would be greatly in your debt if you could do that.
Competing Interest: None declared.
Felix I D Konotey-Ahulu MD (Lond) FRCP DTMH Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell and Other Haemoglobinopathies, 9 Harley Street, Phoenix Hospital Group, London W1G 9AL.
Rapid Response:
Re: Bring back good quality paper in the print BMJ
Do not drop the BMJ paper edition entirely - it is read in the bush in Africa
Commenting on Dr Fred Kavalier’s plea for better quality paper in the print BMJ [1] Dr David Carvier says we “should dispense totally with the print BMJ” (21st October) and that this “would perhaps even lead to a small reduction in membership fees” [2]. He states that not many of the 140,000 BMA members who receive their journal weekly can be without on line facilities “if not at work, then at home”. I myself have not been without a weekly BMJ since I qualified at Westminster Hospital School of Medicine in 1959. Indeed I had an airmail edition of the BMJ and The Lancet flown out to me in Africa which I made available to colleagues for wider readership. And now, more than 50 years a continuous BMA member (6142830) and because of which I was graciously made a Fellow (001837) I continue to receive the BMJ entirely free of charge, with no subscription fee whatever, and I make it available to the University of Cape Coast in Ghana where, though on line facilities abound, electricity interruptions have been known to occur seven times within 24 hours.
I would be most grateful if Dr David Carvier and others who may sometimes feel like throwing their print BMJ copies away could send them to The Registrar [Attention Mr Andy Lumor], Universities of Ghana Overseas Office, 321 City Road, London EC1 1LJ (Telephone 0207 713 5776). Generations of medical undergraduates and postgraduates in Ghana would be greatly in your debt if you could do that.
Competing Interest: None declared.
Felix I D Konotey-Ahulu MD (Lond) FRCP DTMH Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell and Other Haemoglobinopathies, 9 Harley Street, Phoenix Hospital Group, London W1G 9AL.
felix@konotey-ahulu.com
1 Kavalier Fred. Bring back good quality paper in the print BMJ. BMJ 345: doi.10.1136/bmj.e6396
2 Carvel David. Drop the BMJ paper edition entirely. Rapid Response 21 October 2012
Competing interests: No competing interests