Making medicine marginalised friendly: Need for appropriate intervention
Medicine usually fails the marginalised people, observes Richard
Smith [1]. Not just medicine. Every technology man has invented so far has
done that and will continue to do that. In recent writings I have shown
how information and communication technologies (ICTs) have exacerbated not
only the rich-poor divide between nations but also further marginalises
the already marginalised people within nations [2]. Rev. Jesse Jacksons
has drawn attention to how ICTs have led to deepening the racial divide in
the USA [3].
A few years ago, I had shown with ample data on morbidity and
mortality and research papers published by Indian medical researchers that
much of medical research carried out in India is not in areas where it is
most needed [4]. It pays to work on rich man's diseases!
The idea of paying special attention to "the poor and mean and lowly"
has been emphasised all through human history by noble souls like Jesus
Christ, and in recent times, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Yet it is a
belief that is constantly forgotten by most of the rest of us.
Both human nature and technology need appropriate external
intervention if they were to behave in a manner that is beneficial to the
large mass of humanity. For Richard Smith, the appropriate external
intervention that can drive medicine in the right direction is in the
package "professional and political leadership, unceasing commitment from
the top, a clear vision of what is needed, resources, and a strategic
approach" and the intervention that can correct human nature is for
doctors to rediscover the religious underpinning of medicine while
operating in an increasingly secular world. I cannot agree with him more.
In support of his case, Smith quotes from the Corinthians. Let me
recall what Gandhi had said: "Recall the face of the poorest and the
weakest man whom you have seen, and ask yourself, if the steps you
contemplate are going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by
it? Will it restore to him control over his own life and destiny?"
References
1. Smith R. Medicine and the marginalised. BMJ 1999; 319:1589-1590
2. Arunachalam S. Information and knowledge in the age of electronic
communication: a developing country perspective. Journal of Information
Science, 1999; 25: 465-476.
Rapid Response:
Making medicine marginalised friendly: Need for appropriate intervention
Medicine usually fails the marginalised people, observes Richard
Smith [1]. Not just medicine. Every technology man has invented so far has
done that and will continue to do that. In recent writings I have shown
how information and communication technologies (ICTs) have exacerbated not
only the rich-poor divide between nations but also further marginalises
the already marginalised people within nations [2]. Rev. Jesse Jacksons
has drawn attention to how ICTs have led to deepening the racial divide in
the USA [3].
A few years ago, I had shown with ample data on morbidity and
mortality and research papers published by Indian medical researchers that
much of medical research carried out in India is not in areas where it is
most needed [4]. It pays to work on rich man's diseases!
The idea of paying special attention to "the poor and mean and lowly"
has been emphasised all through human history by noble souls like Jesus
Christ, and in recent times, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Yet it is a
belief that is constantly forgotten by most of the rest of us.
Both human nature and technology need appropriate external
intervention if they were to behave in a manner that is beneficial to the
large mass of humanity. For Richard Smith, the appropriate external
intervention that can drive medicine in the right direction is in the
package "professional and political leadership, unceasing commitment from
the top, a clear vision of what is needed, resources, and a strategic
approach" and the intervention that can correct human nature is for
doctors to rediscover the religious underpinning of medicine while
operating in an increasingly secular world. I cannot agree with him more.
In support of his case, Smith quotes from the Corinthians. Let me
recall what Gandhi had said: "Recall the face of the poorest and the
weakest man whom you have seen, and ask yourself, if the steps you
contemplate are going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by
it? Will it restore to him control over his own life and destiny?"
References
1. Smith R. Medicine and the marginalised. BMJ 1999; 319:1589-1590
2. Arunachalam S. Information and knowledge in the age of electronic
communication: a developing country perspective. Journal of Information
Science, 1999; 25: 465-476.
3. Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr. quoted by Donna Ladd in The Village Voice.
http://villagevoice.com/columns/9929/ladd.html
4. Arunachalam S. How relevant is medical research done in India? - A
study based Medline. Current Science 1997. 72:912-922.
[The views expressed here are entirely my own and I am not on the pay
of any organisation. Absolutely no competing interests. - Subbiah
Arunachalam]
Competing interests: No competing interests