How Can We Matter

A spaceship landed on earth and the commander sent out his little green men to investigate the creatures that humans referred to as 'doctors'. A few days later the aliens reported back to the spaceship. 'So, what do you think?' asked the commander. 'From our study of the activities of the specimens called "doctors", they declared, 'this is our conclusion. Most Doctors are men who put medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing.' Criticism of Medical Practice This quote, often attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire, criticizes the medical practice of doctors prescribing medications with limited understanding, to treat illnesses about which they have even less knowledge, in patients whose individual complexities they may not fully grasp; essentially highlighting a potential gap between medical knowledge and its application in real patients.  Though the quote reflects ...

Who are Singaporeans? Singapore's indigenous population was originally Malay. As it was under British colonial rule since 1819, traders and workers came in from China, India, Sri Lanka, and other neighboring countries. Its multi-ethnic population has reflected this history ever since. Today Chinese, Malays, and Indians form the three largest ethnic groups. They constitute 77%, 14%, and 8% respectively of the population. The remaining 1% are Eurasians with a sprinkling of people of other descent.  President & Prime Minister of Singapore None of these major groups is homogeneous. Chinese community as a whole come from different provinces of mainland China and therefore speaks mutually incomprehensible dialects. Malay group includes Indonesians speaking Javanese, Boyanese, and other dialects. The most diverse Indian group consists of Tamilians (more than half), Malayalis, Sikhs, Sinhalese and Pakistanis. While Malay is the national language of the country, the four official langua...

This is yet another episode of my health saga; the previous ones are: Surgery On My Second Heart!   dated June 09, 2023 The Sky Gets Dark, SLOWLY!  dated May 14, 2023 On Wed 14-06-2023 I suddenly got pain in the left side of my chest at around 11pm. I was coming out of the toilet to go to bed. I started rubbing the chest aggressively in a rotating motion and simultaneously woke up Vasantha, who was sleeping in the adjacent bed room. I couldn't decide whether I should go to the MSMC hospital immediately, and if so, how? Vasantha immediately called our ever-helpful neighbor Nikhil. In the meantime, recalling a social media post on Cough CPR I forced myself to cough vigorously several times.   Since the chest pain seems to have subsided, I decided not to rush to the hospital. Nikhil told Vasantha to call him anytime if I got chest pain again and had to be rushed to the hospital. However, I wanted to know where exactly I should go to in the Narayana Health City, since i...

We all know that no human is born with two hearts! So, where is the question of a second heart? We also know that our heart pumps blood to take it to all parts of our body, right? The point is that our body has a second blood pump, which is our calf muscles! The calf muscle is often considered the second heart because it plays a significant role within the circulatory system that is similar to the heart.  Calf blood circulation diagram (veinatlanta.com) The heart pumps oxygen-rich blood through arteries to reach every part of the body, providing oxygen and nourishment. The calf muscle pumps the oxygen-depleted blood back through the veins to reach the heart. Once we learn how the calf muscle assists the heart in circulating blood throughout our body, we’ll understand why keeping our calves strong is just as important as protecting our heart through good nutrition, exercise, and other healthy lifestyle choices. What happened to my legs and why an urgent surgery is required is explai...

Yesterday, I drove down from Bangalore to Kozhikode - a 10 hour drive with just two breaks for breakfast and lunch, which we had carried with us.

The video referenced below illustrates how the health of the whole human race is being endangered by the greed of a few pharma companies together with the connivance and active support of the very institution (US-FDA) responsible for protecting the public health to ensure the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs.

Health is commonly defined as the state of being free from illness or injury. However, listen to Dr B M Hegde's TEDx talk on what health really is!

Owner vs Tenant Mindset Let me turn this question around and make the most outrageous claim that more than 99% of us are living in rented houses! And let me explain what I mean by this.

Thought of sharing my experience of a cataract surgery that my wife Vasantha had recently.

Thanks a million Dubai for the timely gesture! Emirates Airline has setup a humanitarian air-bridge to transport urgent Covid-19 relief items to nine destinations in India. 

It is indeed scary to hear various types of horror stories in connection with the second wave of COVID19 pandemic sweeping the country. We read about people desperately running from pillar to post in search of hospitals equipped with oxygen cylinders and ventilators. The purpose of this post is to make people aware that they can use a simple technique to increase their oxygen saturation levels while at home.  

If I go by the conventional medical wisdom then I should be taking four medicines a day, lifelong, after my heart attack and angioplasty in Jan 2011. However, I have gone completely medicine free since 2014, and so far so good, though there remains a lurking fear whether I am pushing my luck too far!

Just as many parents, students, and teachers had faced their first online class with some sort of stress and anxiety, today it is my turn!  I have been provided with written instructions on keeping Two Plain sheets of paper, One Pen, a Quiet room without distractions, and to ensure that I charge the laptop prior to the online meeting!  The whole thing came about because I had volunteered myself as a guinea pig for a medical study. To be precise, I have elected to be a participant in the Tata Longitudinal study: "Alzheimer’s Disease: Understanding mechanisms for early diagnosis and treatment" , being carried out at Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.  The TATA Longitudinal study of Aging (TLSA) is a long-term, ongoing aging cohort study of residents of the city of Bangalore, India. The study began in 2015 with the aim of recruiting 1000 elderly subjects from Bangalore and follow them up periodically for several years. Alzheimer's disease is th...

It is rather ironic that we don't notice our body has a strong immune system when it is running smoothly! A system made up of various organs, cells, and proteins that protects our body from harmful substances, germs, and cell changes that could make us ill.

On this ' Eid Mubarak ' day, it is gratifying to listen to a speech on Bharathiyata (being an Indian), Sanatana Dharma (a way of living), and Arsha Bharata (Vedic way of life) by Dr MM Basheer , a retired medical doctor, scholar, and also a popular religious activist and speaker.

After the lockdown, you eagerly step into a world in which many people and businesses go back to normal. You see thousands of people returning to the streets, public transports, shops, offices, work places, and consequently social-distancing measures are compromised.

There is so much talk about Aarogya Setu , Indian government's app these days, especially after PM's recent announcement. What exactly is it?

Yesterday at 8 am I went to the HealthCare Global (HCG) Hospital, Bangalore to do an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan of my head.

This is based on a six year old  Facebook Post .  Government not only creates such infrastructure but also tells you how to utilize it properly! This morning (6 Jun 2018) I bid goodbye to the Siglap Canal deck on the East Coast Park , which was the platform for my early morning Qigong (pronounced chee-gung) session, for the past four weeks.  East Coast Park is a beach and a park on the southeastern coast of Singapore. It stretches along the south of Marine Parade, Bedok and Tampines. Themed Recreation for All , the park has something for everyone: diverse recreational, sporting, and dining activities alongside views of the sea. At 6.1km, the Siglap Park Connector runs through several housing estates and schools in the eastern part of Singapore. It is also a link to parks in the vicinity such as Bedok Reservoir Park, Bedok Town Park, Telok Kurau Park as well as the popular East Coast Park. A significant stretch of the park connector is located alongside the Siglap Canal wh...

Sometimes I accompany my grandkids to their preschool in Singapore . It is interesting to watch the health screening routine conducted on the kids when they enter the school every morning. The child and the accompanying parent are greeted by two teachers at the entrance.