Crow's Nest...

PM Elect escapes assasination.    Shaukat Aziz narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. His driver is dead and so are five other people. The attack took place 45 km outside our capital, Islamabad. more here FT.com

we r through! 

Paper.    By the end of this week I would have read through atleast, if not more, 2000 pages of books, notes and scrap. and all this in two weeks. I was just wondering if there were no paper in the world how would it be like.    On the contrary if there were no computers how would the outlook be, then. we would be doing everything on paper and I would be writing this scrap on a piece of paper. This will not only limit my speed and output but also my ability to share what I scribble, with the world.    Technology rules!

Human Development Index.    The United Ntions have released its ranking of countries on the basis of human development index. Not very surprisingly Pakistan, the land of the pure, is ranked at number 142 out of 177 countries ranked. Last year we were 144th in the rank. The index is based on indicators such as GDP, health, population growth rate and education. It is a true indicator of a country's ability to provide its individuals with quality life ensuring them good health, necessary education and comfort in life. The concept of human development index is unique and was put forward by our very own economic genius Dr. Mehboob-ul-Haq. Pakistan, sadly, as this index shows lags behind in all these contexts. We can blame it on our Govt.s or ourselves but we lag behind many countries who are much smaller in size. We are far behind our neighbours like India(127), Sri Lanka(96), Nepal(140), Bhutan(134), Iran(101).    All this inspite of the fact that we ar...

Concentrate.    I simply can't concentrate right now. Have lot to cover and time is just flying away. Bad day for some amongst us here. In order to take the professional exam, that is due in 10 days now, we have to pass all our rotations individually. Some of the guys have flunked, it seems, in their last rotations and might not be able to take this exam with us. This really is sagging my spirits. I know them well and they are all good at studies otherwise. It is just the failure of the system here. There can be no other justification for their not being able to get through these rotations. I have been bitten by the same snake and did let my anger out in one of my posts earlier.    All this just made me think that life so uncertain. You think that you have it all under control and right then something bad and wicked happens and the plan is all a mess. You just can't predict anything. I happen to be pretty close to one of the guys whose future, t...

I have acquired a working key board. The last one was really trouble to work with. My last post took me 30 minutes to type. Anyways here I am writing this post from the replaced version of push button technology. Karachi is seeing some magnificent weather lately. For the last two days it drizzles in the morning and then there is cloud cover with breeze blowing all day long. The falling water has helped cleanse the atmosphere a little and sky, when the cloud cover breaks, is much blue to the eye. I suppose its the same all over the country. Rains finally.

Prof III I have my Prof III in two weeks time. This time around its not like the previous exams. Hostel has been deserted altogether. No soul to be seen and those who are here have confined themselves to their rooms or the dungeon they call library. I have done the same so i must not complain. Have to go through lots of syllabus in these two weeks so i must seek leave. will keep posting as often as i can.

The sea is such a peaceful place 

The Viva went even better. I made the examiner lady laugh and roll up on the seat. Now you know how it went. But before the viva I had my worst panic attack in years. Man it was tough.

OSCE went well lets pray and hope that viva does too.

Pirates of the Caribbean! What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!) brought to you by Quizilla

OSCE.    Have Paeds OSCE this Friday. Tough exam owing to the fact that Paediatrics is in itself whole of medicine. At times even more than ordinary medicine would entail. Dosages of drugs and management of diseases changes with advancing age and is not uniform as in elderly. Then again our interns and residents know nothing at all. It seems to me that they are all on a summer vacation or on a honey moon. Just this Monday one of the consultants asked a resident about his patient as to how he would assess dehydration in him. The resident was not able to answer and was completely blank. This is one incident out of many that I have had a chance to witness in my three month rotation in Paediatrics. One thing is for sure I would never advise anyone to bring their children to our ward. But again I know nothing about the situation outside this place it might be worse than this. Atleast here senior doctors care and make amends to the follies of their juniors. Outside ...

Incentive.    In this world of over six billion souls what is my incentive for saving life?...anyone

KM Phullar    Well keeping with the tradition that my dear friend Ozzy started by introducing me to this fascinating world of blogging I must introduce all of you to a new comer to the field. He is known to us here at AKU as the one ready with hilarious comments full of witty humour, spat out of the mouth right at the spur of the moment. His actions are lively and words livelier. They are sure to induce merriment even in the gloomiest of gloomy. I wonder what would his serious side be like. I think we need to read his blog regularly to find out. Because I believe as eyes are windows to mind blog is a window to personality. So I present to you our favourite Kashif Majeed Phullar . Enjoy reading what he writes.

In case you haven't seen me before 

ASEAN    Pakistan becomes the 24th member of the regional forum. A good news for us as this inclusion is sure to open many doors of cooperation with the member countries. Will also bring stability in terms of peace in the region as both bigger countries of the sub continent are now members of the forum. This will also help in stabilizing the power balance in the region as both Pakistan and India are nuclear capable nations. Should I say only nuclear capable countries (koreans still under the veil). I have always felt that Pakistan needs to do more in improving its trade ties with other countries in the region. Economy as they say is the back bone of the country. A good and stable economic tie with any neighbouring country is sure to bring prosperity to the people of both countries. I have always felt that Pakistanis have to start looking beyond India. We need to get out of this parallel them always mentality and get going our own way. Think independently and jud...

I think I will have to start posting on medical topics because this seems to be the only way of keeping posts coming more often than they are currently coming. Its not that I have lost interest in posting or blogging its just a matter of time. I don't have time to go have a look at things that are not related to medicine. Life has turned jumbled up and time so scarce that I hardly finds time to look at things that don't have an immediate or imminent effect on me or my life. Life has become in essence a mere passage of trivial importance to me. Yet I am not glad at its extra ordinary swift pace. Guess one can never be content of what one has. A lot many decisions are pending in my life and I have to take them quickly and with minimal chances of error. Life in this world is competitive and I am accustomed to working at my own pace. Confusion abounds. Future looks bleak. I don't know why I have this post up in the first place.

Ban I read it just today somewhere in science magazine that American Govt. is blocking co-operation between authors from Iran, Sudan, Cuba and USA. According to this new law no american author can write a paper in which the coauthor is anyone from these three countries. Its something to do with illegal trade. USA has trade imbargo on these countries and thus any papers from these countries are also considered trade material. Stupid!