Crow's Nest...

Network    Final year is seeing a lot of changes happening around. As part of this package there is increased mobility coming into the group. Almost all of us now have a mobile number. Just today Fawad and Uzer got their Warid deals. Many congratulations to them both.

Rain Rain come my way! This city is pathetic in every sense of the word. Usually when it rains the weather cools down and the mercury in the thermometer bulb stops banging its head against the capillary walls. The hanging dust clears from the sky. There is cloud cover when its raining and many more normal phenomenon that are a part of a normal rain dry cycle. But this place has it all very differently. The temperature has shot up instead of going down. It waws still bright afternoon sunlight when water fell from everywhere. The city is a mess. It seemed as if God had given this task to the angels who didn't like it much and just got it done because they had to do it. Didn't bother to set the scene or anything but instead gathered lots and lots of water from the sea and poured it onto the city dewellers in ten minutes or so and then everything went back to as it were. Strange!

Neurology    I have started my neurology rotation from Monday. Something I was never good in and wouldn't be. The very first day calls are supposed to be chill just because they are the very first calls. But this one is really annoying. I was in ER from 7 in the evening and got to get out at 3 in the morning. And during this time got to see many patients most of them were eventually sent back. I have clarked two patients one is a 60 year old lady who has a history of progressively worsening lower limb weakness. Five day history of confusion and one day history of mutism. Her MRI scans reveal extensive thinning of the cortex. We suspected Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus but the MRI scan has ruled it out. It was pretty difficult to extract history from the family. The second patient is a 56 year old gentleman who has 8 day history of severe headache now has nausea and projectile vomiting for one day and severe sweating and restlessness. No focal weaknesses except ...

Overhaul    My template requires a major overhaul both in terms of outlook and coding. I have been thinking of going through with it but haven't found real commitment. There is ample time available if I really want to but then again the urge to bring change has died. The left side panel is too old and outdated. The links are in a mess. My reading list is completely odd. I hardly remember reading any of the mentioned books now! I am, I think, done with blogging. It no longer serves as a conduit for me and thus has become a burden rather than a catharsis.

F-16    Medicine has taken me further from the world of news. It is now occasionally that I happen to read the editorial page of a news paper _ even on weekends _ which is quite unlike me. Today happened to be one of the days when I visit the newspaper in print. I was amazed to read the opinions carried by 'The News' in its editorial section. the varied articles ranged from Crocker's visa propaganda to a very interesting read by Dr. Farrukh Saleem . He is an involved writer who takes his subject to heart and in greater technical detail than any other writer would actually muster the courage to do in this day in time. In his very sincere and simple way of writing he has tried to accustom a civilian mind with the thinking pattern of a soldier's mind. the article I believe is more suited for the non civilian mind than any other. I say this because he has tried to equate the cost of buying 75 F-16's into physical terms like building pyramids of money or buildin...

Kill them all!    Hussain read to me two very ugly pieces of news from today's 'The News'. But I am used to these kind of stories as I am an completely honourable member of this completely absurd and degenerate society!    Here I provide you with a few excerpts from the news items.     Tsunami hits Cabinet Division. The Cabinet Division has disclosed that it has no clue to the actual amount of funds collected under President's Relief Fund for Tsunami victims and now government itself will be required to pay bills of goods worth Rs 552 million sent to the affected countries.    The total expenditure incurred by government on relief and rescue operation in Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia is Rs 53 million which includes cost of relief good Rs 19.7 million, expenditure on army medical Rs 212 million, PAF charges for C-130 planes Rs 120 million.     Two Scions, two tales, one accident. The acting chief election co...

The Development of metaphysics in Persia.    I have been looking for Allama Muhammad Iqbal's PhD thesis, 'The Development of Metaphysics in Persia'. Sadly there are no print versions of the thesis available in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan or atleast if there are they are in such a short supply that most book stores in Karachi and Lahore, the two mega cities of our country, do not have the thesis.    I inquired with some people over the net and they told me that two publishers have published the thesis in Lahore. I am yet to find a copy from them. The thesis was first published in 1908 by Luzac and company . Disappointed from this I made a web query for the thesis hoping to find it in soft copy over the net. Sadly most of the Iqbal dedicated sites carry no more than an introduction of the thesis. If there is one complete copy on their servers it is not consistent.    I could only find one place over the net that has this gem of a wo...

Care and the customer II    It is us, doctors, who need to make sure that the services we provide to our patients are both affordable and of high quality. If we fail to do that our patients will find their relief in quacks and other pretenders of the profession. This is harmful not only to the public health in general but to the doctors in perticular. We have to make sure that we do not charge exorbitantly high fees for the services we provide. We also have to make sure that the prices of various medications are kept in check and do not inflate beyond the reach of the patient. We have to make sure that a healthy relationship is maintained between the two parties. I guess if we are able to do all this we are in safe waters. What do you think?

Care and the customer    We are doctors. Our job is to provide health care to all those who need it. Our customers are our patients, who seek healthy life. They are the consumers of our product. We sell them our expertise and advice. They buy it from us. But what if they are not able to afford what we are to offer to them? What if our product gets out of their reach? It will be a disaster not only for the customer as it would mean increased morbidity but also spell disaster for the other partner in the relationship that is us the doctors. Solutions in the next post...

Haven't been able to write much lately. Mostly because my Medicine rotation has started and there is lot to do in a competitive group. I have tales to tell of our fateful trip to hawks bay. I shall soon do that.