Events of CHP
Journey of a Medical Detective from Saharanpur (UP) through Muzaffarpur (Bihar) to Malkangiri ( Odisha)
Speaker- Dr. T. jacob John
Patna, May 23. The Center for Health Policy (CHP) at Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Patna organized an interactive talk by Dr. T. Jacob John, renowned medical professor and associated with Christian Medical College, Vellore on acute hypoglycaemic encephalopathy. In his interactive talk, Dr. John emphasized the need for evidence-based investigation, especially in scenarios of epidemic outbreaks. Dr. John also carefully intertwined the domains of medicine, science, psychology and his own field of epidemiology to demonstrate the importance of scientific enquiry in disease outbreak and urged the doctors not to base diagnosis on subjective traditional beliefs. Heargued that the positive association between litchi consumption and occurrence of acute encephalitis among children would be misleading unless we consider the nutritional status of the child. Through a detailed investigation, Dr. John has found no evidence for effect of toxins present in litchi on blood glucose if the child was well-fed. He concluded his talk by saying that doctors should turn medical detectives, both in clinical settings and outbreak situations to appropriately examine the tricky medical mysteries/conditions. The talk was followed by questions and answer session where Dr. John cleared many of the doubts raised by the audience. In the beginning, Dr. Prabhat P Ghosh, Director of ADRI had made the welcome address and introduced Dr. John. The interactive talk was attended by Government delegates, doctors, professors, development partners and representatives from various institutes and organizations including AIIMS, Patna, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS), Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), Paras Hospital, Ruban Hospital, Tripolia Hospital, ANMCH, Gaya, Sen Diagnostic, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Indian Academy of Paediatrics, Care India, UNICEF, WHO, PFI, UNDP and local practitioner.
The talk was concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Sanchita Mahapatra of CHP.