Chennai Health Infrastructure/ Hospitals/ Medical tourism/ Health Research - Discussions & Updates

[Raji7373]

Originally Posted by murlee

Isn't bengal and assam in East India???

Yes - that is right. Even I don't know why is the title so....

Direction kuda theiryama pochu pola...

[satishanu]

You don't have to be famous to be impressive. V.S. Ramachandran learned as much this week when Time magazine named the UC San Diego neuroscientist one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Ramachandran's name appears on the same list as President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and actress Natalie Portman.

Ramachandran, 59, is well-known in his field, especially for finding ways to ease pain among people who have lost limbs or suffered movement disorders. But he hasn't been famous to the general public. At least, not until now.

"Of course, this was a pleasant surprise," says Ramachandran. "But what I like (about the honor) is that you get to make contact with patients from all over the world, and you can make new discoveries about the brain. It could be a gold mine."
Ramachandran cites an unexpected source for much of his success: Charles Darwin.

"He had a huge impact on human thought, and on the study of natural selection," Ramachandran said. "But he did so much more than that. Darwin did elegant, highly-detailed studies in other areas. He was always looking for insight into things that other people thought of as trivial.

"I have tried to emulate him. I hope that style rubs off on my students. I tell them that they need to read about the history of science. They need to know about the grand masters. People like Darwin and (English chemist MIchael) Faraday. Science should be a grand adventure. I lot of scientists today are 9-to-5ers. And 90-percent of brain science is technology driven. Scientists shouldn't be technicians. They should be thinkers."

That's how Time regards Ramachandran -- as a thinker.

"Once described as the Marco Polo of neuroscience, V.S. Ramachandran has mapped some of the most mysterious regions of the mind," the magazine wrote, explaining why he was chosen for the list. "He has studied visual perception and a range of conditions, from synesthesia (in which viewing black-and-white figures evokes the perception of color) to autism.

"But Ramachandran, 59, is best known for developing a therapy for phantom-limb pain in which a mirror is used to reflect the intact limb, creating the illusion that the missing one is still there. That persuades the brain that all is well, and the pain subsides. With his simple, creative and innovative ideas, V.S. Ramachandran is changing how our brains think about our minds."

Ramachandran also has been an influential voice in explaining why great works of art seem to transcend cultural and geographic barriers, a subject he discussed in the UC San Diego video included with this report.

src: http://www.enlacelink.com/news/2011/...olar/?sciquest

^He is a product of Stanley Medical College. There is also a 90 minute lecture presented by him in the above link if anyone interested.

[madrasi7777]

I am proud that Chennai gave V.S. Ramachandran to the world.

Originally Posted by satishanu

You don't have to be famous to be impressive. V.S. Ramachandran learned as much this week when Time magazine named the UC San Diego neuroscientist one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Ramachandran's name appears on the same list as President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and actress Natalie Portman.

Ramachandran, 59, is well-known in his field, especially for finding ways to ease pain among people who have lost limbs or suffered movement disorders. But he hasn't been famous to the general public. At least, not until now.

"Of course, this was a pleasant surprise," says Ramachandran. "But what I like (about the honor) is that you get to make contact with patients from all over the world, and you can make new discoveries about the brain. It could be a gold mine."
Ramachandran cites an unexpected source for much of his success: Charles Darwin.

"He had a huge impact on human thought, and on the study of natural selection," Ramachandran said. "But he did so much more than that. Darwin did elegant, highly-detailed studies in other areas. He was always looking for insight into things that other people thought of as trivial.

"I have tried to emulate him. I hope that style rubs off on my students. I tell them that they need to read about the history of science. They need to know about the grand masters. People like Darwin and (English chemist MIchael) Faraday. Science should be a grand adventure. I lot of scientists today are 9-to-5ers. And 90-percent of brain science is technology driven. Scientists shouldn't be technicians. They should be thinkers."

That's how Time regards Ramachandran -- as a thinker.

"Once described as the Marco Polo of neuroscience, V.S. Ramachandran has mapped some of the most mysterious regions of the mind," the magazine wrote, explaining why he was chosen for the list. "He has studied visual perception and a range of conditions, from synesthesia (in which viewing black-and-white figures evokes the perception of color) to autism.

"But Ramachandran, 59, is best known for developing a therapy for phantom-limb pain in which a mirror is used to reflect the intact limb, creating the illusion that the missing one is still there. That persuades the brain that all is well, and the pain subsides. With his simple, creative and innovative ideas, V.S. Ramachandran is changing how our brains think about our minds."

Ramachandran also has been an influential voice in explaining why great works of art seem to transcend cultural and geographic barriers, a subject he discussed in the UC San Diego video included with this report.

src: http://www.enlacelink.com/news/2011/...olar/?sciquest

^He is a product of Stanley Medical College. There is also a 90 minute lecture presented by him in the above link if anyone interested.

[bonoslack7]

Rajesh Jeganathan, MD, Billroth Hospitals explaining the working of the RapidArc, a device for treating cancer, to Andrew Simkin, Consul-General, U.S.Consulate in Chennai, on Tuesday. Nupur Mitra, Executive Director, Indian Overseas Bank is in the picture.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle1771022.ece

Eight times faster than normal treatment, says consultant

A Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy device, used to deliver precise doses of radiation to tumours, restricting the damage to healthy tissue, was inaugurated on Tuesday at Billroth Hospitals.

RapidArc, the device, has a rotating arm which goes around the patient reclining on a table, and delivers the dose with as much precision as possible. It also reduces the treatment time drastically, with the patient spending as little as two minutes on the table.

“It is eight times faster than normal treatment, and can verify patient and tumour position at the time of treatment. The patient can breathe normally during treatment, and movement is not restricted as it takes only two minutes compared to the 20-25 minutes of conventional radiotherapy,” L.Padmanabhan, consultant, clinical and radiation oncology, Billroth Hospitals, said.

A lower dose is used, since there is targeted delivery. Speed also lends to accuracy, he added.

All this is possible since the machine enables better planning to fix, and deliver the dose accurately. Additionally, the imaging system of the device helps to focus on the tumour even if the patient shifts during treatment.

It can cost up to Rs. 80,000 more (for a full course) compared to conventional treatment methodologies, Rajesh Jeganathan, Managing Director, Billroth Hospitals, explained. The advantages, however, are that patients are able to tolerate the treatment better, and have a better quality of life. The risk of secondary cancers also comes down, he adds.

The short turnaround time for every treatment will enable over 16 patients to be treated in a day.

The equipment was inaugurated by Andrew Simkin, Consul General, US Consulate, Chennai, at a meeting in which Nupur Mitra, Executive Director, Indian Overseas Bank participated.

[tn2usa]

Hi Guys,

Is PGD IVF legal in india ? Can anyone give me a hospital address in chennai or somewhere in India . One of my friend for family balancing purpose wants to do that . It is Legal in US and it costs close to 21000$ , heard lot of hospitals in Thailand doing the same comparitively cheaply. This looks to be a huge business there.


Advanced thanks,
--tn2usa

[ChennaiIndian]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/8112111.cms

CHENNAI: Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Vijay Bose loves to listen to music on his iPod. Now, he carries it to the operation theatre as a surgical tool.

Dr Bose, who has replaced several hips and knees, now mounts his iPod into a hand-held device as an image-guided navigation system to do the surgery. The application, which takes up less than 3GB space on the iPod, works like a global positioning system (GPS) on mobile phones. The iPod screen displays positioning calculations which change with the patient's anatomy. It guides the surgeon to position the implant perfectly, with the least error margin.

The application, Dash, developed by Smith & Nephew Inc, works on a similar technology used in computer navigation systems. But computers occupy a lot of space in the theatre and surgeons have to lift their heads to see the screen. "Looking at the computer now and then is not a smooth thing to during a surgery," said Dr Bose. And every time he had to navigate, he would have to seek the assistance of other doctors or technicians.

On April 19, he did a hip resurfacing surgery on a 47-year old US-based basketball coach, Guy Williams, and a knee replacement on a 65-year-old housewife in Chennai, with the hand-held navigation tool. Earlier, Mumbai-based Breach Candy Hospital had done a knee replacement surgery using iPod navigation system.

During the surgery, the iPod loaded with the surgical application is inserted into a special casing mounted on the surgical device held by the doctor. As the surgeon moves his hands within the patient's joint, a camera placed nearby picks up the images with the help of sensors on the surgical device. The data is transferred to a central processing unit, which transfers the image to the iPod, using a wi-fi connection. The images on the iPod give a visual confirmation for the surgeon and enable a more precise implantation. "There was a greater level of accuracy. The patients are doing well," says Dr Bose.

Replacement surgeries can have a 3-mm margin of error. The challenge is to keep the margins as low as possible. A large error margin could cause complex fractures or dislocations in the patient later. The volumes of replacement surgeries have increased by several folds in the last 10 years across the country and surgeons are expecting many patients to come back for revision surgeries. "These could be because we had been using plastic implants that weren't strong or because the error margin wasn't very low. The iPod navigation system helps alignment of the bone joint with a 0.1 mm precision," said Dr Bose.

...

[goodman]

Originally Posted by madrasi7777

I am proud that Chennai gave V.S. Ramachandran to the world.

Though we are proud of him, India has lost such an eminent person due to insufficient infrastructure and shortsighted policies on research and education. Many more eminent personalities who have shined elsewhere in the world left India due to this same reason. Our government fails to realize this.

My dad who is a retired Prof. of Neurology from MMC, used to tell about Dr.Ramachandran a lot. Dr.Ramachandran's discoveries could land him a Nobel prize in future.
Likewise, Prof.Ramakrishnan, who won a nobel prize in chemistry last year, is also India's loss. Just imagine, if these scientists would be teaching and guiding our PhD's in our Indian Universites....

As a Scientist myself in the field of Biochemistry, I think India has to wake up from this deep slumber. Otherwise, we will keep loosing brains that could have easily be mentoring in our Universities.

[murlee]

Mr. Goodman,

Why don't u come back to India and continue ur research here? It will be a good start

[Raji7373]

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chenna...rm/270280.html

Express News ServiceFirst Published : 30 Apr 2011 02:30:06 AM ISTLast Updated : 30 Apr 2011 07:50:26 AM IST

CHENNAI: A 37-year-old woman from Arakkonam in Vellore district became the first in India to conceive a baby from frozen egg and sperm, according to the Iswarya Women's Hospital and Fertility Centre.


The Chennai-based hospital had successfully induced pregnancy by injecting a seven-month-old frozen sperm into the frozen egg.

It is a first-of-its-kind case in the country, said Dr Chandralekha, Medical Director of Iswarya Women's Hospital and Fertility Centre. Meenu (name changed) could not conceive even after 10 years of marriage due to ovarian failure and testicular dysgenesis of her husband.

Finally, when all the fertility treatments failed, the couple decided to opt for donated sperms and eggs.

The frozen eggs were thawed and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection was administered with similarly thawed sperms.

This resulted in three good embryos, which were later transferred into Meenu's uterus. Fifteen days later, pregnancy test showed positive. After 45 days, the uterus showed live single pregnancy.

Dr Chandralekha told Express that several medical institutions and hospitals across the country were trying to use frozen eggs and sperms for pregnancy, but never succeeded as the freezing of eggs at minus 196 degrees required precision. "The other hospitals and clinics are still in research to achieve frozen eggs that are capable of producing embryos," she added.

On the success in producing embryos, she said cancer patients needed to undergo radiation and the fear of infertility was high among them.

The patients' eggs and sperms could be preserved using freezing technique and later used for successful pregnancy.

[ChennaiIndian]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle1978913.ece

Hernia Conf 2011, a two-day live surgical workshop will be held at Lifeline Multi-Specialty Hospital, Perungudi, on April 29 and 30.

It will showcase and teach young surgeons several new open and laparoscopic hernia procedures.

Over one million hernia surgeries are conducted in India annually.

...

[ChennaiIndian]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/...cle1978872.ece

[goodman]

Originally Posted by murlee

Mr. Goodman,

Why don't u come back to India and continue ur research here? It will be a good start

Its not easy. There are many factors that control how efficiently one can perform research. In biological sciences, it is magnified due to unavailability of clean water supply or rather dependable water supply, easy procurement of consumables such as specialty chemicals etc. Moreover, the analytical resources are very poor, like availability of NMR, MS or sequencing facilities. One has to go to other states/ cities or national labs to obtain this service, which is very expensive.
Moreover, there is always caste based politics, favoritism and other unwanted hurdles. This is reflected on the number of quality publications that India produces every year. Time is money in science. If you are not fast, a competitor will publish the results.
Create infrastructure and then invite people to do research and not the other way.

[Ved Vedamanikam]

Originally Posted by murlee

Mr. Goodman,

Why don't u come back to India and continue ur research here? It will be a good start

Mr. Murlee:

I am sure that Mr. Goodman can speak for himself re. his excellent comments on the brain drain of scientific talent from India and the sorry state of higher education and R&D in India.

What concerns me is the defensive and stupid statements that resident Indians make when an NRI points out the crap going on in India and/or offers constructive criticism.

Hey, do not be a wimp when people offer constructive criticism of the state of affairs in India. Take it like a man, and try to improve.

Ved Vedamanikam
Austin, TX, USA

[doccbe]

Originally Posted by goodman

Its not easy. There are many factors that control how efficiently one can perform research. In biological sciences, it is magnified due to unavailability of clean water supply or rather dependable water supply, easy procurement of consumables such as specialty chemicals etc. Moreover, the analytical resources are very poor, like availability of NMR, MS or sequencing facilities. One has to go to other states/ cities or national labs to obtain this service, which is very expensive.
Moreover, there is always caste based politics, favoritism and other unwanted hurdles. This is reflected on the number of quality publications that India produces every year. Time is money in science. If you are not fast, a competitor will publish the results.
Create infrastructure and then invite people to do research and not the other way.

Short and apt explanation of the state of biological research in India. Very well said.

[murlee]

I said those with all due respect to Mr. Goodman and it was a honest question.. But since u used words like 'wimp' ,'stupid' ,'defensive' , I gotta tell this!!

When we say that why don't u ppl come back, it doesn't mean we r defensive and also doesn't mean we r sitting idle! We r doing the best we can and obviously, we would like our NRI's who r talented and experienced to come back and serve the country and its not like no one is doing so! Lots and Lots of ppl r coming back! My uncle, who was a scientist in US came back and is doing research in NCL, Pune. So, as ppl say, Where there is a will, there is a way!!

[bonoslack7]

Go to the place where one gets the best facilities. Never ever compromise on the growth of science. Maybe when someone is past their prime, or retired....they can contribute in some way by establishing facilities back here in TN, or becoming a faculty member here.

[goodman]

Let us all keep the differences aside guys. I didn't take murlee's comments hurtful or sarcastic.
Murlee, I agree we can come back and try and join a lab like NCL or CCMB. These national labs have their problems. You cannot barge in just like that. Either you have got to have an excellent push or must belong to a reserved category.
The very reason I dropped my PhD that I was doing in anna university was because of the casteism and back stabbing. My Prof. had to leave anna univ. and join IIT. However, I could not join his lab there in IIT due to some stupid eligibility criteria in IIT. This made my prof. himself urge me to go to USA for PhD.
Tell me one thing. Why one should undergo all these hurdles in research education?
These are just one part of the story. There are many more. Moreover, in India, the funding is not enough. So, these problems have to be addressed.
You have to be in our shoes to understand.

[tn2usa]

Originally Posted by goodman

Its not easy. There are many factors that control how efficiently one can perform research. In biological sciences, it is magnified due to unavailability of clean water supply or rather dependable water supply, easy procurement of consumables such as specialty chemicals etc. Moreover, the analytical resources are very poor, like availability of NMR, MS or sequencing facilities. One has to go to other states/ cities or national labs to obtain this service, which is very expensive.
Moreover, there is always caste based politics, favoritism and other unwanted hurdles. This is reflected on the number of quality publications that India produces every year. Time is money in science. If you are not fast, a competitor will publish the results.
Create infrastructure and then invite people to do research and not the other way.

Sir,

I would like to humbly differ with you here .Before 100 Years electricity was invented , 200 Years back Oxygen was invented , 70 Years back Television was invented ,I can show hundreds of such inventions , discoveries happened in simple Labs . I could be wrong with the numbers but the point i am trying to make is in those Old days those scientists achieved some thing great with very basic lab facilities compared to what now exists in India. It is the will power and dedication that was backing them rather than infrastructure.

I could be wrong , but to what i have seen here people doing Phds particularly Indian Origin do so to just get Green Card through E1 category and join some multinational to earn quick bucks. But i dont blame them , if i do so i myself should be blamed first , because i am one of them not in Scientist Category but in a different category.

I honestly accept that i am not paid that much in India as i get paid in USA , that is one of the reason why i work here . I never ever felt that what i can do here cannot be done In India.

--tn2usa

[Raji7373]

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=268

[satishanu]

Originally Posted by tn2usa

Sir,

I would like to humbly differ with you here .Before 100 Years electricity was invented , 200 Years back Oxygen was invented , 70 Years back Television was invented ,I can show hundreds of such inventions , discoveries happened in simple Labs . I could be wrong with the numbers but the point i am trying to make is in those Old days those scientists achieved some thing great with very basic lab facilities compared to what now exists in India. It is the will power and dedication that was backing them rather than infrastructure.

I could be wrong , but to what i have seen here people doing Phds particularly Indian Origin do so to just get Green Card through E1 category and join some multinational to earn quick bucks. But i dont blame them , if i do so i myself should be blamed first , because i am one of them not in Scientist Category but in a different category.

I honestly accept that i am not paid that much in India as i get paid in USA , that is one of the reason why i work here . I never ever felt that what i can do here cannot be done In India.

--tn2usa

I agree. Quite true that many back home are smarter and brighter and would be getting paid less than here.