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George Thomas

Satyam or Sensationalism?

Vol - XLVII No. 32, August 11, 2012 | George Thomas

There are serious problems with the medical services in India. Two of the most serious are the fact that high quality services are not available to large sections of the population, and the cost of top quality services, when available, is very high relative to the income of the majority of the population.

Human Resources in Health

Vol - XLVII No. 08, February 25, 2012 | George Thomas

A close look at the major recommendations on human resources in the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India shows that most of them are timely and have been made in the right spirit. Some lacunae do exist, especially on medical education and specialisation. But the most important issue is whether the recommendations can and will be efficiently implemented to give shape to a non-competitive, high quality medical system that provides all possible preventive and curative services to every citizen in the country.

Politics of Science

Vol - XLVI No. 28, July 09, 2011 | George Thomas

One can hardly contest the assertion of Claude Alvares, “A Critique of Eurocentric Social Science and the Question of Alternatives” (EPW, 28 May 2011) that there is imperialism in academics and western views of what science is and should be are almost universally and uncritically accepted. In his article Alvares is mainly concerned with the social sciences, but most of what he says is true for the physical and biological sciences as well.

Not for Sale: Recovering Healthcare

Vol - XLVI No. 10, March 05, 2011 | George Thomas

Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism - Socialist Register 2010 edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys (Delhi: LeftWord ), 2010; pp xiv + 324, Rs 350.

Replacing Science with Mystery

Vol - XLV No. 24, June 12, 2010 | George Thomas

A critique of Laurent Pordie's arguments on therapeutic effi cacy and global health policies, and the social use of clinical research ("The Politics of Therapeutic Evaluation in Asian Medicine", EPW, 1 May 2010).

Regulation of Medical Education: Time for Radical Change

Vol - XLV No. 22, May 29, 2010 | George Thomas

The arrest of the president of the Medical Council of India on charges of corruption and the body's dissolution have exposed the extortion racket that the regulatory body had been turned into. In its place the government has appointed a panel of doctors. However, this panel must make way for a regulatory body that will be accountable not only to the government and the medical community but also to the public at large.

Opportunity for Health Business, Crumbs for the Poor

Vol - XLV No. 12, March 20, 2010 | George Thomas

Indian Health Landscapes under Globalisation edited by Alain Vaguet

The Complex Truth

Vol - XLIII No. 47, November 22, 2008 | George Thomas

A government which believes that medical education and healthcare are best provided by the private sector is deliberately starving government hospitals of funds. Until a clear plan to ensure health for all is in place and the poor demand medical care as a fundamental right, public health services will remain skewed and unjust.

On Nandigram- I

Vol - XLII No. 24, June 16, 2007 | George Thomas

When an intellectual of the calibre of Prabhat Patnaik becomes an apologist for a political party (‘In the Aftermath of Nandigram’, May 26), the result is a sorry spectacle. Instead of using his formidable intellect to develop new ideas with which the communists of the world and India in particular can deal with the current neoliberal onslaught, he restricts himself to explaining why the CPI(M) could do no better in Nandigram than turn the might of the state against the peasants.

Social History of SARS

Vol - XL No. 37, September 10, 2005 | George Thomas

Twenty-first Century Plague: The Story of SARS by Thomas Abraham; Hong Kong University Press, 2004; pp 165 (hardbound), price not mentioned.
GEORGE THOMAS In the first few months of the year 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) threatened to decimate the world