Conversations on Public Health Conversations on Public Health

Warning: This content might trigger some people

The 2nd wave has brought into wide public attention the inadequate supply chain of various essential drugs and equipment, most notably Oxygen. Visuals of desperate families and friends scrambling for the gas will remain a part of our collective memory for a long long time. 

Though Oxygen shortage is an issue that came into the fore recently, as a public health consultant, Abhishek Tupe has been engaging with it for years now.

In this short and crisp episode, Abhishek breaks down India's Oxygen supply chain for us. Tune in to hear about the three basic ways in which Oxygen is produced. We speak about Oxygen PSA Plants, industrially produced Medical Oxygen (INOX and Linde), and the now ubiquitous Oxygen Concentrators. These three options provide drastically different solutions for what Covid-19 made an almost household problem. They differ in costs, method and point of production and capacity. 

(Abhishek Tupe is a Public Health Consultant who has worked with leading Non Profit Organisations across India and Africa. He holds an MA in Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune)


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That India's inadequately funded public health system would be able to bear the burden of a pandemic was nobody's expectation. The colossal failure though, has taken almost everybody by surprise. The private sector was unable to keep up with a demand that almost no one forecasted, and the lack of basic drugs and supplies compounded the problem to a point where this tragedy will be remembered as the darkest days in Independent India's history.

With many examples from rural India and her native Orissa, Sweta Dash explains to us what is unfolding in India's hinterland. As Covid 19 makes inroads in previously unchartered territories, we must contend that most of these stories will never reach us. In this insightful discussion, Sweta tells us about the structure of public health facilities in rural India, the state of healthcare workers, the surprising lack of data in a regime where data collection is a huge part of a healthcare worker's daily routine, and why the public needs to be taken into confidence to turn the tide against this pandemic.



(Sweta Dash is an independent researcher and journalist. Her work can be found on TelegraphGHS, EPW, Wire, DC, Article14, FirstPost, Caravan, GC and Swaddle. She tweets @SwetaDash93)




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Air Pollution statistics from India are grim. And while there is no denying that, we must also make a conscientious effort to understand its causes, and more clearly, it's direct and indirect consequences. 

In this insightful talk, Jyoti gives us the hard cold facts about the state of the air we breathe, how it impacts us, why we have normalised it, and how at its very core, this is a social equity problem. Like she states, this wicked problem needs to be solved using our "ballots and wallets"

We conclude with a short reading from Jyoti's book, Breathing Here is Injurious to your Health, published in 2020 by Hachette India.



(Jyoti Pande Lavakare is a columnist, financial journalist and writer who has lived and worked in Britain, the United States and India. Jyoti has written for and worked with publications such as The Wall Steet Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, The Financial Times and Mint. She has a Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and writes an independent column on India's entrepreneurial eco-system. She is a clean air missionary, and co founded the NGO, Care for Air.)


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Aptly called the Emperor of All Maladies, Cancer has confounded humans for at least a millennia. In India, the situation is dire. The one million cases diagnosed is only the tip of the iceberg, as many Indians die undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, in the course of outdated treatment protocols, and or simply in pain due to a woeful lack of palliative care.

Many of these deaths are preventable. The government foots a large part of medical bills but the demand is simply too much for the inadequately funded public healthcare system to bear. And that is where Non Profit Organisations, manned by dedicated medicos like Dr Venkatraman Radhakrishnan step in.

Join us as Dr Radhakrishnan expertly demystifies the cancer story in India. We discuss a plethora of subjects ranging from regulations, the state of research, social stigma, diagnosis, vaccines, the role of government, and pharma patents for critical oncology drugs to the policy changes it will require for India to script a much needed plot twist. 

Dr Venkatraman Radhakrishnan MD DM is a Professor of Medical Oncology and Paediatric Oncology at Cancer Institute, Chennai, India. He takes a keen interest in clinical trials, global health and cancer policy.


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Introducing The Lassa Fever- a disease most of us haven't heard of. Afflicting more than half a million people in the West Africa region, this disease was first studied in 1969, and discovered in the town of Lassa, Nigeria. It is fatal in over 1% of all cases. This unique virus spreads to humans from the African rat and despite its extremely infectious nature has gotten very little attention. In fact, few outside West Africa have even heard of it. 

In this episode, we get Infectious Diseases Expert, Dr Solomon Chollom to talk to us about the disease. Dr Chollom is among the very few experts on the Lassa Fever. We also discuss the future of Infectious Disease prevention, vaccine development, the brain drain in Africa, how to prevent future pandemics and how different governments will think differently about healthcare post Covid-19.



Dr Solomon Chollom is a Medical Virologist who has been at the forefront in Covid-19 Management in Nigeria and Africa. He is an African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellow 2016-2018, an AITRP Fogarty Fellow 2014-2015, and an avid Liverpool fan.


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We bring you this latest episode in association with The Mood Space! This is the fourth episode in a four part series that delves deeper into Mental Health issues faced by Millennials, often called the Therapy Generation. Here we delve deep into Anxiety.
What really IS anxiety? How is it different from stress and panic? How do I know I am having an anxiety attack? And most importantly, what do I do when I get one? The prevalence and manner of anxiety among Millennials is a matter of endless debate. But the one thing we can all agree on is that most people encounter is at least once in their lifetime. Tune in to hear Trisha Daruwala delve deep into the science and reasons behind anxiety. She clarifies a lot of concepts for us, and explains what happens inside our brain when we get anxious using some really effective analogies!
Trisha is a Clinical Psychologist, and earned her Masters in Psychology from S.N.D.T Women's University. She uses various evidence-based therapies in the course of her work and persistently strives to incorporate her learnings in her practice.

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