March 03, 2019 Sunday
Bedtime Story
Meals That I Received in 2007 - 2008 in Clinical Trials
Not only are the volunteers for the
research or I may say trials paid but they are paid extra and quite handsomely as
a compensation for any loss they may incur in their earnings due to in
attendance of work.
Besides the expense and compensation paid
to the patients in US dollars four wholesome impressively prepared meals in
supremely hygienic and mouth-watering packages are served to them every day
till the very end of their stay.
I had never come across this kind of
treatment being meted out even to patients in any hospitals either in India or
Russia both nations comprising of equally deprived and poor populace.
Well, let me correct that.
I happened to work for 6 months in Bombay
hospital as a resident medical officer after completing my 12-month mandatory
internship at the J.J. Group of Hospitals and before starting my residency
training program in Ophthalmology.
(This 12-month rotator internship is a must
for a medical student to get his or her registration at the state medical
councils which in turn is mandatory for the individual to work or practice as a
doctor).
This Bombay Hospital is a private hospital
that generally caters to the elite of the society though there is one entire
section/wing that is called the “General Category” that is supposed to treat
the under privileged and unfortunate strata of the society who cannot afford
the luxury of private medical care.
In this hospital (like in most I guess)
there exists different category of in-patient rooms that start from basic and
go on to become very luxurious with the best ones coming in suit forms (which
come with sophisticated personal bathroom, kitchen, a guest room with a bed for
visitor etc.) accompanied with a personal English-language speaking nurse
dedicated to monitor just one patient.
Money may not be able to buy happiness but
it sure can buy high standards of medical care.
The meals that I received as volunteer for
such clinical research studies/trials (I am not sure of the phase as the
details of the clinical research were kept largely hidden from the volunteers and
we were even told that some of us may be getting placebo and some the actual
tested molecule but which individual is getting what is absolutely randomized
such that both the participant and the clinical investigator and his team are
kept in dark) were at par with the meals that were given to the top-end in
patients in the Bombay Hospital where I had worked.
In fact I would personally say that the
meals that I was provided during these trials were most nourishing, healthy and
hygienic that I have ever eaten.
It was one of those little things that make
you realize the difference between the wealth of United States and any
third-world country which generally our planet consists of.
Even within the United States I found significant
level of differences in the amount of money that has been dedicated to science
and research.
Let us for a moment divide the United States
into half with a vertical line dividing it into two - crossing the states of
North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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