Dr. T. Rama Prasad's Scribblings...: DEATH & EUTHANASIA

Interest in "EUTHANASIA & DEATH" has once again gained momentum after the verdict by the SUPREME COURT of India in March 2026 for the conduct of India's first case of PASSIVE EUTHANASIA.

Deaths

Death is a reminder of our mortality, and ‘Nature’ has its own rules of the game. Covid has its own rules on death. We have our own rules. Our rules, during the earlier period of the pandemic, didn’t even permit the kith and kin of the “Covid Dead Body” to have a look at the body before sealing it in opaque plastic bags or to give it a ceremonial cremation. The ‘body’ is gone, but the ‘grief’ would be persistent in some form forever, while the pain of loss is a reflection of love.

Death is a necessity. If there is no death, there is no need for birth. In fact, if there is no death and the births continue, soon, there won’t be any space for humans on this planet, even if all the oceans are converted into land !

While the universality of death is a leveller, the ‘Covid deaths’ are different, causing a lot of guilt and shame. The loving relatives and the attending doctors and health care workers too feel the guilt and shame as they couldn’t save the lives in spite of having all the material facilities. The deaths of the iconic playback singer Padma Vibhushan S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and the eminent Pulmonologist at the AIIMS, Delhi Dr. J.N. Pande, due to Covid, are a couple of examples. A person is remembered for a short period of the life of those who love her or him. How many of us know the names or have the photos of our great great grandparents. Almost none. Almost none is remembered for long after death. Everything dies. This planet, Earth, is estimated to die after another five billion years !

Fear of death

Human life was held hostage by the virus, perpetuating the fear of death. When death comes to the fore, everything else, including money, wealth and fame, pale into insignificance. Life is like a prepaid card paid by the Creator. We don't know how much was paid and how much is in balance. Life insurers are stunned to know that COVID-19 can bring the card balance down to zero within hours or days of its attack. Fear of death has been the driving force in the pandemic for all the flurry of events and activity, both positive and negative, especially when the science had failed to save even VIPs and celebrities. Andhra Pradesh’s minister Goutham Reddy, 50 years, hale and healthy, died while getting ready to the gym on February 21, 2022. It’s reported that he recovered recently from Covid-19 and that the “doctors suspected that post-Covid complications might have led to the death.” And it is baffling that the music maestro S. P. Balasubrahmanyam walked into a high-tech hospital almost as a normal person with very mild symptoms of Covid and didn’t come out alive even after 52 days of ‘VIP’ treatment in Chennai.

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Kubler Ross

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926 – 2004) was a pioneer in “Near-death” studies and is the author of one of the internationally best-selling books titled “On Death and Dying”. She, a Swiss-American psychiatrist, discussed her theory of the ‘Five Stages of Grief’ on death or any adverse happening, known as the “Kubler-Ross model.” She proposed the patient-focussed ‘Death-adjustment Pattern’, the “Five Stages of Grief” -- Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, David Kessler who co-authored a book with Kubler-Ross, applied the five stages of responses to the Covid tragedy, saying: "It's not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. … There's denial, which we saw a lot of early on: ‘This virus won't affect us’. There's anger: ‘You're making me stay home and taking away my activities’. There's bargaining: ‘Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right?’ There's depression: ‘I don't know when this will end’. And finally, there's acceptance: ‘This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed’. Acceptance, as you might imagine, is where the power lies. We find control in acceptance: ‘I can wash my hands. I can keep a safe distance. I can learn how to work virtually."⁴⁹

The world has gone through these five stages during the Covid pandemic -- by both the people and the authorities. Initially they both denied the presence of the virus or its variants, or even the deaths that occurred; then they became angry with their own circumstances; then they bargained for compensation or justification for their actions or inactions, in one way or the other; then they, again both the people and the authorities, went into depression for their failure to cope up with the numerous problems; then, both the parties, accepted the reality and initiated to learn to live with the virus, after fighting with it for over 18 months.

In “Questions and Answers on Death and Dying”, Kubler-Ross answered questions after the publication of her first book, ‘On Death and Dying’ (1969). She emphasized that no patient should be directly told that they are dying and that practitioners should try to wait until the patient asks about death to discuss it. ⁴⁸ A few other tenets that she believed in include: ‘those practitioners should listen to the patient first and foremost, patient's right to self-determination should still be practiced, and practitioners should avoid trying to force anything for which the family members and the dying are not in the same stage’. ⁴⁸

Kubler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which are now available in 42 languages. At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with David Kessler including ‘On Grief and Grieving’.⁵⁰ After a series of strokes, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death. In 1997, Oprah Winfrey flew to Arizona to interview her and discuss with Kubler-Ross if she herself was going through the ‘five stages of grief’. Further, in a 2002 interview with The Arizona Republic, she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".

Kubler-Ross died, in 2004, at the age of 78 in a nursing home in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the presence of her son, daughter, and two family friends. She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 2005, her son, Ken Ross founded the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Covid deaths worldwide

Covid is characterized by unexplainable, unstoppable and speedy deaths, notwithstanding excellent medical care that has been existent in the West. This has what rattled the entire science and technology into an emergency mode to stop the Covid. Two-and-a-half-years have passed by, yet we didn’t gain a precise knowledge about the pathogenesis and prevention of the deaths. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was thought that the infection would sign off after a few deaths. Even those few deaths in the beginning were described as ‘alarming’. In fact, I wrote on January 24, 2020 of what now is called Covid: " … The death toll has alarmingly increased to 26 in China. Korea, US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore & Vietnam have also identified cases. The total number of cases reported has quickly risen to a huge 834, ..." At that point of time, we thought that 26 deaths due to the novel coronavirus was an 'alarming' number, and that the number of 834 of the cases was a ‘huge’ figure. At the same time, we, in India, thought that the problem with the new virus was that of China and some other foreign countries, not of India. A week later, on January 30, 2020, the first case of India was reported (Kerala), and in about six weeks later, on March 12, 2020, the first Covid death in India was reported (Karnataka). And, the estimate of the deaths by the end of 2021 in India was around half-a-million (out of around 40 million cases), and was around six million (out of around 500 million cases) in the world, according to authorities. The world is upended !

So, around six million people died around the world due to Covid so far, while eight million died due to smoking tobacco in just one year in 2021. Apart from this, 600 million trees were killed and 22 billion litres of water was used to make the cigarettes in one year ! What a far-reaching environmental disaster ! Much ado about the six million Covid deaths (nothing) !

As of June 2022, the world has 538 million cases, six million deaths and 800 deaths per million of population; correspondingly, the US has 86 million cases, one million deaths and 3,000 deaths per million; India has 43 million cases, half-a-million deaths and 370 deaths per million; Brazil has 31 million cases, 667,700 deaths and 3,000 deaths per million; Francehas 29 million cases, 148,670 deaths and 2,270 deaths per million, according to WORLDOMETER. India’s death rate per million of population is quite low, less than half of the average of the world’s figure. Very comforting !

EUTHANASIA

Euthanasia refers to the deliberate ending of a person's life, typically to relieve unbearable suffering from a serious or terminal illness. It is a highly controversial topic involving medicine, ethics, law, religion, and human rights.

Main Types of Euthanasia

Active euthanasia — A physician (or someone else) directly administers a lethal substance to cause death (e.g., lethal injection).
Passive euthanasia — Withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, allowing natural death to occur (often legal even where active euthanasia is banned).
Voluntary — Performed with the informed consent of a competent person.
Non-voluntary — When the person cannot consent (e.g., coma), decision made by others.
Involuntary — Against the person's will (widely regarded as murder).
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) / assisted dying — A doctor provides the means (e.g., prescription for lethal medication), but the patient self-administers it. Often grouped with euthanasia in debates.

Most legal and ethical discussions focus on voluntary active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide for competent adults.

Current Legal Status (as of March 2026)

Active voluntary euthanasia or assisted dying is legal in only a minority of jurisdictions, usually with strict safeguards (terminal illness, unbearable suffering, multiple medical opinions, waiting periods, mental competency requirements, etc.).

Key countries/jurisdictions where active voluntary euthanasia is legal include:

Netherlands (since 2002)
Belgium (since 2002)
Luxembourg (since 2009)
Canada (since 2016, under Medical Assistance in Dying — MAiD)
Spain (since 2021)
New Zealand (since 2021)
Colombia
Ecuador
Uruguay
Several Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, etc.)
Portugal (law passed but implementation/regulation ongoing in some reports)

Physician-assisted suicide (self-administration) is legal in places like Switzerland (assisted suicide only, practiced since the 1940s, open to foreigners via organizations like Dignitas), and in several U.S. states under "Death with Dignity" laws.

In the United States (2026 status), physician-assisted suicide (not active euthanasia) is legal in about 10–12 jurisdictions, including:

Oregon (pioneer since 1997)
Washington
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Maine
New Jersey
New Mexico
Vermont
District of Columbia
Recent additions/expansions (e.g., Illinois starting late 2026)

Most countries worldwide still prohibit active euthanasia and assisted suicide, treating them as homicide or assisting suicide (punishable by prison). Passive euthanasia (refusal/withdrawal of treatment) is widely accepted or explicitly allowed in many places.

Recent trends show gradual expansion in Western countries, but strong resistance persists in many regions (e.g., most of Eastern Europe, Latin America outside a few, Africa, Asia, Middle East).

Ethical Debate

Arguments in favor (pro-euthanasia / pro-assisted dying):

Respect for patient autonomy and self-determination.
Compassion: relieving intolerable suffering when palliative care cannot help.
Dignity in dying on one's own terms.
Consistency with the right to refuse treatment (already widely accepted).

Arguments against:

Sanctity of life (religious views, especially Catholic/Christian, Jewish, Islamic traditions).
Slippery slope: risk of expansion to non-terminal cases, mental illness, minors, coercion of vulnerable people (disabled, elderly, poor).
Undermines the physician's role as healer (e.g., American Medical Association still opposes euthanasia).
Potential abuse in underfunded healthcare systems (cheaper than long-term care).
Advances in palliative care can manage most suffering without ending life.

Mental illness-only cases remain extremely controversial and limited even in permissive countries (though debated/expanding in places like Belgium, Netherlands, Canada).

The topic remains deeply divisive, with ongoing legislative battles, court cases, and public referendums in many countries. Public opinion often favors legalization under strict conditions in secular Western societies, but opposition remains strong from medical associations, disability rights groups, and religious organizations.

COVID world: 21 of my articles on ‘COVID’ were published in 21 months

in Medical Journals which is a WORLD RECORD in Medical Journalism.

This article titled “COVID DEATHS” is the 22^nd one.

The last 7 pages ‘about me’ and my ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic are not part of the article.

-- Dr. T. Rama Prasad, ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic, Perundurai, India

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Preprint

. COVID DEATHS .

RAMA PRASAD T.

Dr. T. Rama Prasad,

Formerly: Medical Superintendent (Special) of RTS & IRT Perundurai Medical College and Research Centre,

Perundurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Presently: Director of ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic, Perundurai, Erode District, TN – 638052. drtramaprasad@gmail.com WhatsApp +91 98427 20393 BLOG https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com

WEBSITE www.rama-scribbles.in Twitter @DrRamaprasadt Facebook T Rama Prasad

Telegram Dr T Rama Prasad

A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERYSN

Vol. 119 No. 7 July 2022 ISSN 0003 5998

Indexed in IndMED Email: admin@theantiseptic.in www.theantiseptic.in

. COVID DEATHS .

RAMA PRASAD T.

Dr. T. Rama Prasad,

Formerly: Medical Superintendent (Special) of RTS & IRT Perundurai Medical College and Research Centre,

Perundurai, Tamil Nadu. Presently: Director of ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic, Perundurai, Erode District, TN – 638052.

Specially Contributed to “The Antiseptic” Vol. 119, No. 7

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ABSTRACT

Now that the first act of the ‘Drama of Death’ by Covid has played out, interesting medical and surveillance questions emerge, both on the pattern of how Covid deaths occurred and what impact the present attitude of the world towards the Covid pandemic may have. During the early phase of the pandemic, the focus was on ‘locking down’ everything to ‘prevent deaths’, while now the attitude is to live with the virus and ‘manage deaths’. After the long pandemic hiatus, the world seems to be celebrating the “Death of Covid” while coping with the grief about the loss of kith and kin. But, the health authorities are worried about a resurgence of ‘Covid deaths’ with the possible emergence of a ‘deadly variant’. For over two years, people tasted the bitterness of the ‘Dance of Death’ of varied genre. The stage had not been of the same format in all the regions of the globe. The remorselessness of the vile virus left an indelible stamp of horrible experiences. Some of the facets related to the scenario of the Covid deaths are presented in this paper in a semiformal way.

Key words: COVID-19 deaths, Covid excess deaths, Lockdown-related deaths, SARS-CoV-2, COVID pandemic

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“Death is like an arrow that is already in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you.”

-- Georg Hermes

Introduction

Covid (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19) had exponentially enhanced the speed of the ‘arrow in flight’. This is obviously the cause for all the pain and panic during the past two-and-a-half-years. Except for this speed, scale and persistence, Covid would have been just another disease, not a ‘news’ every day for over 18 months all over the world. It has no respect for power or position – the arrow arrived at a phenomenal speed to kill the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but slowed down to almost zero before he came out of the Covid ICU, days before a son was born to his fiancee ! A strange quirk of fate.

The most dreaded fear of a human being is death. COVID-19 had infused enormously this fear in the early phase of the pandemic by killing fast and unexplainably. Fear is an instinctive emotional outcome in human beings when they face adverse or life-threatening situations. Death brings out the best and the worst. In the Covid context, it brought vaccines within 10 months which usually takes 10 years. And, it forced us to kill our own economy instantly. It’s not just the death (1,000 people have been dying of tuberculosis every day in just one country, India) that mattered, it’s the unexplainable cause and speed with which it occurred. And it happened without relevance to the strength of the health and medical infrastructure in some countries (375 Covid deaths per million of population in India, and 2,984 in the US). And it kicked up bitter controversies and exchanges about the data on Covid deaths, involving even the World Health Organization (WHO). The raging debate is still going on.

Unlike deaths in other diseases, the subject of Covid deaths has become an academic as well as a political hot potato, with seemingly no clear-cut answers for many questions pertaining to the deaths. There has been a lack of understanding, lack of a proven preventive strategy, lack of uniformity in protocols among the countries, and the lack of reliable data on the deaths. It’s a compelling tragedy in black ink. Some of the connected issues with the Covid deaths are brought to focus in this semiformalarticle (‘semiformal’, as it is likely to be read by scores of people outside the medical profession). Some related information may be found in the 22 articles published in 22 months, written by a single author (T. Rama Prasad) on a single subject (Covid), and published by a single establishment (Professional Publications (P) Ltd.), in The Antiseptic, a journal of Medicine and Surgery (indexed in IndMED), and in Health, a journal devoted to healthful living ^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,19,12,16,14,15,13,17,18,11,39,54}(which is a world record in medical journalism).Some more ‘Covid content’ may be found in the cited articles in other media.^{21,22,28,24,25,26,27,23,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38}

Deaths

Fear of death

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Kubler Ross

Covid deaths worldwide

“Excess” Covid deaths

While Covid had been spreading around the world, governments had been pouring in grim data on deaths in their countries routinely during the Covid period. Unfortunately, the total number of fatalities caused by the pandemic might have been higher or lower for several reasons like: excluding people who didn’t ‘test positive’ though they might have died of Covid; hospitals and civil registries might not have recorded Covid deaths properly and promptly; during the pandemic, many ‘non-Covid’ serious patients couldn’t be treated promptly for obvious reasons which might have indirectly caused an increase in fatalities from diseases other than Covid; there might have been a decrease in fatalities due to road traffic accidents because of ‘lockdowns’ on traffic. The ‘Covid deaths’ reported by China are of a low number of just around 5,000, but we don’t know their methodology of the classification of ‘Covid deaths’.

One way to take into account these methodological differences in reporting is to use a simpler measure, known as “excess deaths” which reckon the number of people who die from any cause in a given region and period, and then compare it with a historical baseline from recent years. This also doesn’t give the precise information, but it’s a simpler way of assessment. Based on mortality data from CDC’s National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), the total number of excess deaths in the US since February 1, 2020 through data available as on February 2, 2022 was estimated to be 1,006,393. In 2020, the largest increase in deaths occurred among adults aged 25–44 years and among Hispanic or Latino people. Some analysts believe that there must have been around 13 million ‘excess’ deaths worldwide during the pandemic, though the officially recorded figure for Covid deaths may be six million.

After adjusting for the size of populations, it was found that Britain, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal had some of the highest national ‘excess-mortality’ rates in the world. A lower rate of mortality was observed in countries in northern Europe. Some Nordic nations had almost no excess deaths. The exception is Sweden, which imposed some of the continent’s least restrictive social-distancing measures during the first wave. The Netherlands and Switzerland, in the Central Europe, suffered large numbers of excess deaths in early 2020. South-eastern Europe, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic endured additional spikes of mortality in March and April 2021. Bulgaria recorded the highest weekly excess-mortality rates of any country during November and December of 2020. Belarus suffered a substantial excess of mortality compared to other former republics of the Soviet Union. A second wave in late 2020 affected the entire region. Russia had one of the world’s largest excess-mortality gap of about 580,000 more deaths than expected, between April 2020 and June 2021, compared with an official covid-19 toll of only 130,000. Much of the Latin America experienced a devastating first wave from April to July 2020, with Bolivia and Ecuador being hit particularly hard. Mexico, Peru and Brazil recorded higher peaks of excess mortality than at any previous point during the pandemic, while a second wave surged through the region in late 2020. As the virus had continued to circulate throughout the continent since then, Colombia and Paraguay suffered their worst death tolls in April and May 2021.

It was noted that outside Europe and the Americas, few places release data about excess deaths. No such information exists for large swathes of Africa and Asia, where proper death certification has not been in vogue. According to an estimate, around 2.3 million people died due to Covid in India, while the official figure stood at 200,000 as of May 2021; according to ‘Worldometer’, India has just half-a-million deaths and 373 deaths per million of population as of June 2022. South Africa shows the grimmest picture, among the developing countries, after recording three large spikes of fatalities. In contrast, Malaysia and the Philippines had “negative excess” mortality -- fewer deaths than they would normally have recorded.

A handful of rich countries like Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea tended to have “negative excess” mortality. Australia and New Zealand managed to eradicate local transmission after severe lockdowns. Taiwan and South Koreaachieved the same outcome through highly effective contact-tracing systems. Israel has outpaced the rest of the world in vaccinating its population, though the records reveal considerable excess mortality. We live in a world of danger, with vaccine immunity waning and new variants evolving.

Disparity of Covid deaths

The causes for the disparity among nations are many and varied. They include demographic trends, climate, type of the Covid variants, native immunity, comorbidity levels, age groups, fudging the data to please bosses, cultural customs, etc. ⁵⁴ Native immunity, late arrival of the ‘Covid waves’ with already mutated less virulent strains, a higher younger population, Indian culture and lifestyle, and BCG vaccination may have played a part in the low death rate in India. ⁵⁴The most enigmatic, confounding and perplexing scenario of this pandemic is about the published data about its fatal impact in the US compared to that in China, or in India. The US which is highly empowered with grand health infrastructure and which boasts of its crème de la crème status of health care crumbled like a cookie under the weight of the Covid, with around 1,000,000 deaths in a population of just 0.3 billion with 20% of GDP spending on health infrastructure and a 19-trillion-dollar economy. Compare it with the figure of much under 10,000 deaths in the less-profiled China with a population of 1.4 billion, or a much less developed India’s figure of around 500,000 deaths out of a population of 1.3 billion with just around 1% GDP of Rs 200 lakh crore spent on health infra structure. Obviously, deaths occurred without relevance to the strength of the health and medical infrastructure in some countries (375 Covid deaths per million of population in India, whereas there have been 2,984 in the US). In India, after the long pandemic hiatus, people have been enjoying ‘freedom’ from ‘Covid restrictions’ and ‘serious Covid problems including deaths’. Hence the current attitude is foregrounded in the ground reality that Covid cases and deaths are low in number despite a complete opening up of normal life in the first half of 2022. The current ‘acquired immunity’ in Indians may protect them up to around six months after which it may wane.

Covid deaths in India

Undercounting of Covid deaths has been happening everywhere in the world with varying degrees. The Center for Global Development estimated the real figure of Covid deaths in India to be around 10 times the official figure of 414,482 in between January and June of 2021. So far, there have been, officially, only 375 Covid deaths per million of population in India, less than half of the average figure for the world, while there have been 2,984 per million in the US. Amusingly, health officials and governments across India took credit for the low fatality rate. No doubt, they played an important role, but obviously, the low fatality rate can’t be mainly due to the India’s (rickety) medical care infrastructure, (weak) healthcare system or the (perfunctory) observance of preventive measures like ‘lockdowns’ / masks / distancing / hygiene, etc. It’s beyond that – it may be the ‘Indian immunity’, if the figures are reliable. Or, is it a fortunate stroke of serendipity ?

People’s confidence in healthcare systems and the governance gets eroded when deaths are grossly underreported while the skyline is lit up continuously with tragic flames from burial grounds during the ‘second wave’. Dead bodies were floating in the sacred waters of the Ganges river. Most of the Covid deaths in India occurred during the ‘second wave’ and the ‘first wave’. The confidence ran low when a lot of their kith and kin died due to oxygen shortage while it was ironically stated that no deaths were reported due to lack of oxygen – again due to the failure of data science. That’s the scenario despite guidelines of checklists and advance monitoring issued by the National Institute of Medical Statistics in India. Poor data automatically translates into poorer service.

‘Death data’ conundrum

As the adage has it, “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics” (Mark Twain / Benjamin Disraeli) ! A war on the figures of ‘Covid deaths’ in India has been going on among statisticians, epidemiologists and officials. Finally, India and the World Health Organization (WHO) are at loggerheads. The WHO, on May 5, 2022, made public its estimate that India had 4.7 million ‘more (excess) Covid-19 deaths’ by the end of 2021, which is 10 times the Indian official figures of half-a-million and almost a third of Covid deaths globally. Shortly thereafter, the Indian government issued a strong rebuttal questioning the validity of the models used by the WHO, its methodology of data collection and its statistical soundness. The Health Ministers of various States of India at the 14^th conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare slammed the WHO for its estimate and said that the estimate of 4.7 million deaths was “baseless” and “intended to show the country in a poor light”. ‘Excess deaths’ mean the increase in deaths due to all causes during 2020-2021compared to the presumed number of deaths during the same period if the pandemic was not there. So, the ‘excess’ number may not be due to ‘Covid deaths’ alone; it could be due to ‘excess’ deaths due to other diseases which could not be attended to promptly due to the Covid situation. On the other hand, there might have been lesser deaths too due to some causes like low level of travel accidents, because of travel restrictions of the ‘lockdowns’. It’s difficult to put down the numbers on paper by anybody except Mr. Statistics, the king of liars !

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Pakistan also rejected the WHO’s estimate of 2,60,000 – eight times its official figure of 30,369 ‘Covid deaths’. Whether it is for ‘Covid deaths’ or ‘Covid wave predictions’, mathematical modelling is often a precarious and imprecise exercise, dependent on multiple factors, assumptions, presumptions and extrapolations which may be data-deficient and unrepresentative of ground realities. Fallacious statistics are, sometimes, mechanically rolled out which entertains us -- according to an official reply to an RTI (‘Right To Information’) query, a 732-year-old Pushpa Sahu became the beneficiary of a cycle under a State welfare scheme for women (Chhattisgarh, India) in 2013. As per the Chhattisgarh Labour Department, 6,231 beneficiaries of the ‘sewing machine scheme’ and the 1,368 beneficiaries of the ‘cycle scheme’ were aged above 100 years, including the 532-year-old Usha Jamgade ( http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/732yearold-gets-cycle-under-welfare-scheme/article6278743.ece ).⁴³

And, for the programmers, there seems to be a need for a high level of granularity of data, real-time information and decision-making on the fly. Alongside, they need to prepare a roadmap to ‘live with Covid’ with minimum deaths. Continuous epidemiological and genomic surveillance is imperative, as new variants packed with both speed of spread and vile virulence may ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ like ‘The Greatest American Boxer’ Muhammad Ali.

Covid ‘lockdown deaths’ in India

India went into a sudden ‘lockdown’ on March 23, 2020 and the lockdown went on for a long time in varied degrees all over the country. The sudden move triggered a humanitarian crisis. Numerous ‘migrant workers’ literally ran to their far away native places hounded by rules, regulations and police. And many deaths would have occurred during that period, directly or indirectly due to Covid. Citing lack of data, the Indian authorities opined that no one died because of the Covid-related lockdown. The following was written in the article titled “India’s Manufactured Amnesia Over Its Covid-19 Lockdown Deaths” (March 23, 2021) with reference to a study by Aman, assistant professor of legal practice at the Jindal Global School of Law, et al (https://thejeshgn.com/projects/covid19-india/non-virus-deaths.) (https://www.article-14.com/post/india-s-manufactured-amnesia-over-its-covid-19-lockdown-deaths ) : “ … For many from India’s vulnerable sections -- migrant workers, the urban and rural poor, patients and pregnant women, children, and the elderly -- this lockdown was, in fact, a death sentence. At least 989 deaths occurred not because of Covid-19 per se, but from financial distress, exhaustion, road and train accidents, suicides due to fear of infection and quarantine, denial of timely medical care, alcohol withdrawal, police brutality, and vigilantism as a result of the lockdown. These deaths don’t even ‘count as footnotes in the history of India’s response to the pandemic’, as the columnist Shivam Vij put it. … Invisible Numbers: In the absence of any official count or tracking exercise, there is no easy way to gauge the number of deaths that were caused by the lockdown. Such an effort ought to have been conducted by the state, which had the capacity to track and respond to such deaths. Absolving the government of that responsibility, India’s labour minister, referring to the deaths of migrant workers during the lockdown, told Parliament in September 2020 that ‘no such data is maintained’. …”

Lockdown, a blunt instrument, has become the default strategy and an epidemiological fashion, based on mathematical models of a limited theoretical frame. An indefinite transnational blanket ban of all activities to prevent deaths due to just one disease in a country like India is an example of profound insanity. It took more than two years to know this truth. Nonetheless, localised lockdowns (cluster restrictions) are necessary for India. Lockdown is just one of the tools, not a silver bullet.

‘Covid vaccine’ deaths

Brigitte Keller-Stanislawski, the head of the department of medicinal products and medicinal devices of Paul Ehrlich Institute in Germany said that they were looking into the deaths of 10 very elderly people which occurred soon after Covid vaccination in January 2021. Norway had reported deaths of 23 elderly people shortly after they received a Covid vaccine in January 2021 (Reuters). Apart from such of these valid reports, numerous citations of deaths following the Covid vaccine, in the social media, such as “COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Fatalities Exceed 6,000”; “6,000% Increase in Reported Vaccine Deaths 1^stQuarter 2021 Compared to 1^st Quarter 2020”, etc. fuelled the “anti-vaxxers.” Intentional misrepresentation is a powerful tactic to sow confusion among large groups of people.

It may be interesting to know the truth behind the mischief, as the misinformation gets traction because they start with a kernel of truth – raw data from a reputable source. For example, in the US, the source is the “Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS)” which allows anyone to report any deaths and side effects, and requires health care providers to submit reports of any deaths and adverse events. These events are to be evaluated in the context later, and some of them may be confirmed to be due to vaccines when evidence comes forth. But these raw numbers, before evaluation, are quoted by the ‘opponents of vaccination’ cleverly as conclusions of cause-and-effect. The numbers are correct but the presumed conclusions are not. In 2021, the VAERShad received more than 10,000 reports of Covid vaccine deaths (0.0022%) out of more than 450 million doses of the vaccine. Most of these deaths may not be caused by the vaccine, but it doesn’t crowd out a measure of sustained pique at all of the misinformation.

The ‘misinformation’ keeps many away from getting vaccinated. Perhaps, this is the reason why the world famous ‘tennis king’ Novak Djokovic preferred not to get ‘Covid vaccinated’ over the chance to win French Open and Wimbledon. However, one wonders why the, apparently very healthy, legendary comedian actor Vivek, aged 59, died the next day after getting vaccinated, though officially it was declared that the death was not due to the Covid vaccine.

Then, in mid-March 2021, about 20 countries (Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Austria and numerous European countries) suspended the use of the AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine (called ‘Covishield’ in India) following sporadic reports of blood clots (37 out of 17 million vaccinated across the EU and Britain), bleeding and allergies. More countries halted the vaccine while the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had said they had no evidence of an increase in dangerous blood clots in connection with the shots.

Later, further confusion and divide among scientists occurred when a group of experts from diverse fields including public health, ethics, medicine and law has written an ‘open letter’ to the Indian authorities demanding a ‘time-bound and transparent’ investigation into the 65 deaths that were supposed to have occurred following Covid-19 vaccinations in India. Covishield vaccine was used mostly. The signatories to the letter included Dr. T. Jacob John, former professor and head of the department of clinical virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore and Dr. Amar Jesani, editor of Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.

Now in June 2022, the general medical opinion all over the world is that the incidence of Covid vaccine deaths is negligible compared to the lives saved by the vaccine. The people, except for a small fraction, have also come to accept it now.

‘Covid deaths’ of doctors and health workers

The world owes a ‘debt of gratitude’ to doctors and health workers who died of Covid while trying to save people from Covid. It’s a cruel tragedy. Information available on this subject is scanty and varied. The WHO estimated that between 80,000 and 1,80,000 ‘Health and Care’ workers could have died of Covid in the period between January 2020 and May 2021. ⁵³

According to one study, as of May 2020, a total of 1,52,888 infections and 1,413 deaths were reported globally among health workers. Most of the infections were mainly in women (71.6%, n=14 058) and nurses (38.6%, n=10 706), but deaths were mainly in men (70.8%, n=550) and doctors (51.4%, n=525). It was found that general practitioners and mental health nurses were at the highest risk of death. Europe had the highest numbers of reported infections (1,19,628) and 712 deaths. Africa and Indiareported lower rates. Eastern Mediterranean region had the highest number of reported deaths per 100 infections (5.7) ⁵²According to the Indian Medical Association, more than 1,500 doctors had died of Covid-19 up to July 2021 in India.

According to another study done in April 2020, around 250 doctors died of Covid. The average age of the physicians was 63.7 years with a median age of 66 years. And 90 per cent (175/194) of the deceased physicians were men. General practitioners and emergency room doctors (78/254), respirologists (5/254), internal medicine specialists (11/254) and anaesthesiologists (6/254) comprised 52% of those who died. Two per cent of the deceased were epidemiologists (4/254), 2% were infectious disease specialists (4/254), 4% were ENT specialists (8/254), 4% were ophthalmologists (7/254) and 5% were dentists (9/254). The highest physician deaths were reported from Italy (121/278; 44%), Iran (43/278; 15%), Philippines (21/278; 8%), Indonesia (17/278; 6%), China (16/278; 6%), Spain (12/278; 4%), the USA (12/278; 4%) and the UK (11/278;4%). ⁵¹

Some limited studies indicate that infected doctors seem to have a 10-12% higher risk of mortality (10 times that of the general population -- CFR for doctors is 17%; for the general population, it is 1.7%, in India). This may be due to exposure to a higher virus load, which is likely to facilitate a 'cytokine storm'. People, in general, are usually infected through air or fomites (infected surfaces). Pulmonologists, intensive care specialists, anaesthetists and also those attending on seriously ill patients are at higher risk. Nurses (20%) and sanitation staff (30%) seem to have much more risk of mortality.

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Dr. J. N. Pande, aged 79, joined the premier institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi as an MBBS student and retired as HOD of Medicine of the same institution. He was attending to patients after retirement. An eminent Pulmonologist, he was an embodiment of knowledge and humility. He and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 a few days before his demise on May 23, 2020.

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Covid deaths and Cavemen

Neanderthals were original cavemen who lived along with early humans up to around 40,000 years ago. Recently, researchers at Oxford University’s Radcliffe’s Department of Medicine found that a genetic trait transmitted from a Neanderthal to a Human (Homo sapiens) through interspecies breeding, 60,000 years ago, might have caused the death of up to a million people by Covid in this pandemic. The ‘Neanderthal gene’, LZTFL1, found on ‘chromosome three’ facilitates Covid to cause fatal damage to lungs. This genetic trait is more common in people of South Asian origin, and this might have caused some excess deaths in India (https://pakkikhabar.in/randy-neanderthal-may-be-to-blame-for-the-gene-that-caused-up-to-a-million-people-to-die-from-covid/ ).

The way forward

Just as for any other problem, we have to think forward to prevent the Covid fatalities. Prevention of deaths is in our hands to some extent, but cure is only in the mind. COVID-19 is reported to cause pneumonia / acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) / cardiac injury / disseminated intravascular coagulation and so on which may lead to death. Apart from managing these morbidities, we have to tackle the known high-risk underlying conditions (comorbidities) effectively to prevent Covid deaths. The knowledge we gained during the past two years about this virus is diverse and fragmentary, an academic Rubik’s cube with a lot of possibilities. As the science evolves, more and more will be known how to prevent the deaths. Of course, as it is considered today, Covid vaccination is the primary preventive measure against the deaths. The vaccination should be a global drive as no country is safe unless all the other countries are safe. Regarding the “cure” for “death”, it is the grief that is to be deleted from the mind. It’s not easy. Many will grieve forever while the pain of loss is a reflection of love. Finally, ergo, let’s remember what Freud said a century ago:

“Mourning comes to a decisive end when the bereaved severs its emotional attachment to the one lost and reinvests energy in a new object.” -- Sigmund Freud

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DEATH%20COVID%20FF.png

REFERENCES

1. Rama Prasad, T. Covid Variants. The Antiseptic. 2021 May; Vol.118; No.5; P: 11-14; Indexed in IndMED -- www.theantiseptic.in

2. Rama Prasad, T. Covishield or Covaxin ? The Antiseptic. 2021 April; Vol. 118; No. 4; P: 12-16; Indexed in IndMED – www.theantiseptic.in

3. Rama Prasad, T. The Science and Nonsense around COVID. The Antiseptic, 2021 November; Vol. 118; No. 11; P: 8-14; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

4. Rama Prasad, T. Disastrous Second Covid Wave in India. The Antiseptic. 2021 June; Vol.118; No.6; P: 20-27; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

5. Rama Prasad, T. Is the “Lockdown Medicine” too toxic ? The Antiseptic. 2020 October; Vol. 117; No. 10; P: 13-15; Indexed in IndMED – www.theantiseptic.in

6. Rama Prasad, T., Versha Rajeev. The Conundrum of COVID-19 Vaccines. The Antiseptic. 2021 January; Vol.118; No.1; P: 10-17; Indexed in IndMED – www.theantiseptic.in

7. Rama Prasad, T., Versha Rajeev. Antiseptics, Disinfectants and COVID-19. The Antiseptic. 2020 November; Vol.117; No.11; P: 26-28; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

8. Rama Prasad, T. 40+15 Hypoxia Test in COVID-19. The Antiseptic. 2020 December; Vol. 117; No. 12; P: 13-17; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

9. Rama Prasad, T. Mucormycosis and COVID-19 in India. The Antiseptic. 2021 July; Vol.118; No.7; P: 21-26; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

10. Rama Prasad, T. Vagaries of India’s Covid Vaccination Policy. The Antiseptic. 2021 August; Vol.118; No.8; P: 10-16; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

11. Rama Prasad, T., Versha Rajeev. Tea and Covid. Health. 2020 October; Vol.98; No.10; P: 4-6.

12. Versha Rajeev., Rama Prasad, T. Fear and Covid. Health. 2020 November; Vol.98; No.11; P:31-32

13. Rama Prasad, T. India’s Third Covid Wave. The Antiseptic. 2021 September; Vol.118; No.9; P: 14-20; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

14. Rama Prasad, T. Covid, Children and Schools. The Antiseptic. 2021 October; Vol.118; No.10; P: 08-18; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

15. Rama Prasad, T., COVID and Tuberculosis. The Antiseptic, 2021 December; Vol. 118; No.12; P: 11-17; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

16. Rama Prasad, T., Ominous Omicron of COVID. The Antiseptic, 2022 January; Vol. 119; No. 1; P:25 – 29; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

17. Rama Prasad, T., Omicron – A Paper Tiger. The Antiseptic, 2022 February; Vol. 119; No. 2; P:12-21; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

18. Rama Prasad, T., COVID – still an enigma. The Antiseptic, 2022 March; Vol. 119; No. 3; P: 20-25; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

19. Rama Prasad, T., Post-Omicron Peregrination. The Antiseptic, 2022 April; Vol. 119; No. 4; P: 06-14; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

20. Rama Prasad, T., Digital clubbing and Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteoarthropathy. The Antiseptic, 1979 April, Vol. 76; P: 213-215

21. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tuberculosis-in-india_29.html

22. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2020/06/coronavirus-covid-19-sars-cov-2_43.html

23. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2020/

24. Rama Prasad, T., Versha Rajeev. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/covid-crocodiles.html

25. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/hydroxychloroquine-hcq-and-coronavirus_29.html

26. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/corona-and-charles-darwin.html

27. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/modern-medicine-good-bad-and-ugly_30.html

28. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/yellow-nail-syndrome_28.html

29. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(16)40458-7/fulltext

30. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.567364/full#B32

31. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.567364/full#B47

32. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.567364/full#B52

33. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.567364/full#B50

34. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.567364/full#B37

35. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01176-8://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/coronavirus-pandemic-exacerbates-india-s-mental-health-crisis/2387887

36. https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2022/apr/10/standardise-private-hospital-ratesto-stop-exploitation-of-patients-2439271.html

37. http://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/what-you-can-clinic_30.html

38. https://www.maxhealthcare.in/blogs/long-covid

39. Rama Prasad. T., COVID Fear and Paranoia. The Antiseptic, 2022 May; Vol. 119; No. 5; P: 09-17; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

40. https://www.iphaonline.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/05/Second- Joint-Statement-of-IPHA-IAPSM-and- IAE-on-COVID-19-containment-plan- May-25-2020_Shorter-version-final.pdf

41. -- https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/americas-junk-food-diet-makes-us-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus/

42. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/the-interviews-blog/we-cannot-look-at-this-epidemic-as-a-single-axis-of-how-many-people-are-going-to-become-infected/

43. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/732yearold-gets-cycle-under-welfare-scheme/article6278743.ece

44. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201300

45. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lancet-study-on-orphanhood-in-india-due-to-covid-19-sophisticated-trickery-says-government/article65184668.ece

46. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/unexposed-people-may-have-covid-19-specific-memory-t-cells/article32052605.ece

47. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/unexposed-people-may-have-covid-19-specific-memory-t-cells/article32052605.ece

48. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth (1974). Questions and Answers on Death and Dying. Macmillan. ISBN 0025671200.

49. Berinato, Scott (23 March 2020). "That Discomfort You're Feeling Is Grief". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 3 July 2020.

50. "Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross". Journal of Near Death Studies. 2004.

51. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7239175/

52. https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/12/e003097

53. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/22/who-says-covid-may-have-killed-180000-health-workers

54. Rama Prasad. T., The long and the short of COVID in India. The Antiseptic, 2022 May; Vol. 119; No. 6; P: 14-27; Indexed in IndMED – www.antiseptic.in

../Downloads/Covid%20killer%20FFF.jpeg Covid%20Death%20.png

Be ready to die. I am the 4^th wave !

*********************

In the words of Prof C H Sivaraman:

“ ... Dr. T. Rama Prasad belongs to a distinctly different and unconventional species of doctors. He speaks sparingly and does not even display his qualifications or merits, but his innumerable published writings (he calls them ‘scribblings’ though they are ‘pearls of wisdom and knowledge’, sprinkled with a bit of humour and sarcasm) which received wide acclaim talk eloquently for him. The ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic where services are available for which one may pay whatever one can is a facility run by Dr. Prasad for a very long time which could be a world record. Dr. Prasad is called a “god” by his patients, and many of them named their children after his name “Prasad” -- that is the height of recognition of goodness of a human being... ”

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This is not an ad, it’s about an odd service.

GREETINGS from

‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic

“Thena thyakthena bhoojithaha”– Ishopanishad

( Translated by Prof. B.M. Hegde as: “Rejoice in giving.”)

True to this quote, I have been rejoicing at what little I could give. Defying stereotypes, this clinic has been in existence for a very long time, sans glitz, blitz, ads, microphones, speeches and noise. As a matter of my policy, publicity is shunned. The reason is simple. Good work needs no noise and nonsense. My ‘SCRIBBLINGS’ on related topics may be accessed at: http://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com or www.rama-scribbles.in

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My consultation fee is not decided by me. It is the patient’s pleasure. The patient may pay (donate) whatever he can and what he wishes. If one is short of money, he or she need not pay anything. And the money thus received is used for charity to help the needy, the poor and the less fortunate. If interested to know more about this facility, go to: http://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/06/pay-what-you-can-clinic.html

"We need not run after money. If we are meritorious and compassionate, money would run after us, and it eludes us if we run after it.” -- T. Rama Prasad

“Richness is not having lots of money. It is the feeling that one has enough of it. Contentment sans comparison is what makes one really rich.” -- T. Rama Prasad.

Dr. T. Rama Prasad, Director, ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic, PERUNDURAI, Erode Dt., TN, India. Former Medical Superintendent (Special), RTS & IRT Perundurai Medical College and Research Centre, Perundurai, Website: www.rama-scribbles.in , Blog: https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com, Email:drtramaprasad@gmail.com, Facebook: T Rama Prasad, Twitter: @DrRamaprasadt, WhatsApp: +91 98427 20393

AUTHOR Dr. T. Rama Prasad

A short list of some of the published articles in The Antiseptic (a premier Medical & surgical journal),

‘The Hindu’ (a national Newspaper), etc. authored by Dr. T. Rama Prasad.

1. Digital clubbing and Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteoarthropathy -
Pathogenesis -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 76. pp. 213-215, 1979

2. Childhood Tuberculosis - Part I -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, pp. 449-504,1979

3. Childhood Tuberculosis - Part II -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 76. pp. 567-574, 1979

4. Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Thioacetazone -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 77, pp. 99-102, 1980

5. Highly Purified Insulins - An Assessment -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 77, pp. 3455-347, 1980

6. Is the "Lockdown Medicine" too toxic ? -- The Antiseptic, Vol.117, No.10, pp. 13 - 15, 2020

7. Antiseptics, Disinfectants and COVID-19 -- The Antiseptic, Vol.117, No.11, pp. 26 - 28, 2020

8. Disastrous Second Covid Wave in India -- The Antiseptic, Vol.118, No. 6, pp. 20-27, 2021

9. Covid Variants -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 118, No.5, pp. 11-14, 2021

10. The Conundrum of COVID-19 Vaccines -- The Antiseptic, Vol.118, No. 1, pp. 10-17, 2021

11. Covishield or Covaxin ? -- The Antiseptic, Vol.118, No. 4, pp. 12-16, 2021

12. 40+15 Hypoxia Test in COVID-19 -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 117, No.12, pp. 13-17, 2020

13. Mucormycosis and COVID-19 in India -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 118, No. 7, pp. 21-26, 2021

14. Vagaries of India’s Covid Vaccination Policy – The Antiseptic, Vol. 118, No. 8, pp. 10-16, 2021

15. India’s Third Covid Wave -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 118, No. 9, pp. 14-20, 2021

16. Covid, Children and Schools -- The Antiseptic, Vol. 118, No. 10, pp. 08-18, 2021

17. The Science and Nonsense around COVID -- The Antiseptic, Vol.118, No.11, pp. 08-14, 2021

18. Covid and Tuberculosis – The Antiseptic, Vol.118, No.12, 2021

19. Tea and Covid -- Health, Vol. 98, No.10, pp. 4-6, 2021

20. Fear and Covid -- Health, Vol. 98, No. 11, pp. 31-32

21. HEALTH CHECK-UP: how healthy is it ? - The Hindu, Open Page, January 15, 2012 –

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/Health-check-up-how-healthy-is-it/article13379235.ece

22. THE ‘GOOGLE EFFECT’: may be good, may be bad - The Hindu, Open Page, April 22, 2012

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/the-google-effect-may-be-good-may-be- bad/article3340116.ece

23. OF TEA, COFFEE and COMMERCE - The Hindu, Open Page, January 12, 2014 …

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/of-tea-coffee-and-commerce/article5567951.ece

24. A BAD PATCH - The Hindu, Open Page, March 15, 2020 ...

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/a-bad-patch/article31069356.ece

25. Yellow Nail Syndrome - Chest (U.S.A.), Vol. 77, p.580, 1980

https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(16)40458-7/fulltext

26. Yellow Nail Syndrome - The Indian Journal of Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences, Vol. 22, pp. 69-72, 1980.

27. Drug Resistance in Tuberculosis - Journal of the Indian Medical Association, Vol. 64, pp. 264-267, 1975.

References to more articles by Dr. T. Rama Prasad may be found in: http://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com

www.rama-scribbles.in

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Dear Dr. Rama Prasad,

I am sure the world will be a better place, if people understand your writings ... ‘EXCELLENT’ is the word. I cannot find any other word in this language to describe what you have written without any pretensions. You have brought out some home truths to those who care to read your website ... You are a great thinker, writer and crusader ... As usual, your messages are incisive, to the point and make lots of sense, much better than my articles …

... You are not only GREAT, but are a true missionary in medicine. May your tribe increase for the good of mankind. ….

Love,

-- Padma Bhushan Prof. B. M. Hegde, (awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2021)

MD, FRCP (Lond), FRCP (Edin), FRCP (Glas), FRCP (Dub), FACC (USA), FAMS, Former Professor of Cardiology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London, UK, Former Vice-Chancellor, Manipal University, India, Affiliate Professor of Human Health, Northern Colorado University, USA, Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of the Science of Healing Outcomes, Chairman, State Health Society’s Expert Committee, Govt of Bihar, India and Padma Bhushan awardee of 2010. www.bmhegde.com

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The following is the comment written by the internationally renowned scholar, Pritam Bhattacharyya (Editor-at-Large of Pentasect and Founder and Chief of Wordsmith at Wordsmith Communication, Chairman of Freelance Foundation, ) on the blog article on Coronavirus and COVID-19

(1) https://wordsmithofbengal.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/health-un-heath-and-fear-of-un-health/

(2) https://wordsmithofbengal.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/google-effect-and-kali-yuga-prophecies/

 wordsmithApril 12, 2020 at 10:42 PM 

“One of the best articles I have read on this theme and having balance, measure and proportion. Miss Corona in hindsight is really kind and benign in a sense - Nature has rolled a dice with fatality of 2-3%. She is under no obligation not to roll a dice of fatality 40,50,60% with Ms. Corona being "size zero" and "air-borne". Consider what would have happened ?

Dr. Prasad is one of the few doctors whom I know who fall into the rare category of "healers". A healer knows the art, science and commerce of healing, i.e. allowing the innate immunity of the body to manifest itself.

One should be very careful and critical about three things in the world : Big Pharma, Big Government, Big Science. In the proverbial Kali-Yuga, all three converge with overlapped agendas and sometimes not with the best interest in mind of the end users : patients, citizens, learners.

Finally, this pandemic will also pass. The system will come to a new equilibrium. But I think a whole generation will carry this impression forward and may become saner with this.

I nurture another hope : just like pivotal events propel a whole generation (Apollo Mission and interest in space science), this may inspire many young Indians to shift their focus into public healthcare, virology, immunology, public immunity, psychological counselling and learning the art and science of healing.

Again, it was very nice to find an article of this time in the avalanche of printed words in this theme.

Continue your good work.”

GREAT HOLY SOUL

16.10.2017

" ... I always wonder that we both seem to be identical in our thoughts, deeds and actions. ... I always cherish your friendship and appreciate your humanitarian attitude towards life, poor rural people and the needy. ... I went through your articles ... especially, the 'PAY WHAT YOU CAN Clinic' touched my heart, and after studying, I wondered: "What a great holy soul you are !" You are a living example of Swami Vivekananda. ... "

Dr. J.K.K. Munirajahh, M.Tech (Bolton)

Chairman, JKKM Group of Institutions & Industries

Komarapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India

"...A study of your work reveals how fertile is your brain and how facile is your pen. Your command of English is breathtaking. One cannot help being astounded by your encyclopaedic range of knowledge and its depth is unfathomable......Your sense of humour is very much to be appreciated. Your invaluable treasure "SCRIBBLINGS" is to be preserved for posterity....."

-- Prof. P. Lakshmi, MA,

Principal, Vellalar College for Women,

Thindal, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India

Dear Dr. Rama Prasad,

“..When I saw a copy (of your book titled "Some of my SCRIBBLINGS") in the medical college library, curiosity got the better of me and I borrowed it. As I went through it, curiosity turned into admiration. What struck me first and the most was your command over the language. I appreciated your interest in widely varied subjects, from pornography to piano, as the saying goes. I also realised that the interest was not just superficial, but substantial as evidenced by the statistics quoted to emphasise a point. When I finished with it, it left me wondering how you continued to sustain your interest despite having spent more than 3 decades in this place, well isolated and insulated from academic and intellectual environment...”

--- Group Captain (Retd) Prof. N. Ramachandran, MD,

Professor of Paediatrics, Perundurai Medical College Perundurai, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, India

“… I am amazed to find how the book (Some of my “Scribblings”) mirrors your multifaceted personality – the sterling qualities of head and heart. It reflects the encyclopedic range of your mind. I am struck by the fact that there was no subject that is untouched – from physical to metaphysical, sacred to secular, all under the sun have been dealt with quite thoroughly, authenticated and well-documented to reveal a genuine humanist at work. … Combined with the art of healing is your art of drawing and painting. … We are amazed to see your paintings and to learn that the illustrations in the “Scribblings” are your own. …”

-- Prof. V. Prafulla,

M.A., Ph.D. (Eng.), M.A. (Hindi), P.G.T.E., Former Principal, Erode Arts College for Women, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India; Former Professor of English, Visalakshi College, Udamalpet, Tamil Nadu, India.

WRITINGS AND TALKS of Dr. T. Rama Prasad

List No. 1

1. Drug Resistance in Tuberculosis - Journal of the Indian Medical Association, Vol. 64, pp. 264-267, 1975.

2. Digital clubbing and Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteoarthropathy - Pathogenesis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76. pp.

213- 215, 1979.

3. Childhood Tuberculosis - Part I - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, pp. 449-504,1979

4. Childhood Tuberculosis - Part II - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76. pp. 567-574, 1979

5. Yellow Nail Syndrome - Chest (U.S.A.), Vol. 77, p.580, 1980 –

http://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(16)40458- 7/fulltext

6. Short-course Chemotherapy - The recent Advances in the Treatment of Respiratory Tuberculosis - Current Medical Practice,

Vol.24, pp. 41- 46, 1980.

7. Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Thioacetazone - The Antiseptic, Vol. 77, pp. 99-102, 1980.

8. Yellow Nail Syndrome - The Indian Journal of Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences, Vol. 22, pp. 69-72, 1980.

9. Highly Purified Insulins - An Assessment - The Antiseptic, Vol. 77, pp. 3455-347, 1980.

10. Diabetes and Tuberculosis - The Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 21, pp. 10-12, 1981.

11. Tuberculosis Control in India - In Press

12. Tuberculin Test - Relevance to diagnosis in India today - In Press

13. Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 75, p. 194, 1978.

14. Drugs in the treatment of Tuberculosis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 75, p.678, 1978

15. Chemotherapy of Tuberculosis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, p.248, 1979.

16. Streptomycin in Tuberculosis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, p.516, 1979.

17. Health of the citizen (Special article) - The Hindu, Vol.99 A, No.198, p.8, 1976

18. How effective is the TB control programme ? (Special Article) - The Hindu, Vol.100, No. 274, p.8, 1977.

19. Five years Plans and TB Control Programme (Special Article) - The Hindu, Vol.101, No. 275,

20. BCG vaccination - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, p. 726, 1979.

21. Genetic Selection - The Antiseptic, Vol. 77, p.258, 1980.

22. National Tuberculosis Control Programme - views presented, on invitation by the Tuberculosis Association of India,

at the 32nd National Conference on Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, 1977.

23. Correlation between Geomagnetic Activity and Haemoptysis - paper presented at the II Tamil Nadu State Conference

on Tuberculosis & Chest Diseases, 1980.

24. Snakes.

25. AIDS - the disease of the decade - Radio Talk - All India Radio, Coimbatore, Feb. 1, 1986.

26. AIDS - What next ? - Radio Talk - All India Radio, Coimbatore, May 24, 1986

27. BRAIN FEVER (Encephalitis): taming the scourge - Radio Talk - All India Radio, Coimbatore, February 14, 1987.

28. HEALTH OF THE HIGH RISK GROUPS: Mothers, Children and elderly - Innovative Health Care Programmes,

Paper submitted for Scientific Session of the National Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Health administrators.

29. SAVING THE YOUNG - healthcare of the children in developing countries - Radio Talk -

All India Radio, Coimbatore, January, 1988.

30. MEDICINE and MONEY - Co-Chamber Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p.8, 2010,

31. THE INDIAN SUPERBUG - Co-Chamber Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 9, p.15, 2010

32. SWINE FLU - Co-Chamber Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 10, p. 13

33. HEALTH CHECK-UP: how healthy is it ? - The Hindu, Open Page, Jan. 15, 2012 -

……http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open page/article2801701.ece

34. THE ‘GOOGLE EFFECT’: may be good, may be bad - The Hindu, Open Page, April 22, 2012

...http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article3340116.ece

35. OF TEA, COFFEE and COMMERCE - The Hindu, Open Page, January 12, 2014 …

… http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/openpage/of-tea-coffee-and-commerce/article5567951.ece.

36. A BAD PATCH - The Hindu, OPEN PAGE, March 15, 2020 ...

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/a-bad-patch/article31069356.ece

37. MODERN MEDICINE: how good is it in India ? - Co-Chamber Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 5, p. 23, June 2016 & Vol. 11,

Issue 6, p. 18, July 2016

38. WORLD TB DAY: March 24, 2016 - Health, Vol. 94, No. 5, p. 20, May 2016

39. IS THE "LOCKDOWN MEDICINE" TOO TOXIC ? -- The Antiseptic, Vol.117, No.10, pp. 13 -15, 2020

40. ANTISEPTICS, DISINFECTANTS and COVID-19 -- The Antiseptic, Vol.117, No.11, pp. 26 - 28, 2020

41. 40+15 HYPOXIA TEST in COVID-19 -- The Antiseptic, Vol.117, No.12, pp.13 –17, 2020

42. THE CONUNDRUM of COVID-19 VACCINES – The Antiseptic, Vol. 118, No. 1, 2021

43. Fear and COVID-19 – HEALTH, Vol. 98, No. 11, pp. 13 -14, 2020

44. Tea and COVID-19 – HEALTH, Vol. 98, No. 10, pp. 4 – 6, 2020

List No. 2 contains references to about 1000 writings which may be found on my Website -- T. Rama Prasad

“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” --- Nelson Mandela

Dr. T. Rama Prasad's Scribblings...

Sunday, January 8, 2023

DEATH & EUTHANASIA

Main Types of Euthanasia

Current Legal Status (as of March 2026)

Ethical Debate

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