The Postcard Writer Who Saved Lives
For 25 years, Dr. Araveeti Ramayogaiah wrote 36,000 postcards to India’s rural, instructing them on healthcare and disease prevention. It was his private, dedicated mission to help the poor who could not afford private healthcare or even medicines.
What is the best way to stop the spread of diseases and help the public lead a healthy life? How do we educate people on general hygiene and sanitation? Dr Araveeti Ramayogaiah, a pediatrician’s approach was to stick to the old adage: Prevention is better than cure.
Ramayogiah did not choose the conventional shebang to communicate it to the lay masses. He listed some everyday must-dos on postcards and mailed them to his patients, friends and even strangers …show more content…
Most of the disease causing germs in India are waterborne or airborne. Keeping the surroundings clean and taking some simple preventive measures would stop the incidence and spreading of most of the commonplace diseases.
Ramayogiah had proof to support his conviction. In-depth medical studies show that the clinical symptoms are of three kinds: self-limiting, trivial and very rarely, serious. Today’s evidence-based and defensive treatments includes a battery of tests to be done for even trivial symptoms. These tests are a big burden to patients and sometimes present unreliable results too.
If doctors in India were to go on a strike, the mortality rate would come down, drastically, Ramayogiah used to criticize the status of clinical diagnosis and treatment in India thus. “Doctors prescribe medicines, these medicines have side effects, so they prescribe more needs to counteract the side effects- and the vicious cycle goes on and on,” he said. Doctors only treat diseases. Then why are they considered to give health, was Ramayogiah’s thought-provoking …show more content…
It was the time when he was part of the breastfeeding promotion network of India. The new mothers left the hospital soon after the delivery. All the philanthropic doctor’s concern was centered around breastfeeding and timely vaccination of the newborn. Without further ado, he collected the addresses from the hospital’s database and listed the dates and names of vaccinations and had the hospital mail them so that it looked like an official summon. When the postman read the letter to the women upon delivery, it urged the women to take the communication seriously and visit the hospital on the mentioned date. 1500 postcards were mailed during his term in
For 25 years, Dr. Araveeti Ramayogaiah wrote 36,000 postcards to India’s rural, instructing them on healthcare and disease prevention. It was his private, dedicated mission to help the poor who could not afford private healthcare or even medicines.
What is the best way to stop the spread of diseases and help the public lead a healthy life? How do we educate people on general hygiene and sanitation? Dr Araveeti Ramayogaiah, a pediatrician’s approach was to stick to the old adage: Prevention is better than cure.
Ramayogiah did not choose the conventional shebang to communicate it to the lay masses. He listed some everyday must-dos on postcards and mailed them to his patients, friends and even strangers …show more content…
Most of the disease causing germs in India are waterborne or airborne. Keeping the surroundings clean and taking some simple preventive measures would stop the incidence and spreading of most of the commonplace diseases.
Ramayogiah had proof to support his conviction. In-depth medical studies show that the clinical symptoms are of three kinds: self-limiting, trivial and very rarely, serious. Today’s evidence-based and defensive treatments includes a battery of tests to be done for even trivial symptoms. These tests are a big burden to patients and sometimes present unreliable results too.
If doctors in India were to go on a strike, the mortality rate would come down, drastically, Ramayogiah used to criticize the status of clinical diagnosis and treatment in India thus. “Doctors prescribe medicines, these medicines have side effects, so they prescribe more needs to counteract the side effects- and the vicious cycle goes on and on,” he said. Doctors only treat diseases. Then why are they considered to give health, was Ramayogiah’s thought-provoking …show more content…
It was the time when he was part of the breastfeeding promotion network of India. The new mothers left the hospital soon after the delivery. All the philanthropic doctor’s concern was centered around breastfeeding and timely vaccination of the newborn. Without further ado, he collected the addresses from the hospital’s database and listed the dates and names of vaccinations and had the hospital mail them so that it looked like an official summon. When the postman read the letter to the women upon delivery, it urged the women to take the communication seriously and visit the hospital on the mentioned date. 1500 postcards were mailed during his term in