ACROSS
1 - Unpleasant thing, grist to the mill of media (3,4) - BAD NEWS {BAD} {NEWS}
5 - Hurried to rein in insurers and got tied up (7) - SPLICED {SP{LIC}ED}
9 - What the family doctor has for a cleric, parentage doubtful!
(7,8) - GENERAL PRACTICE You hardly find any of these Doctors nowadays, at least I am yet to find one in the vicinity of my house.
10 - Rough drawing of a small sailing boat (6) - SKETCH {S}{KETCH}
11 - Played a part around church with Penny? Agreed (8) - ACCEPTED {AC{CE}{P}TED}
13 - Fit for marriage, Parisian girl catches big Indian chief in
retreat (8) - ELIGIBLE {EL{I)(GIB<}LE}
15 - What a dissolute one at home may do — collect a lot (4,2) - RAKE IN {RAKE} {IN}
18 - Tool that gives, after extremes of survival, an advantage
(6) - SLEDGE {SurvivaL}{EDGE}
19 - Hero of children’s tale, a dwarf growth (3,5) - TOM THUMB [CD]
22 - Old boy backs Brown, first as a scientist (8) - BOTANIST {BO<-}{TAN}{1ST}
24 - Bullet, model of a fast bike, say (6) - TRACER {T}{RACER}
27 - Kind of folds a sceptical donor reworked (9,6) - ACCORDION PLEATS*
29 - Cast a spell over engineer with a craving (7) - BEWITCH {BE}{W}{ITCH}
DOWN
1 - Nitrogen, perhaps, in the groundwork, a residue left in sugar
production (7) - BAGASSE {BA{GAS}SE}
2 - A part of the forest of Arden seen to be crowded (5) - DENSE [T]
3 - Enhancing the quality and rendering gin nicer, adding hydrogen
(9) - ENRICHING {ENRIC{H}ING*}
4 - The one and only flat fish (4) - SOLE [DD]
6 - English philosopher’s security device, we hear (5) - LOCKE (~lock)
7 - Liqueur for a neurotic suspect (9) - COINTREAU*
8 - China in East Germany! (7) - DRESDEN [DD]
12 - Cunning change of heart of secret agent (3) - SLY S(-p+l}LY
14 - A dialect in fresh form but just the same! (9) - IDENTICAL*
16 - A measure for unit of work done by famous cartoonist — “Radiance
following setting of big star” (9) - AFTERGLOW {A}{FT}{ERG}{LOW}
17 - Watch chain shipped without payment of freight and insurance
maybe (3) - FOB [DD]
18 - Bachelors upset over ablution on Sunday (7) - SABBATH {SAB<-}{BATH}
21 - Help a sibling in a way (6) - ASSIST {A}{S{SIS}T}
23 - Tissue that gives courage (5) - NERVE [DD]
25 - Plan for a church painting (5) - CHART {CH}{ART}
26 - A control with which to hit back (4) - KNOB <-
Deepak
ReplyDeleteYour comment against 9a is likely to touch a raw nerve in many a reader.
Yes, the concept of a 'family doctor' or a 'general physician' is not what it used to be in the 1950s and some decades following those.
As a schoolboy I used to go to one in my neighbourhood. An LMP, he would receive us with a smile, listen to our complaint and personally prepare 'mixture', put it in a bottle, paste dosage tag on its side and give it to us. He would enquire about my grandfather (probably a co-card player or walker).
Later there was another doctor, one who knew my father and uncles (they may have gone to school together or done a stint in the army as emergency commission officers). He used to maintain records scrupulosuly with no assitant in sight when we were consulting him.
Then there was a third doctor. A single visit would do to get rid of most problems because his diagnosis was so unerring.
In those days they sent bills at month-end. No clerk at the reception desk stopped you on the way out, call the doctor for the amount and take it. Nowadays, the bill has an amount for the hospital/nursing home and another 'on behalf of the doctor'.
In those days doctors used to check your pulse, hold your hand for a few seconds and do certain other things in the course of their work. More than the medicine it is this individual attention and concern that works wonders in the healing process.
Shall respond to this later in the afternoon as I have a lot to say
DeleteDiagnosis is a special technique which is sadly missing (or not used) these days. Doctors tend to go for elaborate tests/ scans at the drop of a hat, even if it is not needed (mostly not)Like CV says, since doctors knew the family and their medical history without any elaborate written work, the diagnosis was made easy and tests minimal or not at all. With due credit to present day doctors, the treatment can easily be made much easier both physically and financially. Tests may be resorted to only when needed and when the patient does not respond to conventional treatment based on diagnosis.
DeleteHaving said that, we are enjoying the privilege of a family doctor in T.Nagar, who is usually good and correct and resorts to tests or referrals only when needed which may not be very frequent. He also gives us a book which contains a record of previous illnesses and the treatment given. I consider this a luxury in today's scenario.
On a related note, have you watched the TV show Satyamev Jayate? They had an episode on greed and malpractices in healthcare. The video is on Youtube here.
DeleteDeepak
ReplyDeleteFor 'accordian pleats' I would have appreciated an example that is at the front of a Bharatanatyam dancer's costume, the pleats naturally spread when the dancer spreads her legs in a stance.
Agreed
DeleteSorry for the typo; 'accordion', of course.
Delete2 long anagrams and I felt both were good, particularly 27A (probably since it was new to me!)
ReplyDeleteMy childhood experiences with a family doctor, a general practitioner, a very reputed, successful surgeon too, very similar to C-Vasi's makes me nostalgic too. I am happy and proud to inform that my younger sister is a very intelligent general practitioner and her diagnostic skills are extraordinarily brilliant. She is very judicious about antibiotics and other drugs to be taken. Our family scattered across the globe always seek her advice first and we all the better for it.If we start listing the malpractices and utter lack of ethics in the medical profession today it will take huge volumes to enter. The less said the better. One word I can find to say about it is 'atrocious'!
ReplyDeleteA doctor friend of mine says that these days patients would not touch a doctor without an MD tag even with a bargepole. They think it would be infra dig to consult an ordinary MBBS. To share a secret with you, this doctor himself improved his practice graph after completing his MD a few years ago. But he still continues to practise as a GP.
ReplyDeleteBlog posts today completely 'doctored'?
ReplyDeleteDidn't get my newspaper today, did it online via fb, but just not the same as having the hard copy in front of you
Good, that means Chitra has resolved the problem of the Grid not appearing
DeleteRefer my 9:52 post
ReplyDeleteRegarding GP's, this has been on my mind for sometime specially with regards to old people at home.
The other day one of the residents in my apartment complex lost his father, who passed away peacefully in his sleep at night. The duty doctor from the nearby hospital where the old man used to go for his check up etc came to the house checked him up and declared him dead. However the chief of the hospital did not agree to issue a death certificate stating that the person would have to be brought to the hospital and then too he would issue a death certificate stating as 'brought dead'. Brought dead I believe would lead to a post mortem situation otherwise the crematorium will not accept it. The poor resident had to run from pillar to post to get a death certificate. Finally another resident took him to a doctor known to him who agreed to issue the Death Certifiacte.
This is where a GP or a family doctor can step in and help and that is why I made the statement that the GP's are almost non-existent nowadays.
All doctors generally practise on us hence, GP? Just this Monday, mycomplete check up, routine one, duly reminded by the Clinic as due any time. Both given a clean chit of health. Just what the doctor ordered. It was like assembly line efficiency , what with being directed from one place to another,seamlessly, with a post-prandial fare served by a conveniently placed canteen, doling out dried vadas, sans oil, a couple of idlis, edible only by an idler and a blob of pongal(with a welcome: vaanga saar) called conveniently Kichdi). There was even a shoe shop adjoining where a woman was exhorting us to buy healthy walking shoes (shoes, do they walk?) A few eyedrops,( without warning and perhaps knowing that I don't drive )on my left eye rendered me dazzled when I came out on to the blazing sun, bleary-eyed for the next four hours . They told me that each test was mandatory , thus knocking me off in my weallet by Rs.5000/=
ReplyDeleteNot to speak of a BUSS ride-- Blood , Urine,Sputum and Stool test !!
wife and I had a
Well doctored clinic, I should say .
In Nairobi, I had a doctor friend in each branch of medicine,and that had made things easier and more reliable.
OOPs, the cursor had jumped in between lines and the wallet got an extra e ! doctor the phrases by reading in between the lines.
ReplyDeleteCol: Please do not remove the Link to the Grid facility. I had missed the last Thursday and this sunday papers and had to tell wifey to drive my down today to the Library- a good 7 kms. No cost-benefit analysis when it comes to my crosswords-
ReplyDeleteThe Sunday Grid is erratic, sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't with the online paper. I normally put it when it's available and if I remember
DeleteCV @ 9:28
ReplyDeletePhotograph changed
Thank you. It is possible!
DeleteThere is a proposal from the Medical Council of India to start a MD in Family Practice as done in other countries. This might address some of the concerns in the above posts. In UK the GP commands much more respect than the specialist as far as the general public goes.I know a number of specialists including myself who are family physicians to their family circle and other friends.
ReplyDeleteQuite a lot of the criticism in the Satyameva Jayate programme was true and this is because the Medical Council of India is a toothless body and very few unscrupulous doctors get punished.A lot of people are starting Medical colleges, Diagnostic centres and Hospitals as a purely commercial venture and try to repay their loan by fleecing patients.Many parents spend their hard earned money in admitting their children in substandard private Medical Colleges just to see their children become "Doctors' without bothering about the standard. Having said that there are quite a few who try to practice rational medicine with rational diagnostics and rational treatment.
Shoving in my oar belatedly, I reminisce about the not-so-lowly compounder who doled out the mixtures CV mentions.
ReplyDeleteBut tell me all (without defending the medical profession for its foibles), which profession is true to its sodium chloride today?
The one working at the salt factory, perhaps. Even Iodized salt may not be true to its content.
ReplyDeleteHow are you sure that one who is working in a salt factory will be true to his profession- if we go by the other examples?
ReplyDeleteIf that is the case, he deserved to be called a namak haraam!
ReplyDelete