Volume 2 Issues 8 August, 2021
Addressing the Missing Link!!!
In a recent interview for the All India Radio, the chief of programs raised some interesting questions. He said it was becoming increasingly difficult to identify doctors specialized in various fields to participate in health education programs and yet there appeared to be a flood of information in the media by so called experts who seem to have qualifications that have never been heard of before. He further said that there was a great vacuum with regard to medical literature available for the common man written by specialists who have recognized qualifications. His observations were true about the missing link. Even though there has been a dramatic raise in scientific literature for professionals, this has not translated to simple literature for the common man, which is indeed the necessary link in creating awareness. Paradoxically, this need has been exploited by pseudo professionals.
One of the best examples of translating complex scientific literature into its simplest form for the understanding of common man is being done by our own Rama!!! V S Ramachandran, a leading professor of neurosciences & psychology, who is fondly addressed as Rama, was born & educated in India, and currently settled in US. He is transforming the way we think about the mind & the Brain!!! He has written extensively and explicitly in a simple language about complex issues. There is a great need in India for such literature, especially by specialist in vernacular languages for the benefit of the common man. Medical institutions preparing scientific literature for the common man would be a positive step in this direction. We, at JSS Medical College, are launching a public awareness newsletter in Kannada, named as ‘MANASU’, on topics related to psychiatry, an effort to address the issue of this missing link. We look forward to share this experience.
JSS Medical College, Mysore
