Common tests: What you need to know
This month we kick off a new series in MediScene about the most common diagnostic tests. With Prof. Shyam Fernando, a consultant physician and Professor in Medicine as our guide we’ll explore what exactly each test entails, how it is applied and what role it plays in allowing the doctor to reach a diagnosis. We’ll [...]
Melioidosis the great mimic
Dr. Enoka Corea, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, discusses an infectious disease that is sometimes hard to identify. Kumudini Hettiarachchi reports It is a great mimic, sometimes making it difficult to catch it in the act, but now Sri Lanka is identifying and treating it effectively. The culprit is none other than Melioidosis, an infectious disease caused [...]
Looking at trance and possession states in a practical way
‘Do you believe in spirits?’ is a question relatives ask me of patients suffering from possession or trance states. Usually they have come to see me out of desperation, the usual rituals and ceremonies having failed to cure the patient. Trance and possession states are commoner in Asian countries than in the West. Trance states [...]
Does your unborn have Down’s Syndrome?
How many mothers in Sri Lanka know the importance of ultrasound scanning during the first-trimester of a pregnancy to get an indication whether the unborn baby has Down’s Syndrome? Very few, points out Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. Tiran Dias who is also an Accredited Foetal Medicine Specialist, after a study on ‘Knowledge of Down’s Syndrome [...]
Abortion – Is it always “bad”?
This article is intended to create awareness in society of a social issue which seems to have lost focus of the core issue. Clearly the reasons for it not to reach an acceptable solution involve the way the problem is viewed from the platforms of religious beliefs, social implications, cultural reasons etc. But the time [...]
