Re: Mapping of professionals in EM & RUD

[Guest guest]

Hi Gitanjali,

NetRUM is as much yours as mine. Feel free to make postings.

I hope many NetRUMians come on your map.

Vijay

>

> Dear Netrumians

>

> Thank you for the enthusiastic response from many of you. I have a few

> concerns which I would like to share with you so that my intentions for

> doing this exercise are clear to all. I hope Vijay will permit me the luxury

> of a long post.

>

> 1. The objective of this mapping is to have a list of professionals who are

> interested in RUM. At the moment we rely on opinion, word of mouth,

> friendships etc., to know who is interested. This way (with the mapping

> exercise), I believe, everyone has a good chance of letting us know of their

> work that they have done in this area.

> 2. Sending the form does not *guarantee* that you will be invited for

> meetings, workshops etc., or that you are in anyway connected to the WHO.

> 3. This may lead you to ask - so why should I fill up this form and send it?

> Good question. At some point of time, we may want to commission a report or

> a review on a particular topic. If we know those who are interested, and who

> have some publications in the topic, we can encourage younger people to to

> take up this task. This will help create a new pool of experts with fresh

> ideas and outlook.

>

> What is lacking now?

>

> 1. Please take the time to fill up the form completely. I have receieved

> forms without an address, designation stated without the department to which

> affiliated. I need to know not just the city you work in but also the state

> (my geography is apalling). Many of the forms are being sent with only three

> or four rows filled. This will not help me or you.

>

> 2. Assume I do not know any abbreviations - and so, when writing about

> courses attended please expand the name of organization and the title of the

> course and give full details.

>

> 3. Include your publications, newspaper articles, in-house magazines

> anything which will prove that you have been actively involved. Most forms

> are being sent without any publications.

>

> 4. Please check the file extension and send only as a word document. At

> least 25% of the forms I have received cannot be opened due to problems with

> the file extension.

>

> 5. If you are a student - please say so. There is no shame in stating that

> you are a student and a beginner. We all had to start somewhere.

>

> My advice (for whatever it is worth)

>

> The issue of irrational use is far greater, leads to more morbidity and

> mortality and costs more to individuals (patients) and governments than

> HIV-AIDS, Malaria, TB etc., for which we have excellent international and

> national programmes in place with large amount of funding. It is unfortunate

> we cannot get the Geres or Angelina Jolies or the Aishwaryas or the

> Aamir Khans to be ambassadors for RUM (there will be no opportunity for a

> photo shoot with sick looking, malnourished children). We have no

> photographs to show which will shock people and force people to reach for

> their purses or impress the need for continued research. None of the funding

> agencies in India even have it as a thrust area. People feel honoured and

> proud to say they work in molecular pharmacology and feel hesitant and

> embarassed to say they do drug utilzation studies. Doctoral committees do

> not encourage work in RUM, believing this is 'table research'.

>

> But, despite all this, we need to look for inspiration from within to

> promote this concept and research in whichever way we can.

>

> I request teachers, students to continue work in this area and publish as

> much as possible. This is not a sprint, it is a marathon.

>

> Thanks for your patience

>

> Dr.Gitanjali Batmanabane

>