Dr. (Prof.) ATUL GOEL

Director Professor & Head,

Department of Medicine

Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi-110001, India.

 

I feel overwhelmed at being asked to write a preface for the first ever edition of this journal of the Department of Internal Medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College & associated hospitals by my colleagues in the Department.   Yes, it has been my brainchild for a while, because of the reasons outlined below.

1. I believe that every Department in a large Medical College does enough to be able to contribute to the vast sea of literature of Clinical Science. Every little piece of evidence that is added to the literature in the form of ‘a case report, a drug reaction or new evidence from dissertations conducted in the Department’ will have something (however small) to contribute to knowledge in the field of ‘medicine’, that will be of benefit to future generations.  It also provides a platform for the Department to showcase its academic activities.  Unfortunately, most of the established journals of medicine around the World don’t accept case reports and anecdotes for publication
2. Besides, in this era of sub-specialization and micro-specialization there is a definite need for a journal for ‘pure unadulterated internal medicine’ that accepts case reports, anecdotal observations besides re-visiting basic clinical medicine in the way it should be studied by medical graduates and post-graduates. Medicine has to come back to the platform of ‘integration’, whereby human body has to be managed in an integrated manner, and not piecemeal as is being currently done through micro-specializations.  Integration of subspecialties and micro-sub-specialties within the field of medicine should be the way forward as a holistic approach.
3. When one is part of an institution, one’s identity as an individual should take a backseat for eminence, when it is the question of growth of the institution. The same applies at every organizational level including a department.  As a department grows, each of its members gets opportunities to grow, while, if an individual grows, only that individual grows and with much more effort than may be required.  One shouldn’t ever underestimate the strength of collective efforts of individual members of a department or an Institution; and this first edition attempts to showcase the collective effort of a department in a short period of time.

I believe every Medical Institution should have a journal of its own, which should be a showcase for all academic activities of the Institution.  Lady Hardinge Medical College is one of the oldest Medical Institutions of the country (established in 1916) and the only one of its kind (a medical school exclusive to ladies up to undergraduate level).  My journey with the ‘department of medicine’ of the institution began in 1987 as an MD (Medicine) post-graduate student.  I always felt that the ‘department’ has a potential to be recognized as one of the finest teaching departments of Internal Medicine in the country, and after recently taking over a leadership position here, I am much more confident about this.  The Department launching the first edition of its online journal is among the few small first steps in this direction.  I have reasons to believe, this will be followed by many more giant steps by the talented and enthusiastic faculty of the Department.

The logo for this journal ‘Medicine Clinics from the Tropics’, has been deservedly designed by Dr. Saba Dabeer, a student of Lady Hardinge Medical College, who began her journey here, as an undergraduate student in the year 2010; she is presently a Senior Resident in the Department.   I wish to extend my gratitude to the team of editors, ably led by Dr. Anil Gurtoo, my senior colleague, friend and former head, at Department.  A sincere vote of thanks is also due to the constant encouragement from Dr. Aparna Agrawal, a senior colleague within the Department and the current Director, Lady Hardinge Medical College.  I congratulate Dr. Anupam Prakash (Prof of Medicine & Managing Editor) & Dr. Rosmy Jose (Assistant Prof & Associate Managing Editor) for their tireless efforts for this first issue to be a reality.  How can I forget my entire Department (faculty and residents) for this wonderful venture, which they will be looking after and carrying on beyond the current generation.

I would like to have a feedback for future issues in the form of letters to the editor, for changes that might be required in the journal content as ‘change is the only constant’.