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E-sclepieion is a story set against the imaginary scenario of a medical center in Chennai (one among a global chain of hospitals) towards the end of the 21st century. It is an era when healthcare has been taken up as a universal concern and hospitals the world over have come under mandatory global control and administration; an era when the care of the sick has evolved into a 'high-tech, no-talk, no-touch' enterprise.
The name E-sclepieion reminds one of the healing sanctuaries in ancient Greece dedicated to Aesclepios, the Greek god of medicine. The ancient Greeks believed that bodily healing could take place only in association with healing of the mind.
Subbu Sampath is pleased that at a time when the care of the sick has been entirely handed over to robotic technology, his request for examination by a human doctor has been granted. Expectations run high in his mind as he enters the Chennai E-sclepieion. He is going to be face to face with a human doctor! But the incessant volley of soulless admonitions and the ever present vigilance by the capricious robots throws Subbu into an emotional mayhem. He realizes how much he needs the kind words and healing touch of Dr. Chakraborthy to calm his troubled mind and start the healing process - much more in fact than E-sclepieion's electro-bio-nano-technology, molecular healing techniques and the fabled brain modulation device.
A fascinating book which I had difficulty putting down once I started reading. The world of Hippocrates in his Aesclepian Temple of Healing is turned completely topsy-turvy as the Art of Medicine is completely forgotten as Science takes over - a frightening thought for our future generations. Fortunately the author, showing his hopes and fears for the Medicine of the future, is able to deftly turn the story around as one patient is able to beat the system by insisting on human contact. My thirteen-year-old grandson enjoyed the book too, despite some confusion with medical terms. I look forward to future productions from the same source. Hippocrates, where art thou?
Ramanathan
Subramoniam Rangaswami has a nice writing style and wishes to put himself in the audience’s shoes – this is evident from the fact that he uses a full 20 pages in the introduction to explain the evolution of the medical profession from a listening, touching and caring profession to a more hands-off, almost “unfeeling” profession. His choice of words is very good – “one is lured, strange as it may sound, into imagining an assembly line where the sick human body trundles along a ‘repair belt’ as it is probed and fixed.”
Rangaswami then brings the human element into the short story in the form of Sampath, his wife and his doctor. This is where the author, as a medical doctor, comes into his own by vividly explaining the elation of the patient when he comes into contact with a real doctor as opposed to an automaton. The ending is a tad abrupt but sweet with Sampath enjoying the bar of chocolate that the doctor gives him.
All in all, a great first effort. There is a fine author hiding inside this great medical brain and I am waiting with interest for his first full novel to come out.
Ramanathan,
Finance Director,
Corrosion Technology LLC,
Dubai, UAE.
The book E-Sclepieion written by Dr.Rangaswami is a fantastic account of what it is likely to be, a century from now as far as the medical practice goes. He beautifully and tastefully traces the practice of medicine from ancient times, both in the east and west, travelling down to the present and delving into the future, maybe a century from now.
From the time Laennec modified his listening technique to find a Stethescope, the Doctor also started his travel to distance himself from the patient.
The book is highly readable - A "cant put down" book and a "must read" for the present and future generation of Doctors
Dr.Vimala Rajappa
Retd. Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Egmore,
Chennai.
Re: E-sclepieion
E-sclepieion by Subramaniam Rangaswami describes one of the crises Modern Medicine is facing in a hypothetical environment of a Chennai superspeciality hospital in 2081 in an extremely satirical manner. From what used to be a human and personal interaction between the physician and the patient, Medicine has rapidly changed towards a technology driven process in which biomedical machinery compliment and often susbtitute for human touch in all aspects of patient care. In this book, Rangaswami touches upon the value of emotions and especially a healing touch and how it can work wonders in the healing process through stimulation of the body's own reperative pathways. I hope this short book will stimulate medcial professionals to introspect and change their practice into a more holistic, human based approach to patient care without neccessarily abandoning technological advances. Modern Medicine should be a happy arranged marriage of Human Touch and Technology.