Doctors’ divinations
With increasing life expectancy, maintaining sound health should be a priority, stressed Dr Rustom Soonawala and Dr Farokh Udwadia
There is a growth spurt in children at the age of five or six and then again at 15/16. "Make sure the child gets proper proteins and nutrition then.” Whilst pointing out that "the present generation is bigger than their parents,” he advocated the need to monitor weight before it becomes "a disaster.” An exercise regime "for muscle toning and to keep fit” is essential such that it does not lead to problems like osteoporosis and loss of posture.
Dr Rustom Soonawala (left) and Dr Farokh Udwadia
Those in the marriageable age were counseled, "It is caring, sharing and good communication between partners that makes a marriage happy. Give each other space.” Besides maintaining friends and enjoying one’s holidays he stressed on the need for a positive attitude towards life, reminding that "it is not money that can make you happy. With more greed you can never be happy.”
Soonawala cited the case of a Parsi taxi driver and his wife with three children who came to him for termination of pregnancy when she had conceived for the fourth time. Knowing that a Parsi couple in Bangalore was keen to adopt a child, he suggested that they continue with the pregnancy and give the child up for adoption to the Bangalore couple who was willing to compensate them with five lakh rupees for bearing the child, plus give a lakh to each of the three children. The cabbie refused the offer saying it is "impossible.” We have to change the attitude towards adoption in the community, stated Soonawala.
Women in and past the menopausal stage were recommended to undergo regular blood investigation, ultrasonography of the pelvis and abdomen, Papanicolaou (cervical smear) test, mammography or sonomammography, bone densitometry: "Once a year checkup is a must. Spend two-three hours on your health in 365 days.”
The march of medicine
"Modern medicine has brought with it certain ills like the mechanization of medicine” due to which "an interface and relationship between a doctor and patient has been crippled and destroyed,” observed Dr Farokh Udwadia in his speech at the 10WZC on "Medicine: Past, Present and Future.” There is also "commercialization of medicine but thankfully most Zoroastrian doctors have not fallen into that sin.” Yet another development is "institutionalization of medicine where patients are fed as fodder” to keep the diagnostic machines running.
Earlier it was epidemics of cholera, typhoid, small pox and plague that were major killers when many patients died because of doctors whose recommended line of treatment involved purging, starvation, sweating and bleeding despite scientific discoveries by William Harvey, Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur, Marie and Pierre Curie. In recent times, more life threatening are cardiovascular diseases, blood pressure, diabetes, degenerative ailments, cancer, mental ailments. "Heart disease is the greatest killer among Parsis. Perhaps four times more among Parsis than the general population,” remarked the reputed physician. Narrowing of blood vessels and strokes are "related to your lifestyle, eating the wrong things and a wrong diet.” He regretted that there were several people in the community "who live to eat instead of eat to live.”
One of the main factors contributing to heart disease and hypertension being genetic, Udwadia expected that the genes responsible for triggering heart ailments may soon be isolated and with difficulty even replaced. "The future of medicine lies in molecular biology and genetics,” said the senior doctor whilst referring to work in laboratories where human and animal genes are mixed, attempting to clone organs. Fearing that later even human beings may be cloned he warned that "harm could be significant” if instead of producing great people like Einstein and Gandhi they were to create entities similar to Hitler and Stalin. Along the lines of nuclear physics, this branch of study needs to be monitored, he advocated.
In response to a query from the audience Udwadia expressed his views on euthanasia: "Whilst it is important not to lengthen the act of dying or suffering, to actively or purposefully end life is heinous, (tantamounting) to murder. It could end up doing a lot of mischief in this world.” When asked to comment on the mental problems facing the community Udwadia responded, "The community is blessed with a fair degree of eccentricity which makes them stand out. It is not that they are more mad but equally mad… When a population is as small as the Parsis, there is a great deal of negative or bad gene transfer that manifests itself… So too some good genes will be magnified. That is why there are some brilliant and outstanding, and others a bit dim in the community.” In the final analysis, "genetics holds the gun while environment pulls the trigger.”
The ultimate objective of science and medicine "is to unravel the secrets of nature. Where do we come from? Where do we go? What is the mystery called death?” As Udwadia reasoned, "Nature is a mystery and man is a part of nature. You cannot possibly solve a mystery of which you yourself are a part.”