UPDATE

New position for Abraham Verghese

ABRAHAM VERGHESE, the distinguished writer and physician of Indian origin, will soon be moving from El Paso to San Antonio in Texas. He is taking up a new position as Director of the Centre for Medical Humanities and Ethics in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Science Centre, San Antonio (UTHSCSA). An announcement by the Dean of the School says that Dr. Verghese, M.D., M.F.A., D.Sc. (Hon), is "a distinguished physician and writer who possesses exemplary credentials for this important post" and will be recommended for the Marvin Forland Distinguished Professorship in Medical Ethics and as Professor of Medicine.

T.A. HAFEEZ

The announcement adds that while the majority of Dr. Verghese's time will be spent at the Centre, he will also participate in activities in the Department of Medicine.

A graduate of the University of Madras, Dr. Verghese trained as a Resident and Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at East Tennessee State and then served as a Fellow in Infectious Diseases at Boston University. He returned to East Tennessee State as Assistant Professor of Medicine where he was Chief, Infectious Diseases at the VA Medical Centre as well as a Special Fellow in Pulmonary Diseases.

In 1990-1991, Dr. Verghese attended the Iowa Writers Workshop where he obtained a Masters in Fine Arts. He was also a Visiting Associate in the Department of Medicine at the University of Iowa School of Medicine. Since 1991, he has been Professor of Medicine at Texas Tech in El Paso where he is the Grover E. Murray Distinguished Professor. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Pulmonary Diseases and Infectious Diseases.

Starting with My Own Country - a moving, reflective and beautifully written book about a doctor's struggle with the new AIDS epidemic - Abraham Verghese's 'non-fiction novels' and other writing have won tremendous critical applause, awards and international literary recognition. My Own Country was made into a movie. Dr. Verghese has received many honours and awards including numerous outstanding teacher awards. His second book, The Tennis Partner, was a New York Times notable book and also a national bestseller in the United States (Frontline, March 3, 2000). What is more, this writer and physician has published extensively in the medical literature on infectious diseases and general internal medicine, and is a much sought after commencement speaker and visiting professor.

Dr. Verghese will assume his new position in July. The UTHSCSA announcement says that in his new role, he "will enrich the environment for our medical students, faculty and staff with his focus on the humanistic side of medicine and medical care. He will also direct our teaching efforts in medical ethics." Calling attention to "The Physician as Storyteller," a piece by Dr. Verghese published in the December 2001 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the announcement cites a brief passage from this article as offering "a sense of his commitment to patient care and the perspective he can bring to our students."

The passage reads: "By being attuned to character, not just through appearance but particularly through dialogue, we will remember the voice of the patient, even though it is the voice of medicine that we record in the chart. To hear the voice of the patient preserves our capacity to imagine the suffering of the patient... We should be not just 'doctors for adults' but also ministers of healing, storytellers, storymakers, and playmakers in the greatest drama of all: the story of our patients' lives as well as our own."

Verdict in Anjana Mishra case

AFTER a long battle, Anjana Mishra has won her case. In a significant judgment delivered on April 29, the District and Sessions Judge of Khurda, Orissa, sentenced two of the three accused persons in the case to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.5,000 each. Judge Mahendra Nath Patnaik convicted Pradip Sahoo and Direndra Mohanty on charges of sexually assaulting Anjana while she was travelling in a car from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar along with a friend on January 9, 1999 (Frontline, February 12, 1999). The third accused, Biban Biswal, is still absconding.

The car in which Anjana and her journalist friend were travelling was intercepted at a desolate place near Barang on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar by the three accused and she was gang raped in front of her friend. Two of the culprits were arrested on January 26, 1999, and remanded to judicial custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the case after the Orissa High Court ordered the investigating agency on February 26, 1999, to probe the case. The CBI submitted its charge-sheet on May 5, 1999.

On the judgment Anjana Mishra said that she was still "depressed" as the investigating agency had not made any effort to arrest Biswal, who, she alleged held the key to unravelling the "conspiracy" behind the gang rape. The case had created a furore in the State with Anjana, the estranged wife of a senior Indian Forest Service officer, accusing the then Chief Minister J.B. Patnaik and former Advocate-General of Orissa Indrajit Ray of having played a role in the incident.

On July 12, 1997, Anjana formally complained against Ray by writing to the Chief Minister stating that on July 11 Ray invited her on to his office-cum-residence in Cuttack, took her to his bedroom on the pretext of receiving a confidential call, and attempted to rape her. As no action was taken, representatives of several women's organisations met the Chief Minister who suggested a compromise deal. This was rejected by Anjana. She filed a first information report with the Cantonment police station in Cuttack on July 19,1997.

Anjana also accused the Chief Minister of shielding Ray. Ray had to quit the post following a public outcry and the case was taken up by the CBI. The CBI Designated Court sentenced Ray to three years' rigorous imprisonment in February 2000, charging him with attempted rape.

Kalyan Chaudhuri