u/vikramskumar

Every June, India sends its children back to school with new uniforms, polished shoes, sharpened pencils, labelled water bottles and a strange confidence that the academic year begins on a clean slate.

It does not.

Read more:

I am sharing a short reflective piece I wrote on a question that stayed with me: when an Indian family spends five lakhs on childbirth, what exactly are they buying: better safety, better dignity, better hospitality, or a mixture of all three?

The piece is not meant as a criticism of private hospitals or a defence of public systems. It is more a discomfort about how little transparent, comparable outcome data families actually have when they make one of the most anxious and expensive healthcare decisions of their lives.

As clinicians and teachers, we speak often about quality, audits, outcomes, respectful care, and accountability. But I wonder whether we have made these ideas visible enough for ordinary families to use.

Sharing this for your thoughts and reflections.

This report details the identification of an outbreak of infant botulism linked to powdered infant formula in the United States. In October 2025, the Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program, California Department of Public Health (IBTPP-CDPH) noted common powdered infant formula exposure among three neonates with suspected infant botulism. Subsequent laboratory analyses at CDPH identified Clostridium botulinum type A from an open container of ByHeart powdered infant formula associated with one infant with infant botulism. As of December 10, 2025, 51 suspected or confirmed infant botulism cases with exposure to ByHeart powdered infant formula had been identified across 19 states. All ByHeart powdered infant formula has been recalled nationwide.

a blog piece that grew out of a single week in our paediatric unit when I had to tell two families that their child was going to die. Parents rise to the occasion when they are truly prepared...!
Read more: