Abstract
Mahesh Maskey relates the story of how physicians have contributed to the volatile politics of Nepal in the last decades in the struggle to ensure health as a human right within the broader macroeconomic and political picture. He seeks to show, as one of the physicians engaged in movement, how physicians consciously have engaged in political work in Nepal, following Virchow's understanding of politics as medicine writ large (Eisenberg, 1987).
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Notes
World Medical Association: Article 1: Medical ethics in times of armed conflict is identical to the medical ethics of peace, as established in the International Codes of Medical Ethics of the World Medical Association. The Primary obligation of the physicians is his professional duty; in performing his professional duty the physician's supreme guidance is his conscience. Geneva Convention: Article 10.4: Subject to national law, no person engaged in medical activities may be penalized in any way for refusing or failing to give information concerning the wounded and the sick who are, or who have been, under his care.
It was called ‘Health Professionals for Social Responsibility’ at that time. The name was changed in 1990 with its membership confined only to physicians and medical students.
Photographs are courtesy of Mahesh Maskey.
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Maskey, M. Practising Politics as Medicine Writ Large in Nepal. Development 47, 122–130 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100039
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100039