Doctors for Democracy Health Professionals in the Nepal Revolution [Paperback]

An ethnography about the relationship between politics and medicine in Nepal.This book examines the role of Nepali physicians in the revolutionary changes in 1990. These Western trained doctors have always been concerned to develop a form of medical practice relevant to Nepali conditions,speaking to local conceptions about health, and so their medical practice was always politicised. The author reveals how very fine the line is between politics and scientific medical truth claims. Her study encompasses both the modern political history of Nepal and the role of medicine in a poor, largely rural, Hindu kingdom.This book examines the role of Nepali physicians in the revolutionary changes in 1990. These Western trained doctors have always been concerned to develop a form of medical practice relevant to Nepali conditions,speaking to local conceptions about health, and so their medical practice was always politicised. The author reveals how very fine the line is between politics and scientific medical truth claims. Her study encompasses both the modern political history of Nepal and the role of medicine in a poor, largely rural, Hindu kingdom.This book examines the role of Nepali physicians in the revolutionary changes in 1990. These Western trained doctors have always been concerned with developing a form of medical practice relevant to Nepali conditions, that speaks to local conceptions about health, and so their medical practice was always politicized. The author reveals how very fine the line is between politics and scientific medical truth claims. Her study encompasses both the modern political history of Nepal and the role of medicine in a poor, largely rural, Hindu kingdom.1. Introduction; 2. Doctors, science and democracy in the developing world; 3. History and power in Nepal; 4. Revolutionary medicine: scientists for democracy; 5. Dividing lines: motivations of the medical professionals; 6. Medicine and politics; 7. Post-revolutionary political medicine: corruptil“7