The inquisitive human mind burns the eternal flame of hope. Every century, every decade is a journey of transformation. There is innovation in every sector of life, and the velocity of inventions in the last fifty years has been unparallel to any in previous centuries. The strict boundaries of disciplines are spontaneously getting overturned by logical mergers of sciences; nanotechnology emerged as a blend of physics, material science and biology, g is a convergence of statistics, genetics, computer science and mathematics, and the diversity of mergers continues with science and social sciences as well. This is the outcome of the innate curiosity of being and it will continue for as long as there is life on earth.
Sir James W. Black was the recipient of the Nobel prize in 1988 for discovering the beta-blocker propranolol in the beginnings of 1960s and later Cimetidine, the Histamine 2 receptor blocker as an anti-ulcer drug for patients suffering from peptic ulcer disease. His discovery subsequently paved the way for selective receptor antagonist drug inventions for clinical use. In 2005 Barry Marshall and Robin Warren received the Nobel prize for discovering the Helicobacter pylori bacteria and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease that could be cured with antibiotics. The anti-ulcer drug discovery journey is more than a century old and the discomfort plagues one in ten people. In Bangladesh itself, this group of drugs are almost 14% of the total drug market size.
Metabolic syndrome is fast gaining traction as the root cause of many progressive diseases, especially Diabetes Mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, and Fatty Liver Disease. Most non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now linked to insulin resistance and other risk factors of metabolic syndrome. How much do people know about this silent pandemic? This is an outcome of the fast-paced lives where children are also getting afflicted with NAFLD. A change in diet and lifestyle can beat this beast.
Dengue is the undeclared epidemic of this year. Despite battling with seasonal outbreaks for the last twenty years with vector control being the only known method of controlling the transmission, we have failed miserably. As Bangladesh has impressive network readiness with digital connectivity, a GIS tracking system of locating dengue infested areas and taking targeted intervention can give vector control authorities a guidance to reign in this menace.
There is a threat that artificial intelligence (AI) in health will make many diagnosticians, especially the radiologists obsolete. It does not hold truth for now, but AI will most certainly expedite diagnosis and make accurate predictions in population health. Bangladesh has a scarcity in health human resource and challenges in access to healthcare, however, the country’s impressive digital expansion can solve both the problems to a large extent with AI and smart solutions that are fast becoming available.
Contrary to popular belief, surgeons in Bangladesh are switching to minimally invasive surgeries and complicated rare cases like Achalasia Cardia are being laparoscopically corrected by competent surgeons in the country. Information on such successful case studies needs to be shared more for increasing awareness.
The local pharmaceutical industry has very ably contained the domestic needs of the population. But how much is being invested in research and development to develop new drugs locally? Why are we behind in manufacturing sophisticated molecular medicines? The west, especially the US spends billions of dollars in gene therapies, precision medicines, molecular derivatives, and next generation sequencing to detect the genomic disorders to move away from the “one size fits all” generic drug therapy module. How much longer till the government policies shift and our pharmaceutical industry starts developing such drugs? Are our health care providers and pharmacologists ready with the knowledge and skills yet?
The country and the healthcare sector are currently at an interesting phase. Just like all other sectors, the healthcare industry is vibrating with the energy to take that leap of transformation in health service delivery to ensure access to providers at an affordable cost where digital platform will play a pivotal role. The Coronal strives to bring together impactful innovations in practice that can be replicated to our culture, novel drug inventions, health policy proposals, and the new discoveries on science behind the diseases. We hope the contributions are enjoyable to our readers.