FEW THOUGHTS ON COLLABORATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
Dr.R. Unnikrishnan
Having firm anchorage in one’s domain or specialization is the hall mark of any professional. Any profession grows, develops, and reaches greater heights due to contributions from all of those practicing it, howsoever small it maybe.
That said, if one peeks into the history and evolution of any profession particularly the medical profession, there have been several innovations and inputs provided by personnel working in other domains that have contributed to the growth and success of medical profession. For instance, Antonie Leeuwenhoek was an employee in a textile shop before he discovered simple microscopes to observe bacteria and protozoa. Even before that it was this Dutch father-son duo Hans and Zacharias Janssen who were spectacle makers who invented the first microscope. Coming from different backgrounds their discoveries helped biology advance and so also human medicine. Antonie Leeuwenhoek for his various other contributions in microbiology is hence known as the father of microbiology. Robert Hook was originally a physicist also went on to contribute immensely to microscopy and the study of microorganisms. However, his accusation of Isaac Newton of plagiarism, robbed him of a prime place in the scientific community. Similarly, Louis Pasteur who was a qualified chemist went on to discover many things including pasteurization and the Rabies vaccine.
Today of course medical field is well advanced and different boards and statutory bodies do not permit lateral entries into their profession. Yet the reality is medical field would not have made such huge strides without collaborating with those from other professions and industries.
Modern day compound microscopes to electron microscopes would not have been possible without the active collaboration of physicists and biologists. The various other equipment’s used by medical professionals to fully see and understand the human body viz scanning machines of different kinds would have not been possible without active collaboration of engineers, particularly electronic engineers. While the engineers build, medical professionals use and interpret the results.
This interconnectedness of different professions can bring about desirable solutions and far- reaching changes. Absence of this in few professions is probably the reason for the sluggish development of such professions. Veterinary profession, unfortunately falls in this category where collaborations between different domains are fewer in number, except perhaps in the feed industry business and in some areas of pet practice where modern gadgets are used.
There are several areas where we can collaborate with professionals of other domains to devise instruments, devices, and gadgets for reducing casualties and increasing efficacy of practitioners.
For instance, little progress has been made in understanding Downers since at least the last 30 years. Although there are cow lifting devices available today, most of them are not handy and convenient to use. A purposeful collaboration probably with mechanical engineers can be useful to design a better and efficient device. There have been instances when stimulation by way of electric shocks, has made a downer to stand. There is scope to design a good and standardized one, by collaborating with electrical people. Similarly designing incubators for premature calves, pulley based calving devices, rabies vaccination through food (this is practiced in some states in the US), preventing elephants from running amok during festivities by deploying a locking mechanism on their legs whenever they increase their pace are few such areas where collaborations are possible or in fact needed.
Of course, there would be many more areas, but the key remains our willingness to share some space with others.
