JOIN USDH Radio | The Lead: Dr Rajesh Parikh on his book about the Covid-19 pandemic
In this episode of The Lead from DH Radio, Dr Rajesh Parikh talks about the pandemic and his book "Coronavirus: What you need to know about the global pandemic", co-authored by Dr Swapneil Parikh and Maherra Desai.
Ahmed Shariff: Hi, this is Ahmed Shariff and welcome to DH Radio. The pandemic that we are witnessing is one of a kind. It has in ways changed our lives and our history. And when one talks about the history there is always literature to record it. One such is a book titled: "Coronavirus: What you need to know about the global pandemic", authored by Dr Swapneil Parikh, Maherra Desai and Dr Rajesh Parikh.
To talk about the book and the pandemic joining us is Dr Rajesh Parikh, who is the Director of Medical Research and Hon. Neuropsychiatrist at the Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre. He is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine and a former WHO Global Expert on Depression. Trained at the Seth G.S. Medical College and the K.E.M. Hospital, Mumbai and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr Parikh With Harvard Medical School, conducted a large study on stress and depression among college students in Boston and Mumbai.
Hi, Dr Parik, welcome to DH Radio.
Dr Parikh: Hi, Ahmed.
Ahmed: Sir, let's jump in straight with the questions. My first question to you is: What motivated you to write this book?
Dr Parikh: What happened was that I was invited to speak at the national conference of the Indian Psychiatry society as part of an Indo-American symposium and following that meeting in Kolkota, my colleague Mr Ram Ranga, who was from the US end of the symposium and I decided to go see the Sunderban tiger. That involved going up the Ganga and waiting patiently for the tiger.
While I was waiting, I was following, with great interest, what was happening in Wuhan regarding what then was just an outbreak in one city. I was tracking it in the literature and my knowledge of past pandemics, I realised that it was just a matter of time that it would become an epidemic and then a pandemic and would arrive in India...
To know more about the conversation, listen to the podcast...