Respected Editor,
I have been reading avidly the articles in your esteemed journal. Of particular interest was the article by Prof Hafizur Rahman in the September–October 2017 edition titled ‘‘Influence of Research on Health Policy and Clinical Practice’’. This article makes good reading and enlightens us all about the ‘‘bigger picture’’ of health care. It reemphasizes the need for the practising obstetrician-gynaecologist to engage in good-quality research and that true evidence-based medicine lays the foundation to good governmental policies and principles of professional organisations [1]. This article is commendable because it gives a ‘‘lens’’ with which many other articles can be viewed.
I viewed the article titled ‘‘Down Syndrome Screening in India: Are We There Yet?’’ in the subsequent November– December 2017 edition by Dr Manikandan with this ‘‘lens’’ [2]. The title of the latter article could be rephrased as ‘‘How much has Down syndrome prevention research influenced Health policy and clinical practice?’’.
There appear to be no easily available recent data from the FOGSI Birth Defects Registry of India [3]. Standardized data on the prevalence of the problem all over the country are also lacking, as clearly mentioned by Manikandan [2]. At present, the government of India does not seem to have any policy on Down syndrome or at least has not mentioned this in its website [4].
The latter article is a case in point of the large gap in knowledge–action, mentioned by Hafizur Rahman, the context being ‘‘Down syndrome prevention’’. Providing a transparent record of the birth defects registry and request to the government to frame a policy on Down syndrome prevention can be a start.
Nevertheless, the movement from ‘‘research’’ to ‘‘clinical practice’’, and eventually ‘‘health care policy’’, not only in Down syndrome prevention but also in all spheres starts with us—the practising obstetrician-gynaecologists.
Conflict of interest Dr. Madhva Prasad declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights No animal or human subjects are involved in this article.
