Bionetworking: experimental stem cell therapy and patient recruitment in India.
Bionetworking: experimental stem cell therapy and patient recruitment in India.
复制标题
生物网络：印度的实验性干细胞疗法和患者招募。
DOI：
10.1080/13648470902940689
复制
发表时间：
2009
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Patra PK
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Patra PK
在过去的三到四年里，印度越来越多的私营和公共部门三级医院和研究中心一直在使用干细胞疗法，特别是成人干细胞疗法，以实验疗法的名义治疗各种疾病。这一实验领域的推广和发展跨越了地方和国家边界，跨越了监管、道德、社会和金融边界。在这种复杂的背景下，本文探讨了如何在印度的医疗保健中心谈判生物医学和卫生保健的情况下，促进治疗，提出了可疑的医疗，技术和伦理问题。本文采用生物网络工作的概念解释了促进实验性干细胞治疗的过程，并通过两个医院集团的案例研究进行了说明。案例研究表明，通过生物网络，中心如何创建和维护与其他合作机构的相互交流的新网络，这些合作机构位于地方，国家和全球不平等关系中。通过在印度各地进行为期三个月的实地调查和访谈，本文表明：（1）可疑的干细胞治疗是通过在地方，国家和全球星座之间产生共鸣的生物网络来推广的;（2）监管差距促进了这种治疗实践的发展;（3）实验性干细胞治疗扩大了印度社会的医疗保健差距;（4）印度国家的削弱促进了健康的商业化，间接支持了治疗提供者的“生物网络”实践。
Over the last three to four years, an increasing number of private and public sector tertiary level hospitals and research centres in India have been using stem cell therapy, especially adult stem cell therapy, in the guise of experimental therapy for a variety of medical conditions. The promotion and growth of this experimental field across local and national borders traverses regulatory, ethical, social and financial boundaries. In this complex context, the article examines how healthcare centres in India negotiate bio-medical and health care circumstances in promoting a therapy that raises questionable medical, technical and ethical issues. The process of promoting experimental stem cell therapy is explained here by employing the concept of bionetworking and illustrated by two case studies of hospital groups. The case studies show how through bionetworking a centre creates and maintains novel networks of mutual exchanges with other collaborative bodies situated in local, national and global relations of inequality. Drawing on a three-month period of fieldwork and interviews in various locations in India, this article shows that:(1) Questionable stem cell therapy is promoted through bionetworks that resonate across local, national and global constellations;(2) Regulatory gaps facilitate the growth of such therapeutic practices;(3) The experimental stem cell therapies augment the healthcare divide in Indian society;(4) The weakening Indian state facilitates commercialisation of health, indirectly supporting the ‘bionetworking’ practices of therapy providers.