Manish Kumar

Instabilities and Turing patterns in stochastic spatiotemporal systems in which a fraction of an evolving population, after undergoing a series of dynamic transitions, returns to its original state, remain largely unexplored. Adopting an epidemic model incorporating reinfections as an exemplar of such a system, we present stability and pattern-formation analyses of the stochastic reaction-diffusion equations that represent the model. Saturation effects in epidemic spread lead to nonlinear considerations, while random environmental effects motivate a stochastic term. Turing bifurcation and the emergence of equilibrium patterns are analysed with respect to three fundamental parameters - reinfection, saturation, and noise intensity. Using higher-order stability analysis and stochastic averaging, we find the Turing instability and also uncover self–organized, distinct equilibrium patterns of infection spread. Additionally, results elucidating the effects of stochastic excitation and its intensity, as well as the competing influence of saturation and reinfection on stability and pattern formation, are presented. The results are also expected to be broadly significant beyond epidemic modelling, for studies of noise-induced instabilities and morphogenesis in spatiotemporal nonlinear dynamical systems.

Violence against doctors is a global phenomenon but, in India, the situation is grim. News of violence against medical professionals is published with an alarming regularity, to the point where it has become "part of the package" of being a healthcare worker. Most of these untoward incidents are in the emotionally charged environs of the emergency room where provision of healthcare is abysmally unstructured. Many recent incidents have snowballed into controversies attracting national and international headlines. Disillusionment in the young professionals is palpable, yet, when the media spotlight moves elsewhere, not many amongst us reflect on how these incidents have changed the lives of those impacted. This story is a fictionalized account of incidents in a medical college after a stampede during a festival. The story will resonate across different settings where medical professionals have faced the brunt of failures of our healthcare system. Most of us have survived with physical and psychological scars, while a few others have quit the system altogether.