The session ‘Medicine and Literature’ marked its importance at the 4th edition of Kerala Literature Festival as the speakers Dr. M.V. Pillai, Dr. Khadija Mumthaz and B. Ekbal closely analysed the relationship between Literature and Medicine and criticised the malpractices happening around. Dr. M. V. Pillai recalled his early experience as a doctor and spoke in the light of it, opining that treatment of these days has turned out to be a money-making process.
“A Surgeon has become business-minded,’ said Dr. M.V. Pillai. The speakers also debated on how Literature and Medicine lie on the same page, in connection to which B. Ekbal was quoted that if a doctor knows the story of a patient he surely can be a great doctor and a writer. He also referred to the explicit suicidal thoughts by Sylvia Plath, in her semi-autobiographical work, ‘The Bell Jar’. The discussion concluded with an emphasis on the importance of healing narratives and its advantages.