Bhopal: The Southeast Asian edition of the prestigious international English medical journal ‘The Lancet’ will be published in Hindi for the first time, it was announced here on Thursday, a development that coincided with ‘Hindi Diwas’. Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang said ‘The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia’ – will be translated into Hindi in coordination with experts from the Bhopal-based Gandhi Medical College (GMC) and MP directorate of medical education (MP-DME), and will be published bi-monthly. The British peer-reviewed general medical journal in its 200th year of publication. “This is for the first time that any Lancet publication is being brought out in Hindi. It is an opportunity to make science and content more accessible and inclusive to researchers and students,” The Lancet’s deputy publishing director, Fiona Macnab, told reporters at GMC. Currently, The Lancet publications are available in Spanish and Portuguese besides English, she added.
Minister Sarang said the BJP government in MP is promoting Hindi in medical education for students not comfortable with English and described the development as a ‘landmark’ event. Announcing a tie-up with the leading global health journal, the minister said, “The venture with The Lancet is a landmark development aimed at promoting Hindi in medical education.” “The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia – will be translated into Hindi in coordination with experts from the GMC and Madhya Pradesh directorate medical education (MP-DME),” he added.
Last year, MP-DME translated the first year MBBS course in Hindi. Within the next few weeks, 13 medical subjects encompassing the entire MBBS curriculum will also be made available in Hindi, the minister said. Macnab said, “The Lancet’s mission is the ‘best science for a better life’. This is a great step for making medical research more accessible.” The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia – has its editors in Chennai and Mumbai working in collaboration with the global editorial team, she said. Hindi Lancet will be a bi-monthly journal, Macnab said. “Best of articles, reviews, comments and editorials will be selected by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet Southeast Asia. After translation, it will be reviewed by subject experts and senior researchers. Then a final review will be undertaken by Hindi-speaking experts at Lancet Southeast Asia. Once everybody is satisfied it will be out (published),” she said. Over the years, The Lancet has had different local language editions. Some have been less successful than others. The Lancet has gone into non-Latin script publications earlier too. The journal’s Chinese version was published for a short period of time but it has been discontinued now. “The Lancet only accepts research papers in English. The Hindi version of the existing journal will be a milestone and it will enable inclusive and broad base research in India,” Elsevier managing director for India, Shankar Kaul, said. Elsevier is the publisher of The Lancet. The announcement was made on September 14, which is celebrated as Hindi Diwas in the country.
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