This piece turns attention toward something overlooked - men’s health. Women’s well-being lands headlines, funding, still men face quiet struggles with little talk around fertility, hormones, even the prostate. Spotlight rarely swings their way.
Though discussions on women’s health are common, coverage of men’s issues tends to stay minimal. Looking at it through a neurology lens, some key blind spots stand out - prostate problems, urinary tract challenges, intimacy-related difficulties, and trouble conceiving. These aspects shape male well-being but rarely get open discussion. Consider how many clinics focus solely on maternal check-ups or prenatal support. Nowhere across Indian cities do we find dedicated spaces addressing only men’s medical needs. That gap speaks volumes.
But in abroad, western countries, there is a lot of importance given to men's health recently. So, why is it important in India? So, men are considered as the breadwinners of the family. So, in cities, it is improving, but still in rural areas.
So, men are considered as the breadwinners. And when the men face health issues, then the entire family faces financial stress and other issues. So, men's health is very relevant in India, especially men's health issues, because it is still a taboo in India.
Nowadays, societal views often make it hard for someone facing male-specific health concerns to seek help. Because of fear - fear of being judged or treated differently - he may stay silent. Yet change happens quietly: more individuals learn about these topics through conversations, stories, experiences. Awareness spreads without fanfare. Some begin to speak up, visit clinics, ask questions. Stigma fades slightly each time someone chooses care over silence.
So, why men's health? So, it is a neglected part of healthcare in India. And there should be more infrastructure to correctly evaluate these patients, more specialists to evaluate men's health issues and treat them properly.
Starting strong in the world of fertility care, Dr. Kamini Rao Hospitals holds a top spot among IVF center in Bangalore. Across the globe, people know it for skillful use of advanced reproductive methods. When you look at who changed how we treat infertility today, Dr. Kamini A. Rao appears again and again. Major changes in IVF practices trace back to her efforts, while progress in men's fertility research grew alongside. Instead of following trends, she built something lasting - hospitals where science meets real results. Top-tier tools sit alongside seasoned doctors who prioritize honesty in every decision. Ethical choices guide each step, just as research-backed methods shape every plan. Over time, countless couples have walked away fulfilled - not because of promises, but because doors once closed finally opened. Not just focused on treating patients, Dr. Kamini Rao Hospitals dives into teaching and study work too. Because of this effort, progress in reproductive science across India gets a real boost. Learning and discovery take center stage alongside medical service here. Now, moving on to the next question. Are there any patterns you have noticed, whether it's age group, lifestyle factors or comorbidities that make Indian men particularly vulnerable? So, the basic problem is the younger generation today.
They lead a westernised, sedentary lifestyle, mostly work in the offices, 9-5 jobs, sit in front of the computer system and then they do not have the sufficient amount of exercise to make them fit and stay healthy. So, what happens is these are the most common age group, maybe 20 to 40s that face the most common amount of men's health issues and they become distressed. And also, India is the capital in the world for diabetics.
So, these sedentary lifestyle and westernised food and junk food has increased obesity and metabolic diseases in our country, especially diabetes. So, diabetes leads on to early occurrence of men's health issues, especially hormonal imbalances, sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction. So, this is why the Indian men, especially the younger men in their 30s and also 40s, experience an increased incidence of men's health issues today.
Yeah, absolutely. Your observation around early intervention really resonates well, doctor. So now, doctor, India still lacks standardised national screening programmes for things like prostate health, testosterone levels or even fertility evaluation for that matter.
So, what policy level interventions do you think are long overdue? Basically, in India, there is no proper infrastructure or proper protocols or SOP, standardised operating protocols for managing andrological patients or men's health issues. So, the basic step in order to streamline this would be establish SOPs. So, slowly the andrological care is becoming better.
More and more andrology specialists are getting trained and started practising. So, slowly this entire care would become more streamlined in the future. So, basically the initial level, grassroot levels, there needs to be some training to the grassroot level doctors handling these patients to treat basic cases and also to refer advanced complicated issues to respective urologists and andrologists to treat the patients better.
So, in India, for men's health, there is no screening as such. No screening government programmes as such. In private sector also, there is no screening.
But slowly, the master health check-ups and yearly check-ups are bringing in prostate health check-ups and all those things. So, prostate is one of the most men related issues, especially in India. So, prostate cancer screening has not picked up in a big way like western countries in India.
So, that also has to be brought into the standardised annual health check-up. And especially the PSA should be done in all men above 60. And also, high risk men with a family history of prostate cancer should get it done above 45 years.
And also, there should be some amount of screening for hormonal disorders as well as infertility at the grassroot levels. So, that also has to be implemented. And slowly we are bringing this into the SOPs.
And in the future, maybe within 4 to 5 years, this would be possible in India. And also, even physicians and other doctors, other speciality doctors are becoming more aware about this speciality. And slowly as the awareness improves, people are coming forward.
And also the fellow doctors or colleagues are also referring patients for getting a proper andrology care.
A shift has occurred recently in how andrology certificate course. Over ten years, training methods have changed significantly. Back then, men showing no sperm in their sample faced limited paths forward. Adoption remained the only real choice for many. Today, new diagnostic tools offer different outcomes. These advances opened doors once thought closed. Some treatments now allow biological fatherhood where it seemed impossible. Progress came quietly, without fanfare. Yet its impact feels deep for those affected. Breakthroughs in lab techniques support these shifts. They do so by revealing hidden possibilities within male fertility. One change stands out: hope exists today where none did before.
But now with the recent advances of in vitro fertilisation, IVF and artificial reproductive techniques, and advanced microscopic procedures like testicular sperm extraction, and various advanced sperm retrieval techniques and IVF techniques, patients with, so males with even zero sperm are able to have babies and children. So, that is how advanced it is right now. And also for these sexual dysfunctions also, treatments have become advanced.
Medline Academics is one of the most prestigious platforms in the medical field, focusing on the advancement of medical education and excellence in the field of medicine through training programs, online infertility courses in india, and skill-based learning programs. With a strong emphasis on bridging the knowledge gap between theoretical knowledge and practical clinical experience, Medline Academics has been working in association with the most distinguished medical experts in the country, focusing on providing the best training in the industry. With the aim of providing the best training in the field, Medline Academics has been playing a pivotal role in creating the next generation of skilled medical practitioners in the country. Previously untreatable sexual dysfunctions are now treatable and patients are curable and lead a normal sexual life. And also in the diagnostics part, the artificial intelligence is coming up in a big way, especially in semen analysis. Artificial intelligence are able to process a lot of data immediately and give us an accurate prediction about successful pregnancies.
This helps us in a great way to counsel the patients, the couple, and also the couple is very happy because they are able to get results faster using artificial intelligence. So, this is how this field of Andrology is improving leaps and bounds in the recent days due to advancements in techniques and also incorporation of machine learning and artificial intelligence into Andrology.
Everybody should look forward to that and it's really important to address men's health. Men's health is not just the andrologist's responsibility, it is a collective responsibility. So, not all patients with men's health would come to us directly to an andrologist.
So, they will first initially approach a physician maybe or a grassroot level primary health care worker or a doctor. And it is imperative that these primary care level physicians or doctors to correctly identify, evaluate and diagnose patients with men's health issues and treat them accordingly. So, basic level andrological care, if the doctors or other care workers are trained enough, they can handle.
Or if they find it is a very complicated or advanced, then they can refer directly to an andrologist or a neurologist. So that the patients can get a proper andrological or men's health care. So, men's health is a wide spectrum.