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Health Care deteriorates in India
New Delhi, November 3, 2011 : According to a survey by the Indian Institute of
Population Sciences and the World Health Organisation , in six states in India more than 40
percent of low-income families in have to borrow money from outside the family to meet their health care costs.
WHO suggests that 3.2% Indians will fall below the poverty line because
of high medical bills. The study found that 16 percent families had been
pushed below the poverty line by this trend... Private insurance is very small and unreliable in meeting the demands
and is selective in whom the insure, certain government schemes that
have been launched have not been that effective. The governments expert group on universal health coverage has
recommended ensuring availability of free essential medicines by increasing public spending on drug procurement however much more needs
to be done to ensure affordable good health care for its citizens Primary and secondary health care centres are all across the country ,
but are not evenly spread, however the southern states of Kerala have
done remarkably well in providing primary and secondary health care .
More than 450 children have died of Encephalitis in Gorakhpur.
Gorakhpur, October 21, 2011: More than 450 children have died of
Encephalitis in the last three months in Gorakhpur. The country's Health Minister,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, will visit this district in UP today for the first time since the outbreak was reported. It allegedly took an intervention
by Rahul Gandhi to prompt Mr Azad's tour.
Uttar Pradesh's chief minister, Mayawati, has not visited the area either.
KP Kushwaha, chief paediatrician at the BRD Medical College, has described this as one of the worst outbreaks of encephalitis in the
impoverished region, which borders Nepal. "The situation is grim and the epidemic is worse than previous years and
with so many patients there are no empty beds at the hospital," Khuswaha
said. "Everyday between 30 and 40 patients are being brought in for treatment," he said.
He said more than 2,400 patients have been admitted to government hospitals in the region so far this year. At the overcrowded hospital,
patients can be seen lying two to a bed.
Eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh are ravaged by encephalitis each year as
malnourished children succumb to the virus, officials say. Encephalitis causes brain inflammation and can result in brain damage.
Symptoms include headaches, seizures and fever. Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, has been struggling for
years with an encephalitis prevention programme, vaccinating millions of
children against the virus. Source: NDTV
Cancer, diabetes in government health check-up programme
PATNA, September 8, 2011: The Bihar government plans to launch several
programmes to combat non-contagious diseases such as cancer, diabetes
and heart ailments as the number of patients suffering from these diseases has lately shown
an increase. Apart from this, the health department is also all set to
speed up anti-tobacco campaign across the state to check tobacco-related diseases.
Health secretary-cum-executive director, State Health Society (SHS),
Bihar, Sanjay Kumar said, "Under the Government of India (GOI) scheme to
check non-contagious diseases, the state government would shortly launch
the programme on pilot basis in two districts: Vaishali and Rohtas.
Under this project, a unit would be opened at the district hospitals in
both the districts, where specialized doctors would be deputed to check
diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer." He said
that awareness, too, would be created about these diseases. Initially,
the doctors would be appointed on contractual basis, Kumar added. The project was initially launched in three districts:
Patna, Nalanda and Bhagalpur, and will cover the entire state gradually. The state government has set a target to cover around 50 lakh people under the
initiative.
Dengue assumes epidemic proportions in Orissa
BHUBANESWAR, August 15, 2011: Even as the State government claims to be taking every possible step to
contain the dengue outbreak, the situation seems to be slipping out of
control. The outbreak has now spread to 16 of 30 districts in the State.
According to information from three government medical college hospitals, of the 124 blood samples tested in the hospitals, 29 tested
positive for dengue.
“Out of 93 samples, 19 tested positive in the SCB Medical College
Hospital, Cuttack while seven out of 22 samples in the MKCG Medical College Hospital, Berhampur and seven of nine samples in the VSS Medical
College Hospital, Burla tested positive,” said a Health Department
bulletin here on Saturday. Ever since the outbreak, as many as 161 out of total 389 samples have
tested positive. Initially, the fever was confined to Angul, Sundargarh and a few more
districts. However, by Saturday, it had spread to 16 districts creating panic among people and officials.
The districts where blood samples were found to be positive include
Angul, Jajpur, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Khurda, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Kendrapara, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Bhadrak,
Ganjam, Jharsuguda and Rayagada. Angul continued to be most affected as 15 new cases were detected in the
district on Saturday.
40 million infected with Hepatitis B in India
Kolkata, July 28, 2011 (IANS): Around 40 million people in India are infected with Hepatitis B and the
risk of its transmission is hundred times more than that of the dreaded
HIV, a gastroenterologist said here July 26. “In our country it has been seen that there are around 40 million
patients with Hepatitis B as compared to 2.5 million people with AIDS.
Hepatitis B virus is 100 times more infectious than HIV,” said Mahesh
Goenka, director of Institute of Gastroenterology at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital.
“Hepatitis B is a blood borne disease which is more infectious than HIV
virus. The best way to prevent this disease is awareness among the masses because this disease if detected can be cured in 80 percent of
the cases,” said Goenka at an interactive session organised by the hospital in the run—up to the World Hepatitis Day observed July 28.
Goenka said that chronically infected people were at high risk of death
from cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Tobacco-induced cancer shoots up in Kolkata?
Kolkata, May 31, 2011 The city seems to be losing the war against the
cancer stick.On the eve of World No Tobacco Day', Kolkata received some
shocking news - tobacco-induced cancer has gone up sharply in the city since 2001.
Ten years ago, 13.4% of all cancer patients were tobacco users. Now, the figure
stands at 21%. Of the 75,000 new cancer patients in the state, 40% were affected by tobacco.
The study, by the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute
(NCRI), reveals that more and more people are getting hooked on tobacco
the number of male users in the state has shot up from 65% to 71% in
just two years. About 20% women are addicted to tobacco. Lung cancer was the most common of tobacco-induced cancers in the city,
accounting for nearly 65% of the patients. It was followed by oral cavity cancer, cancer in the oesophagus and stomach and urinary bladder.In women, breast cancer was the most common form of tobacco-induced cancer.
"It's a misconception that tobacco is responsible only for lung and oral
cancer. It might trigger the diseases in your stomach or urinary bladder as well. Moves to restrict use of tobacco have
not been successful in Kolkata. Even though smoking in public was prohibited in October 2008, the rule is being routinely flouted with
impunity. Not a single person has been fined since the law came into
force three years ago.
Will ban endosulfan if adverse effect on health proved
NEW DELHI, April 23, 2011: Amid growing demand by environment activists
and various political parties for a central ban on the use of
endosulfan, environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said the pesticide will be
anned if its adverse effect on health is proved."Endosulfan is banned in Kerala. I respect the decision of the
government of Kerala and if there is evidence to show that it has all
India health effects,we will ban it at the national level," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Ramesh was reacting to a question on Kerala's demand for all India ban on the pesticide. However, the minister said endosulfan is a broad spectrum pesticide and
there are no other cost effective alternatives to it as yet. The country is witnessing a concerted campaign by a section of the
society since last few months, seeking nation- wide ban on the use of
endosulfan following reports of adverse effects among the inhabitants of
Kerala's Kasargod district after the Plantation Corporation of Kerala
resorted to aerial spraying of undiluted endosulfan on cashew plantations.
WHO warns of Misuse of antibiotic
MANILA/WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - Misuse of antibiotics has
undermined the global fight against infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria and could lead to a return to the days before
the drugs were developed, the World Health Organization warned. An estimated 440,000 new cases of tuberculosis resistant to several
types of drugs were reported last year in nearly 60 countries, according to the agency."At the same time, other age-old diseases are on the rise with the
possibility of no cure," said Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for
the Western Pacific area. Shin called on WHO's 193 member-states to commit resources and adopt policies to fight the growing problem of drug resistance. "Antimicrobial resistance is a global concern not only because it kills,
but because it increases health costs and threatens patient care." A gene that makes bugs highly resistant to almost all known antibiotics,
or "super superbugs," has been found in bacteria in the water supplies in New Delhi.
The gene, called NDM 1, first emerged in India three years
ago and has spread across the world. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a superbug that
alone is estimated to kill 19,000 people each year in the United States
-- far more than HIV and AIDS. The WHO used World Health Day on Thursday to launch its "Combat Drug
Resistance! No action today, no cure tomorrow" policy. Separately, the U.S. health regulator said it would expedite certain
drug approval processes to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant diseases.
Court orders Delhi to check 'toxic' vegetables
Delhi, March 31, 2011: A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ordered the authorities to
test vegetables for toxic substances. The government has been ordered to randomly buy vegetables from big
markets and street vendors. The order came after news reports said that banned pesticides were being
used in vegetables and fruit, putting the health of consumers at risk.
A recent study claimed that the amount of pesticides used in India is as
much as 750 times European standards. "We would like to find out as to whether
pesticides are there in the vegetables sold in Delhi or not," news agency Press Trust of India quoted a Delhi High Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra as
saying. "It would be appropriate that the vegetables be purchased randomly and sent for the test at certified laboratories."
The government has been given five weeks to return with its findings. According to a study on the use of banned pesticides by non-governmental
organisation Consumer Voice, four of five internationally banned pesticides were found in vegetables and fruit sold in Delhi.
These pesticides caused headaches, affected fertility and also damaged the kidney and liver, the report said. |
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