India

1163 HIV positive people in Meghalaya: MACS

 

Health authorities in Meghalaya today said the number of people living with HIV/AIDS virus has increased many folds since 2007 when only 14 persons were tested positive.

Today 1163 persons are living with the virus and authorities believed there could be more who are yet to come forward to test.

For a small state with a population of about three million people, the number is staggering and the trend is increasing every year with as many as 79 positive people have succumbed to the virus in which the international watchdogs on HIV have categorized the state as ‘low prevalence but high risk.’

“The cumulative figures till October this year is 1163 positive cases in the state,” Meghalaya Aids Control Society (MACS) director F Kharkongor said.

The MACS chief said that only 527 positive persons have turned up for treatment at the three Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centers set up in the state even as she expressed concerned at the low turnout of the patients at the designated hospitals.

The first tests were started in 2007 in which 14 persons only were tested positive, she said, adding that the figure increased every year, 54 in 2008, 131 in 2009, 245 in 2010, 452 in 2011, 731 in 2012 and 1008 till March 2013.

The number of deaths has also increased every year since 2008 when only one patient died, in 2009 four died, in 2010 eight patients died taking the cumulative figure to 12, Kharkongor said.

The cumulative deaths in 2011 increased from 12 to 22 and then 37 the following year, she said, adding that the number of victims almost increased almost doubly during the period from March 2012 to March 2013 with 25 deaths.

From March to October this year the number of deaths recorded stands at 17, also the highest during the same period in the past six years, the official said.

According to a data compiled the MACS, 43 per cent of the victims are of the age group from 25-34 and mostly are the active inject drug users.

However, the female sex workers working in the coal belts and along the National Highways in the state also constitute a huge chunk of those people living with the HIV virus.

The others are men who have sex with men and children born out of positive parents.

Source: Press Trust of India

 

35 percent Indians use tobacco despite ad ban

Thirty-five percent of Indians still use tobacco despite growing awareness and ban on tobacco product advertisement said a tobacco control policy report released Friday.

The report also highlighted the need for stronger tobacco control policies and a change in the current prices of tobacco products in India to create social environments that are supportive of quitting.

“Current regulations on tobacco advertising in India still allows for exemptions which created loopholes for tobacco industries to focus its marketing efforts in unregulated venues such as point of sale. There is thus an urgent need for Indian central and state governments to take strong measures to close loopholes and to act swiftly to reduce affordability of all tobacco products,” said S. Pednekar, director (development and research), Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health.

The Tobacco Control Policy Report is a collaborative effort of researchers at the Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health and the University of Waterloo, Canada and based on the result of survey of adult tobacco users and non-users.

“Tobacco use accounts for nearly half of all cancers among males and a one-quarter of all cancers among females and is also a major cause of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Educating the users about the health hazards of tobacco use and effective pictorial warnings on tobacco products can help people to quit and may also dissuade others from embracing this deadly habit,” said Surendra S. Shastri of Tata Memorial Hospital.

Source: Business Standard

 

1 mn deaf children in India awaiting medical aid: Natarajan

Noting that about one million deaf children in the country are in need of modern medical treatment like cochlear implantation, Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan today said a holistic effort by government, medical fraternity and others would help in propagating the technology for the benefit of such kids.

“Even though more than 20,000 cochlear implantations have thus been done across India, we still face an uphill task with potentially one million children awaiting implantation, for many of whom cost of implant is a deterrent,” Natarajan said.

She said this fact has come to light from the Central government’s deafness survey titled “The National Program for the Prevention and Control of Deafness”. The minister was speaking after inaugurating the 9th Asia Pacific Symposium on Cochlear Implants and Related Sciences (APSCI 2013) here.

“States like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have taken the initiative for totally funding cochlear implants through their ‘Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Schemes’, which has motivated other states to follow up in the same way,” Natarajan informed.

She observed that a holistic effort by government, in collaboration with medical fraternity and society, can make a “remarkable transition in the lives of the deaf children in bringing them out of the gloomy world of silence, onto the vibrant world of sound.”

“Such an effort can be fulfilled only when technology is propagated to all rural areas across the country and the success of such an effort would lead to realising a deafness free India in the near future,” Natarajan said.

The minister said the science of deafness was undergoing rapid changes in recent times. “…There is a need for updating the recent advances among the medical and allied fraternity (otolaryngologists, audiological scientists etc) and the symposium is a step in that direction,” she said.

The APSCI 2013 is being attended by over 1,000 delegates from around 60 countries across the globe.

Source: Business Standard

Ophthalmologist G. N. Rao honoured by US institute

Hyderabad, Nov 26 (IANS) The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) honored eminent ophthalmologist Gullapalli N. Rao with its outstanding humanitarian service award, said a statement here Tuesday.

G. N. Rao is the founder and chairman of L.V. Prasad Eye Institute. This award was bestowed on him in recognition of the eye care delivery model he created with the institute and his contributions to prevention of blindness globally.

The award was presented to Rao on Nov 17, at the AAO’s annual meeting in New Orleans, said the statement.

LVPEI’s model of eye care, represented by a pyramid, emphasizes the creation of sustainable permanent facilities within communities, staffed and managed by locally trained human resources, and linked effectively with successively higher levels of care.

Rao was also earlier the recipient of international prevention of blindness award of the Academy.

The L.V. Prasad Eye Institute was established in 1986-87 here as a not-for-profit comprehensive eye care institution.

Source: Sify

External artificial lung used to save woman from critical lung disease

Patient of ECMONew Delhi: A team of doctors, led by Dr Vivek Nangia, head and director – pulmonology, at Fortis Flt Lt Rajan Dhall Hospital here, have treated a critically ill patient suffering from interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chest infection resulting in ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) using extra-corporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO). This makes her the first and the only IPF patient in India to survive after being mechanically ventilated and weaned off using ECMO, according to the doctors.

The fifty-five year old woman had been suffering from IPF, a chronic lung disease which results in worsening breathlessness due to progressive shrinkage of the lungs. She was on regular oxygen and BPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) at home for more than two years. She arrived at Fortis, Vasant Kunj with severe chest infection resulting in a total white-out of both lungs. She also suffers from other illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism and coronary heart disease. Despite extensive medication, her condition continued to deteriorate and she had to be put on invasive mechanical ventilator, according to a statement by Fortis Hospital.

“There is no definite treatment for this disease and such patients usually survive for only 2-3 years. Death usually occurs due to respiratory failure and it has always been a great ethical dilemma whether to put such patients on mechanical ventilator or not, as the chance of being liberated from the ventilator is hardly any,” said Dr Nangia.

This is when the team decided to use ECMO, a modality that has never been used in India in such a patient before. ECMO is a system which provides heart-lung bypass support outside of the patient’s body. It is a technique which uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung and then back into the bloodstream after correcting the blood gas balance, the statement said.

“Within 3-4 days of initiating the treatment, the patient started showing dramatic improvement and could be taken off the ventilator. On the seventh day, she was weaned off the ECMO and discharged on the sixteenth day,” according to the statement.

ECMO not only protects the patient from complications associated with the ventilator but also provides the patient the freedom to speak, eat and perform all routine activities. From mechanical ventilation and a grim prognosis, the patient was able to walk out of the hospital with her family on the day of discharge, the statement said.

“We were prepared for the worst as her surviving the ventilator seemed almost unlikely. However, this treatment saved her life and my wife was back on her feet on the day of her discharge,” said the husband of the patient.

Source: India medical Times

Delhi dengue cases rise to 5,212

New Delhi: Dengue cases in the national capital have raised to 5,212, a municipal health official said Monday.

The number of dengue cases Nov 18 was 5,115.

This year, the vector-borne disease has killed six people in the capital.

In Delhi, most cases have occurred in the north corporation (2104) area, followed by the south (1,568), and the east (1,405) corporations.

An additional 67 cases have been reported from the National Capital Region, which includes parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh adjoining Delhi.

Source: sify

India’s first successful Liver Transplant recipient completes 15 years

UPA chairperson and Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi felicitates India’s first successful Liver Transplant recipient as he completes 15 years post transplantation.

UPA chairperson and Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi felicitates India’s first successful Liver Transplant recipient as he completes 15 years post transplantation.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Monday felicitated Sanjay Kandasamy, India’s first successful liver transplant recipient, as he completed 15 years post transplantation.

Kandasamy, 16, had undergone the path-breaking procedure as an 18-month-old in 1998 at Apollo Hospital here.

Gandhi interacted with the teenager and his family at her residence here.

“It is a testament not only on India’s medical acumen but also of the tenacity of this young man,” Gandhi was quoted by an official statement issued by the hospital.

Kandasamy, who hails from Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, was born with a rare condition seen in one one in 12,000 babies.

“Sanjay now leads a completely normal life, goes to school like other kids, enjoys meals, plays football and wants to become a doctor to save lives. Sanjay’s success helped establish liver transplantation in India,” said Anupam Sibal, senior paediatric gastroenterologist in the hospital.

Source: Business Standard

 

 

 

Baby with swollen head to undergo more surgeries

????????????????????Baby Roona, who had undergone a series of surgeries at a hospital here in few months ago for an oversized head, will undergo follow-up surgeries, doctors at a city hospital said on Saturday.

The child of a daily wage labourer from Tripura, two-year-old Roona Begum is suffering from hydrocephalus, a rare disorder that has caused her head to swell to an unprecedented 94 cm.

She was admitted to Gurgaon’s Fortis Memorial Research Institute here in April this year at the age of 18 months, where she underwent multiple complex procedures to get her head circumference reduced to 58 cm.

“The five surgeries we performed earlier have not only helped the child survive a potentially fatal condition, but also enabled her to attain improved nutritional status and vitals. She has gained weight, is showing better neck control and is even making noises,” surgeon and director of neurosurgery in the hospital, Sandeep Vaishya, said.

Elaborating on the likely follow-up surgery next week, Vaishya said: “This will be the first step in the next round of treatment for the child. We are monitoring her condition and will proceed with the surgery once we get a go-ahead from her attending paediatrician.”

Fortis Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Fortis Healthcare Limited, continues to oversee the treatment of the child.

Source: Times of India

India is world’s coronary, diabetic capital, says expert

India has earned the dubious distinction of becoming the world’s capital of coronary heart disease and diabetes, says a wellness expert.

Conducting a fitness workshop for journalists at Mumbai Press Club here, leading wellness expert Namita Jain said that several studies exposed the health hazards faced by stress-ridden Indian society. She was speaking on the occasion of ‘World Diabetes Day’ observed recently.

According to the World Congress of Cardiology, it is estimated that by 2020, heart diseases will be the cause of over 40 per cent deaths in India as compared to 24 per cent in 1990.

“World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nearly 200 million people all over the world suffer from diabetes and this number is likely to double in the coming years. In India, there are nearly 50 million diabetics,” Jain said.

The enormity can be gauged from a recent report that states many heart patients are below the age of 30.

In a study of 350 heart attack patients conducted by a team of doctors, around 9.5 per cent of cases were below 40 years of age and 3 per cent below 30, she said.

According to the November 2009 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, as many as 10 per cent of all heart attacks in men occur before the age of 45.

Smoking was invariably a common factor in almost all the young patients. Apart from Smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, stress, high-blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, increasing age, family history are some other factors that increase chances of heart ailments.

Jain also touched upon a common problem experienced by many people – indigestion and acidity. This is due to bad eating and dietary habits, especially when we copy the West in
their eating patterns, whereas we in India have the most complete and wholesome meal – like Thali.

“Digest what you eat, eat slowly, chew well, drink water, and watch what you eat will help in somewhat alienating the problem. Your diet should consist of cereals, fruits / vegetables, proteins and fats”, she added.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

New Medical Township in Kerala beckons foreign health tourists

A medical township comprising nine super speciality hospitals — offering the latest state-of-the-art technology to treat a host of diseases including cancer — is coming up in Kochi with an eye to promote Kerala as a top medical health tourism destination.

Aster Medcity, which is being built on what was a huge garbage dump yard, is to start functioning by March 2014. D M Healthcare, a big name in healthcare in Gulf countries, is building the complex on 38 acres of land at Cheranallur in Kochi.

Phase I of the complex, being built at a cost of $150 million, would have on offer 540 beds across the nine hospitals, Harish Pillai, chief executive officer of Aster Medcity, told IANS.

The Medcity plans to add another 500 beds later in Phase II. The township will have residential quarters, hotels, a convention centre, cafeterias, guest rooms and later also a home for the elderly, said Pillai.

“We are aiming to attract foreign health tourists to Aster Medcity. We have the latest facilities, including minimally invasive treatment and diagnostic techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers and heart diseases,” Pillai told IANS.

India gets 150,000 medical tourists every year, and it is expected to grow by 15 per cent annually, he said.

Among the latest technology that Aster will boast of is the ‘True Beam’ that provides radiation treatment in a shorter time and minus most of the usual side effects of current treatment, said Pillai. The ‘True Beam’ technology is a radio-surgery treatment in which high-energy X-rays are used to destroy tumours.

“Conventional therapy takes a very long time, but this system delivers concentrated radiation with pinpoint accuracy on the tumour,” Pillai said.

“As it is a concentrated high-dose treatment, the process is over in a few minutes for patients,” he added.

An added advantage of the new system is that it uses 25 per cent lower X-ray dosage compared to conventional ones. This reduces greatly the radiation exposure for patients.

“The conventional radiation therapies are accompanied by various side effects, but with True Beam the impact of radiation is greatly minimized and it also doesn’t impact the normal tissues,” Pillai said.

The Medcity will also have cardiac cath labs or catheterization laboratories — diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualise the arteries of the heart to detect any abnormalities. The cath labs will have an added advanced technology, called ‘clarity’, to reduce the radiation levels for patients, doctors and lab technicians, said Pillai.

This has been introduced keeping safety and efficiency as the hospital’s top priority, he said.

“You would be surprised to know that so far there has been no study of how many cardiologists in the country acquire cancer due to long exposure to radiation. So this is the reason the cardiac cath labs with option of ‘clarity’ are being introduced,” Pillai said.

The ‘clarity’ cardiac cath lab reduces radiation exposure by almost 73 per cent.

“This is the newest technology that is being introduced in India for the first time,” he said.

Another new technology being introduced is the hybrid biplane cath lab that can convert the imaging and diagnostic device into an operation theatre for any emergency surgery.

“Besides cardio, this technology would be used in interventional neuro-radiology cases. We will be bringing experts trained overseas for using this technology,” Pillai said.

The medical township also has a large artificial lake in the complex, which adds to the pleasing environment of the township.

Source: India Medical Times