India

India seeks to regulate its booming ‘rent-a-womb’ industry

Dressed in a green surgical gown and cap, British restaurateur Rekha Patel cradled her newborn daughter at the Akanksha clinic in northwestern India as her husband Daniel smiled warmly, peering in through a glass door.

“I can’t believe we have our own child at last,” said Patel, 42, gazing in wonderment at five-day-old Gabrielle.

“We are really grateful to our surrogate mother who managed to get pregnant and kept our little daughter healthy. She gave nine months of her life to give us a child.”

It is the perfect promotion for India’s booming surrogacy industry that sees thousands of infertile couples, many from overseas, hiring the wombs of local women to carry their embryos through to birth.

But a debate over whether the unregulated industry exploits poor women prompted authorities to draft a law that could make it tougher for foreigners seeking babies made in India.

“There is a need to regulate the sector,” said Dr. Sudhir Ajja of Surrogacy India, a Mumbai-based fertility bank that has produced 295 surrogate babies – 90 percent for overseas clients and 40 percent for same-sex couples – since it opened in 2007.

“But if the new law tightens rules as suggested by the ministry of home affairs, which disallows surrogacy for same-sex couples and single parents, then it will clearly impact the industry and put off clients coming from overseas.”

India opened up to commercial surrogacy in 2002. It is among just a handful of countries – including Georgia, Russia, Thailand and Ukraine – and a few U.S. states where women can be paid to carry another’s genetic child through a process of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo transfer.

The low-cost technology, skilled doctors, scant bureaucracy and a plentiful supply of surrogates have made India a preferred destination for fertility tourism, attracting nationals from Britain, the United States, Australia and Japan, to name a few.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/

Indian-origin scientist gets top Canadian award

 

A 42-year-old Indian-origin scientist has been named this year’s recipient of a prestigious Canadian award that recognizes excellence in complementary and alternative medicine.

Sunita Vohra, director of Canada’s first academic pediatric integrative at the University of Alberta medicine program was named the winner of the $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize at a gala dinner in Vancouver on Thursday, the Vancouver Sun reported.

The Dr. Rogers Prize carries the largest cash prize of its kind in North America.

“It is overwhelming, about being chosen as this year’s recipient,” the report quoted Vohra as saying.

“It is a huge honour. I have not had enough time to digest it. It’s incredible and humbling at the same time,” she said.

Clinician scientist Vohra said that she didn’t have specific plans for the money other than she would use it to help get the kind of research she does out of books and into policy that makes changes in the world.

Vohra said since childhood she wanted to be a physician because her grandfather was a doctor but never thought of taking up medicine as a career.

Initially, Vohra decided to take up pediatrics but then she got interested in clinical science when she was doing her specialty training in pharmacology at a hospital for sick children in Canada’s financial capital Toronto as well as an advanced research degree in clinical epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton.

She learnt how little traditional medicine knew about the therapies being used to treat children.

Vohra said she was evaluating the effectiveness of pediatric integrative medicine alongside traditional care at Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.

She said she wanted to explore alternative and complementary therapies which were extremely popular in Canada.

“I think that therapies are along a continuum,” Vohra said.

“I think that patients make choices around therapies that interest them and the things they’re willing to take. I think that conversation with their healthcare provider can be inclusive around all their health care providers.”

The $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine is awarded every two years to celebrate the achievements of researchers, practitioners and others in the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) healthcare. The award was initiated in 2007.

The prize is funded by the Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation in Vancouver.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Indian gets top post in WHO after 44 years

India’s Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh was elected the regional director of the WHO’s Southeast Asian region on Thursday.

An Indian has regained the post after a gap of 44 years. The post was last occupied by an Indian in 1968.

The present incumbent Dr Samlee Plianbangchang is from Thailand and has served for 10 years now.

Dr Khetrapal Singh was elected here during the ongoing meeting of the health ministers of the Southeast Asian countries, an official release said.

The election of the regional director is an opportunity to strengthen India’s commitment to perform its role in health and development with the WHO as a key partner, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

He said: “Poonam Khetrapal Singh is an acknowledged public health specialist and administrator with vast experience and recognition in the UN system. She would be able to contribute to regional as well as global initiatives.”

Dr Khetrapal Singh has experience at global level in the WHO as executive director sustainable development and healthy environments and member of the cabinet of the director general in Geneva.

At the national level she has been the advisor, international health, in the health ministry.

Prior to joining WHO, Dr Poonam Singh was a career member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) since 1975. In that capacity she held several important portfolios with the Punjab government, including secretary, health, family welfare and medical education. She also worked as a specialist in population, health and nutrition in the World Bank.

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh has a PhD in Public Health and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), Edinburgh.

The Southeast Asian region of the WHO comprises of 11 countries — India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Timor-Leste and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

SEARO is headed by a Regional Director (RD) who is elected by the members of the SEARO countries. The RD has a term of five years and, though elections are held, customarily, the RD gets a second term.

Persons who have held this post in the past are Dr C Mani (1948-68; India), Dr V T H Gunaratne (1968-81; Sri Lanka), Dr U KoKo (1981-94; Myanmar) and Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei (1994-2004; Indonesia). [IANS]

Source: Medicine net

 

 

Centre will set up 20 new state cancer institutes: Azad

   The Centre will set up 20 new state cancer institutes across the country along with 23 new tertiary cancer centers to address the increased requirement of cancer-related treatments in the country, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today.

“The central government last week has approved funds for establishment of these institutes and also the existing 27 regional cancer care centers will be strengthened,” Azad said.

This initiative will add 70 state-of-the-art tertiary cancer centers in government sectors, the Minister said while addressing the 41st convocation of AIIMS here.

A National Cancer Institute with state-of-the-art research and patient care facilities would be established at Jhajjar in Haryana, where the government has acquired 300 acres of land for teaching and research requirements of AIIMS, he said.

Azad said the government has upgraded 19 institutions and it intends to take up another 29 government medical colleges for up gradation in the 12th plan period.

He said work on the seventh AIIMS at Rae Bareli would start soon with the land being acquired and the tendering process at an advanced stage.

The process of setting up an AIIMS in Raiganj in West Bengal is under way, he said.

The Minister, however, said these ambitious projects and their effective implementation require availability of large number of trained and skilled human resources.

He said the government has allocated additional financial resources for modernization of existing facilities at AIIMS here, which is under severe strain due to increased patient load.

“Due to the implicit faith of the people in the patient care services at this institute, nearly 10,000 patients visit the AIIMS OPD every day from all parts of the country,” he said.

The Minister conferred degrees on 509 newly graduated doctors. The program was also attended by Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization.

Chan gave away medals for meritorious academic excellence to 29 students. She said the new doctors symbolize India’s aspirations and advised the students to serve the poor and vulnerable sections of society.

She advised them to serve with humanity, quoting Mahatma Gandhi that ‘Service without humanity’ is a deadly sin.

52 test positive for swine flu in Indore in 2013

With one more person testing positive for swine flu at a local hospital, the total number of those infected by the H1N1 virus in the city has reached 52 this year.

Health officials said laboratory examination of swab samples of a 50-year-old man from Sonkutch in neighbouring Dewas district confirmed that he had swine flu.

The patient is undergoing treatment for the last one week in a hospital and his condition is steadily improving, officials added.

World’s only flying eye hospital calls for skills exchange

Impressed by the quality of available healthcare and the surge in advanced facilities in India, a team of international eye specialists aboard the Orbis flying eye hospital – the only of its kind in the world – Tuesday called for exchange of skills and information between countries to combat ophthalmic problems.

A team of of 23 eye specialists spanning 14 countries aboard the Orbis flying eye hospital began its operations during the day.

The flying hospital landed at the old wing of the domestic terminal of the Netaji Subhas Bose International airport here Monday. It will see around 150 patients and target a whopping 75 surgeries during a 17-day stint.

India`s “state-of-the art” facilities in eye care amazed experts from countries like Philippines, Mexico and Egypt. They were in deep admiration of the technological developments and the availability of centres to treat a gamut of eye issues including congenital and acquired problems.

“We are impressed by the quality of eye care available now and the advanced treatment options that you have. It is clear that India is one of the leaders in quality eye care. The country is known for high level of quality,” Ahmed Gomaa, medical director, Flying Eye Hospital told IANS.

A venture of US-based NGO Orbis, the hospital aboard a modified DC-10 aircraft has serviced 90 countries since its inception in 1982 and continues to bring in dedicated global volunteer training faculties in its fight against preventable blindness.

Besides India, Orbis operates in Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia and Latin America and Caribbean.

Its global partner includes Omega watches and with the aid of Alcon and Fedex, the programme aims to strengthen paediatric ophthalmic services in India.

The hospital`s previous stopover in India was at Jaipur in 2009.

Experts from the US, Philippines, South Africa, Mexico, Britain and India among others comprise the team that will train not only ophthalmologists, but also offer valuable insights to support staff such as nurses, biomedical engineers, anaesthesiologists and paramedics.

The training and surgery programme will be spaced out in two weeks in liaison with four host institutes – Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Susrut Eye foundation, Disha Eye Hospital and Sankara Nethralaya. This will augment the winged hospital`s aim to further exchange of knowledge and skills among nations.

“What we need now is more exchange of skills. The flying eye hospital is actually geared towards that. And with India receiving patients from across the world this has become a necessity,” said Gomaa, a Britain-based Egyptian ophthalmologist.

Echoing Ahmed, Rahul Ali, Orbis country director, feels standardisation of facilities and treatments across India needs to be looked at.

“We need to have standardised practices in place. Our country is doing well in terms of eye care,” said Ali.

For Orbis staff-ophthalmologist Jing Barleta from the Philippines, such ventures are essential for countries like Philippines and India that have a “lot of similar” problems in eye health.

“There are a lot of patients and problems are a lot similar in both countries. What I find here is the doctors are well trained,” Barleta told IANS.

However for Barleta, who joined the Orbis team in 2010, the difference lies in the budget that Philippines allots for healthcare. Another sector where the country needs to buck-up is infrastructure.

“In Philippines the budget for government hospitals is a lot..which brings it to par with private healthcare. Indian government could do that. Also the infrastructure needs work,” said Barleta.

While Gabriela Ruiz Gonzalez from Mexico felt the bureaucratic restrictions hinders progress in healthcare, she observed that eye surgeons in India are extremely dexterous and with India excelling in cataract and cornea-related operations, the knowledge should be disseminated.

“A lot of paperwork is needed here which makes it most difficult to progress. But the surgeons here are so good with their hands. There are excellent doctors for cataracts in India and a lot of experience for corneal operations,” said Gonzalez.

Source: Zee News

India gets WHO praise on polio front, no case in 30 months

WHO today lauded India`s efforts in eradicating polio and said the country has not reported a single case of polio in the last 30 months.

“You did it. For 30 months you have not got a single case of polio,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said while addressing the meeting of Health Ministers of South-East Asia Region in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee.

She said India achieved the feat even as 194 countries in the world were speculating whether it can interrupt the transmission of polio.

She also urged nations of the region to adopt universal healthcare access for all.
“I want to urge countries in this region. Please continue to champion universal access to healthcare. That is the platform to deliver healthy human capital that is important for sustainable development in the future,” she said.

The WHO DG complimented India`s health-care initiatives in improving the health of its mothers and children and said, “This country is moving in a big way to promote better health to their women and to their children.”

She also lauded the role of Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad saying, “This country is very fortunate to have a minister totally dedicated to health.”

She also expressed concern over the growing incidence of heart disease which saw 9.4 million deaths every year and said high blood pressure has contributed to it.

“The scale of the problem is a challenge,” she said, adding that more than one in three adults across the world are suffering from high blood pressure.

Chan was here to attend the 31st Health Ministers` meeting of South-East Asia region which comprises of almost 1.8 billion people.

 

J-K Govt organizes vaccination camp for Hajj pilgrims

The Jammu and Kashmir Government has organized a vaccination camp here for pilgrims heading for the Hajj to ensure they are protected from different diseases.

Every year, Muslims undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca as part of their religious duty and hope for salvation.

To ensure complete safety and a healthy journey, the state government decided to bear the expenses to vaccinate Hajj pilgrims this year.

Hajj pilgrims have welcomed the government`s initiative.
“Omar Abdullah (Chief Minister) announced an offering of Rs. 5,700,000 for this program. This has broug

ht great relief to the pilgrims,” said Gul Ahmad Khan, a pilgrim at the vaccination camp on Monday.

Each pilgrim received three vaccine shots, one each for Meningitis, polio and seasonal influenza.

The expenses for the first two are provided by the Government of India, while expenses for the third are borne by the state government, said Fayaz Lone, the executive officer of the State Hajj Committee.

The vaccination program has been launched at the district level where the pilgrims are being given injection for the protection from different diseases.

Authorities said over 8000 pilgrims will leave from the Kashmir valley for Mecca on September 7 for the annual pilgrimage.