New Delhi, April 5th, 2018 :
Morning Health Talk :
1. Cleveland clinic: At the time of admission in the clinic a guarantor has to co-sign. Its like a loan from a bank.
2. In India we buy ECG machine at the same cost at which an American doctor buys BUT at Cleveland Clinic: ECG trace only 249$charges, ECG interpretation and report charges 56$ ( Total charges for ECG= 305% = 19827/- only)
3. One MNC was once accused of paying Australian pharmacists kickbacks to promote some of its drugs in a controversial deal that has divided the profession. Pfizer has been paying pharmacies a $7 ”administration fee” every time they sign up a patient to the company’s so-called support programs. The programs involve the company providing information to patients about nine of its drugs.
4. Mint: Drug regulators across Monday and Tuesday raided the Daman factory of Olive Healthcare Ltd and seized drugs not approved for manufacture.
5. Economic Times: Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala questioned the recent deal struck by TPG-backed Manipal Hospital to acquire control of Fortis BSE 1.85% Healthcare’s hospitals and its SRL Diagnostics unit
6. The Hans India: The World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing their 70th annual World Health Day on April 7 and it has been dedicated to universal healthcare for all.
7. India Spend: Over the last two years, states and union territories have utilised no more than 7% of the funds released to them for the National Programme for the Healthcare of the Elderly
8. Economic Times: A new randomised clinical trial has found that smartphone application performs better than traditional exam in cardiac assessment. According to a University of Ottawa Heart Institute-led research, a smartphone application using the phone’s camera function performed better than traditional physical examination to assess blood flow in a wrist artery for patients undergoing coronary angiography.
9. Siasat: New York University and East Carolina University study showed an overall decline in dental visits among adults with and without diabetes, but people with diabetes were consistently the least likely to obtain oral healthcare.
10. The Times of India: In January 2017 World Bank had approved a loan worth $100 million to scale up medical facilities in Uttarakhand and in the past one year, Rs 4 crore has been released but not much work has been done on the ground.
11. Times Now: Cellulite is a condition in which the skin appears to be loose and full of lumps usually around the buttocks and thighs. But it can appear in other areas of the body as well. Cellulite is caused when fats push across the connective tissue under the skin and distort them. Almost 90% of women and some men as well get affected by cellulite at some point in their life.
12. The Telegraph: Large and sudden financial losses significantly raise the risk of death, according to a study in JAMA
13. Deccan Chronicle: More than 90 per cent of pregnant women in a small Indiana study had glyphosate in their urine, and higher concentrations were associated with earlier deliveries. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most heavily used herbicide in the United States and worldwide, the study team writes in the journal Environmental Health.
14. The Telegraph: Last year, a survey found that three in 10 Britons brush their teeth once a day, while a recent American survey found that the average millennial will happily go for two or more days without brushing.
15. Mint: Health insurance continues to be mostly a product that is bought offline. But according to a study, younger policyholders (age group of 25-44 years) and those in metros are more likely to buy online.
16. Long waiting time influences patient satisfaction and physician ratings, according to the 9th Annual Vitals Wait Time Report. 84% patients considered waiting time to be “somewhat important” or “very important” part of the overall experience; 30% patients walked out due to the long waiting time. The long delays also prompted patients to change their doctor; one in five patients reported changing their doctor as a result and doctors with the longest average wait time (34 minutes, 11 seconds) were rated lowest (one-star), while physicians with an average wait time of 13 minutes, 17 seconds were given a five-star rating.
17. MCI ethics: “But, punctuality is very important and no patient should be kept waiting, especially in an emergency. Regulation 3.3 of MCI Code of Ethics says, “Utmost punctuality should be observed by a physician in making themselves available for consultations”. A long waiting time negatively affects patient satisfaction.”
18. Hindustan Times: The intelligence wing of the Punjab Police has submitted a report to the state’s principal secretary, health, claiming that government doctors prescribe medicines from private chemist shops outside civil hospitals for 40% commission on MRP
19. Maximum temperatures were markedly above normal (5.1°C or more) at one or two pockets of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, north Rajasthan and Assam & Meghalaya; appreciably above normal (3.1°C to 5.0°C) at many parts of East Rajasthan; at some parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, West Rajasthan and West Madhya Pradesh; at one or two pockets of Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, East Madhya Pradesh, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim and Assam & Meghalaya. Yesterday, the highest maximum temperature of 42.8°C was recorded at Churu (West Rajasthan) over the plains of the country.
20. The World Health Organisation estimated that each year 4.3 million people die of exposure to household pollutants.
21. A surgeon at AIIMS allegedly performed wrong surgery AV fistula on a 30-year-old woman with abdominal pain with no kidney disease. He later tampered with documents to cover (PTI). The mistake comes in never events.
22. More than 200 rare antibiotic-resistant genes were found in “nightmare” bacteria tested in 2017, according to a Vital Signs report released Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
23. MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A federal judge has awarded $7.1 million to a woman and her young daughter in a negligence lawsuit that alleged her child suffered irreversible brain damage as a result of improper treatment when she was born.
24. The Delhi High Court today sought the assistance of ICMR for controlling the population of monkeys in the national capital. The court was informed that ICMR, has conducted a study on the issue of controlling the birth rate of monkeys.
25. A Delhi court dismissed a complaint by JACSDO against a doctor, who referred to some medical practitioners as “murderers in white coats” in a video that went viral on social media earlier this year, saying there was nothing in the video which lowered the reputation of medical practitioners.
26. Mumbai: Over 1000 homeopathy practitioners across the country have staged an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan and are sleeping at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminals station at night since two days. The strike is against the National Medical Council bill’s amendment to scrap bridging course for AYUSH doctors to practice allopathy.
27. All existing medical colleges will have to start post-graduate (PG) courses from the 2020-21 academic year, and new ones within three years of receiving recognition to run undergraduate (UG) courses. The move is expected to add around 10,000 post-graduate seats over the next four years. Colleges that fail to do this will lose their recognition. The norms are part of the ministry of health and family welfare’s amendments to the MCI post-graduate medical education regulations 2000. Free Press Journal
Dr KK Aggarwal