Morning Medtalks with Dr KK Aggarwal

New Delhi, April 6, 2018

Morning Health Talk:

1. One of my doctor friend with low ejection fraction went for a second opinion to  Cleveland Clinic USA and underwent echo evaluation ( limited echo, full echo followed by trans oesophageal echo). He paid cash the following (Limited echo 418$, Echo Doppler Colour Flow 795$, Trans-oesophageal echo 2333$). In addition he was charged 118$ as doctors fee for Reading Limited echo, 109$ for colour flow reading, 66$ for 3D post processing of the echo, 753 $ for TEE reading (Total billing was 3846 $ for echo and 1046$ for reading = total 4892$ = 3,18,077.84 INR/-). We in India buy the same machine at a higher cost than available in US and charge a fraction of the above bill.
2. UK public health experts are investigating a case of gonorrhea that’s believed to be the first to display high-level resistance to first-line treatments. In July 2017 WHO reported on data from 77 countries showing that antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhea much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat. Indian doctors must be look out for similar cases.
3. Excessive drinking of alcohol in a short period results in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation several hours later. In the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Dr Jiajie Yan, report that binge drinking activates c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) 2 in atria, which in turn drives calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) activation, prompting aberrant sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ waves and, thus, enhanced susceptibility to atrial arrhythmias.
4. TOI: Nagpur: Slamming MCI for continuing to recommend reduction of seats in GMCHs in Vidarbha, the Nagpur division bench of Bombay High Court issued contempt notice to MCI and state. The bench directed the union health ministry against acting on MCI’s recommendations to reduce MBBS seats in any of the GMCHs.
5. The quint: Many states have already allowed AYUSH doctors appointed in Primary Health Centres in rural areas to practice allopathy during emergencies (Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, and Uttarakhand)
6.  Livemint: The Kerala assembly on Wednesday approved a bill to regularize MBBS admissions, which had previously been deemed illegal by two official panels, apart from MCI. The Kerala Professional Colleges (Regulation and Admission in Medical Colleges) Bill 2017 will benefit about 180 students of two colleges—Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College.
7. The News Bharti: Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to pay Ayurvedic medical practitioners in the state on par with their Allopathic counterparts.
8. The Hindu: The sale of carbapenems has jumped 6-fold between 2005 and 2010. (white paper on antibiotic resistance). The paper cites a 2015 analysis that agriculture consumption of antimicrobial drugs was estimated to be 63,151 tons in 2010 and is expected to rise by two-thirds by 2030.
9. Pharmabiz: Telangana state government has mooted a plan of setting up end stage cancer care units (palliative care) across all the district hospitals in the state.
10. Orissa Post: Many patients at the Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) are being forced to sleep on the floor due to shortage of beds at the premium healthcare institute. Sources claimed that at least one third of patients admitted to SCBMCH sleep on the floor in the absence of adequate number of beds.