Health issues in India
The Supreme Court has reversed plans by the Centre to ban three of the 328 combination medications it announced plans to ban last week over safety concerns. Saridon, Piriton and Dart are the three products given a reprieve by the apex court. The ban will still apply to 325 of 343 fixed dose combination (FDC) medications whose […]
A recent study has revealed that 34 percent of sepsis patients in India die in the intensive care unit (ICU). The new data builds on the foundation of previous studies published in 2017 that covered the five-year experience of the sepsis mortality rates for ICU, in-hospital, and post 28 days to be 56 percent, 63 […]
The Supreme Court is seeking answers from the Centre about the treatment of leprosy patients and India’s progress against the disease. The SC, responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy (VCLP), has directed the Centre to enact a central law barring discrimination against leprosy patients. It is […]
When autoimmune diseases are mentioned, people typically think of type 1 diabetes or celiac disease. They rarely think of pemphigus – a far lesser known condition which causes the body’s immune system to attack its own skin. Pemphigus has been spotlighted recently by Dr Kalyani Bhola, a dermatologist at Alchemist Hospital. Bhola spoke of pemphigus […]
Drinking alcohol is usually considered to be relatively safe if it is done in moderation. Providing a person does not drink to excess, there was thought to be little risk to their health. This, however, may not be the case. In fact, alcohol may be almost as bad for you as smoking cigarettes. This is […]
India loses around 1.6 million deaths each year to sub-par healthcare according to a new study published in The Lancet. The vast majority of these deaths are entirely preventable. This figure is twice the established number of people who died due to lack of access to healthcare, which is estimated to be around 838,000 people. This […]
The Centre’s controversial ban on Oxytocin may have been stayed until October, but authorities in Delhi are already cracking down on illegal sales of the drug. Authorities in the national capital have seized samples of Oxytocin from some vendors. This came after “a joint surprise check” was carried out by officers of the Central Drug […]
Interview with health activist Anjali Gopalan May 2016 The lessons learnt in the 1990s from securing access to antiretroviral medicines to treat HIV and AIDS highlight the role of patients in demanding better access to life-saving medicines. As India, like many other growing economies, faces new, deadly diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease, Anjali […]
Could a new defence against malaria be found in human blood? Research suggests that human platelets — a component of the blood — form a first-line defence against the malaria parasite. Such a discovery could lead to an entirely new approach to treating the disease and could aid India in curbing the number of malaria […]
Do higher wealth and living in an urban environment increase the risk of heart disease? Recent household surveys suggest a correlation. The findings come as part of a wider study analysing the distribution and risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease in India. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Medicine. The results indicated that […]
