Health issues in India
In Karnataka, 456 people have tested positive for the H1N1 virus — also known as swine flu. A 52 year-old woman from Siddipet is the first reported fatality resulting from H1N1 infection. Another eleven patients are currently in critical care at the time of writing. The woman was admitted to hospital with a high fever, […]
Around 150 million Indians are in need of mental healthcare. This is according to government data, which highlighted the significance mental disorders among the population at 10.6 percent. Depression alone affects 56 million people and anxiety disorders affecting 38 million. When experts convened for the third High-Level United Nations Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) last […]
“I found myself fighting violence against women An Unnamed violence, a deliberate violence” Dr Denis Mukwege A gynecologist surgeon from Bukavu in Congo, Dr Denis Mukwege, has won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading a heroic fight to save lives of sexual assault victims. Dr Mukwege has devoted his life to healing the wounds of […]
Last December, an infectious disease hospital in Delhi exhausted its supply of medication for diphtheria. In the months that followed, it failed to replenish it. Multiple deaths ensued. Diphtheria is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Symptoms – onset of which typically occur two to seven days after infection – include fever, […]
India is no stranger to cardiac disease. Swiftly outpacing the nation’s previous high death tolls due to infectious diseases, heart disease has become India’s biggest killer. In 2016 this was highlighted when statistics showed that 28.1 percent of all deaths in India were due to heart conditions. Due to the high death toll cardiac disease […]
More than half the world’s nations are not on track to reach the UN target to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes by 2030, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet. India is one of them. NCDs have long since reached epidemic […]
Telemedicine can provide a useful route for patients getting a consultation who otherwise face difficulty in seeing a doctor. However, the country’s apex doctors’ network has called for clear guidelines on the practise amidst legal uncertainty following a recent court case. Two doctors were found culpable by the Bombay High Court (BHC) in the death […]
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 […]
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 […]
The gutkha scam has been making headlines in Tamil Nadu, where senior officials including the health minister have been implicated in a multi-crore corruption scandal involving bribes paid by chewing tobacco companies. Officials stand accused of accepting bribes paid by manufacturers of gutkha, a chewing tobacco mixture which has been banned in Tamil Nadu since […]
