India’s present situation is dire, as it is embattled by a second wave of COVID-19 cases. At the most inopportune of moments, quack doctors are providing false relief to people as hospitals struggle to cope with the burden. Of the most well known of these quack doctors is Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury — India’s so-called “COVID […]
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Hospitals and staff overwhelmed amid COVID-19 surge
A view of a hospital ward in Assam in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic Image credit: AnjanBorah, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons The initial wave of COVID-19 in India had already pushed hospitals to breaking point. The second wave has seen both daily cases and death counts triple, with many now dying […]
Fraudsters taking advantage of COVID-19 misery
Chemical structure of Remdesivir, one of the items for which fraudsters are conning Indians out of money. Image credit: Hbf878, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Nicholas Parry India’s plight amidst the second wave of COVID-19 is dire. The death toll is rising and there is still no end in sight to the rise in cases. Many […]
Tables turn as international community pledges COVID-19 aid
Healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment while caring for patients with COVID-19 in the Indian state of Kerala. Image credit: Javed Anees, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons India continues to break daily new case records with a further 349,691 additional cases on Sunday. This daily figure — now the highest in the world — is in stark contrast to figures […]
Notified policy on rare diseases unveiled
The Central Government on Monday notified the National Health Policy for Rare Diseases, allocating Rs four crore to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) whilst approving an estimated Rs 25 crore for the year 2021-22 exclusively dedicated to rare diseases. Rare diseases, despite the rarity the term implies, are a life-changing and, unfortunately, […]
COVID-19 triple variants add to list of India’s issues
The pandemic in India has progressively worsened as new daily cases of COVID-19 have risen above 300,000. Adding to the ever-growing list of issues are the emergence of several new mutant strains. The total number of new cases on Wednesday rose to 315,802 according to Worldometers.com. This total now places India as the record holder […]
India on UK’s COVID-19 “red list”
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced the “vital but difficult” decision to add India to the UK travel “red list”, following the surge in cases of COVID-19 and detection of a new variant first identified in the country. The decision has, however, been criticised as being taken too late. “These decisions are almost inevitably […]
“Pandora’s box” opened as COVID-19 cases surge
As cases of COVID-19 surge across India, some doctors have claimed “Pandora’s box” has opened. India’s second wave is underway, and figures now dwarf the peaks in September that saw speculation that India would rise to the most-affected nation. Such a severe second-wave is a shock considering that in early March, India’s Health Minister Dr […]
AI could assist in curbing India’s NCD crisis
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are behind forty percent of all hospital stays, according to Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Prathap C. Reddy. Apollo Hospitals have, however, issued a report that predicts that artificial intelligence (AI) and so-called ‘Big Data’ could be a potential remedy to this. NCDs have been India’s top cause of death for a number […]
Lack of testing risks mutant strains running rampant
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, India has established ten state-run laboratories in order to test samples to identify the presence of mutant strains. Despite the establishment of the laboratories, fewer than one percent of all samples have thus far been tested. India has only studied 11,064 of its samples according to the Union Ministry of Health […]