New Delhi: 31st August 2011

Increased global focus on maternal and child health too often overlooks newborn deaths, which account for 41 per cent of child deaths, according to a new study published in the medical journal PLoS Medicine. India has the greatest number of newborn deaths — more than 9 lakh a year. Just five countries now account for more than half of the world's 3.3 million newborn deaths — India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Democratic Republic of Congo. Each year 3.3 million babies still die in the first four weeks of life — despite the existence of proven, cost-effective interventions that could save these newborns, said the study's co-author, Dr. Joy Lawn of Save the Children's ‘Saving Newborn Lives' programme.

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New Delhi: 31st August 2011

India has the highest number of TB patients in the world. “India is moving towards universal access for quality TB care and has the power to become a global leader in research and innovation as well as in manufacturing of essential anti-TB drugs,” said Indian Council of Medical Research Director-General Vishwa Mohan Katoch. India has the world's fastest growing pharmaceutical industry plus a huge potential to become a global frontrunner in bio-tech, medical and public research. It has the highest number of people with tuberculosis in the world -- two million new cases each year of an approximately nine million worldwide.

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Chandigarh: 29th August 2011

In a bid to bring down the mother-infant mortality rate in the state, Haryana government plans to set up a Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) in all 21 districts of the state and a web enabled surveillance system. “Right now SNCUs are operational in only six districts of the state: Gurgaon, Faridabad, Yamuna Nagar, Mewat, Ambala and Kaithal. The state government has taken a decision to open SNCU in general hospital of every district. Number of beds will also be increased in all SNCUs,” National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Mission Director Rakesh Gupta said. 

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Mumbai: 29th August 2011

The Maharashtra government has given the green signal for implementation of the ambitious Rajiv Gandhi Lifesaving Health Scheme, which is expected to benefit over 20 million poor people providing them health insurance. Maharashtra becomes the second state in the country after Andhra Pradesh to implement RGLHS, an official from the Chief Minister's office said. The first phase of RGLHS will be implemented in eight districts — Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban District, Raigad, Nanded, Dhule, Sholapur, Gadchiroli and Amravati — from September.

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New Delhi: 29th August 2011

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed regret that despite offering several incentives young doctors are not willing to serve in rural areas. Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the bill to extend the term of governing body of Medical Council of India by a year, Azad said he was 'disheartened' to see that doctors were not interested in serving in rural areas. The health minister said "at present if a person practices for one year in a rural area he will get 10 percent extra marks, for serving two years, it will be 20 percent and for three years, 30 percent in the entrance exam for post graduate courses".

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New Delhi: 29th August 2011

An average Indian suffering from heart attack or stroke is seven times less likely to receive the inexpensive aspirin — the most commonly used anti-platelet drug — and 20 times less likely to receive statins than an average Canadian. In a first-of-its-kind study to quantify use of effective low cost drug treatments for heart disease and stroke scientists have found that four out of five patients from low-income countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan “reported receiving none of these essential drugs”. Presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Paris and published in the British medical journal Lancet, the study involved 1, 53, 996 adults from 17 countries.

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New Delhi: 28th August 2011

Recommending civil society vigil to check female foeticide, a Parliamentary committee has asked the Union Government to ensure that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, is not circumvented to give way to selective abortion in cases of female foeticide. It has also called for synchronisation of this Act with the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PC&PNDT Act), 1994, to check the social evil. It has recommended incorporation of effective checks into the MTP Act so that each case that comes under the Act is thoroughly assessed in the light of facts and circumstances to rule out sex-selective abortion.

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Gadchiroli: 28th August 2011

Congress, NCP trying to score brownie points off each other. The alarmingly declining child sex ratio in Maharashtra has energised campaigns to save the girl child, with both the Congress party and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) trying to score brownie points off each other on the issue. According to Census 2011, the sex ratio in the State is higher in rural areas at 948 females per 1,000 males as compared to urban area where it is 899. In 1991, 2001 and 2011, the child sex ratio in rural areas fell from 953 to 916 to 880 respectively. In the same period, it fell from 934 to 908 to 888 respectively in urban areas.

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New Delhi: 28th August 2011

'Fight against scourge in Asia and the Pacific is affected' The AIDS epidemic in Asia and the Pacific is at a crossroads due to a resource crunch, according to a new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). While the region has seen impressive gains — including a 20 per cent drop in new HIV infections since 2001 and a three-fold increase in access to antiretroviral therapy since 2006 — progress is threatened by inadequate focus on key populations at higher risk of HIV infection and insufficient funding from domestic and international sources. 

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New Delhi: 27th August 2011

The Medical Council of India (MCI) may soon specify how much time doctors should spend with their patients so that the regimen of medicines being prescribed to them is clear. A recent World Medicines Situation 2011 report brought out by the World Health Organization (WHO) - as reported by TOI first - had recently said that doctors, on an average, in developing countries spend less than 60 seconds in prescribing medicines and explaining the regimen to their patients. Consequently, only half of the patients receive any advice on how to take their medicines and about one-third of them don't know how to take drugs immediately on leaving the facility.

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