Homeopathic doctor arrested for posting ‘anti-Hindu’ Facebook post

Advocate Ira Gupta: On Saturday, Mumbai Parksite Police in Vikhroli arrested a 38-year-old homeopathic doctor for allegedly posting “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Brahminical” comments on Facebook on a complaint by Ravindra Tiwari under Section 295 (A) of the IPC (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).

Sources said Nishad, a homeopathic doctor, was arrested from outside the Mumbai sessions court where he was going to apply for anticipatory bail. He was arrested on account of a series of posts on Facebook earlier this month.

On his Facebook page, Nishad identifies himself as a BAMCEF member. BAMCEF stands for The Minority Communities Employees Federation that was launched by BSP’s Kanshi Ram. (Source: LatestLaws.com)

Traveling abroad with medicines

• Research your destination
• Remember that medication laws vary.
• Some medications such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and opioids used in the US are illegal in other countries or require government authorization prior to your arrival.
• Some countries limit the amount of medication you can bring with you to a 30-day supply or less.
• The CDC advises calling the embassy of the country youre going to visit to ask if your medication is permitted there.
• Bringing oxygen on a trip is tricky. The rules vary by the type of oxygen products you use (such as a tank or a portable oxygen concentrator) and by your means of transportation (airplane, train, bus, or ship). For example, not all airlines allow the use of portable oxygen concentrators; trains usually allow concentrators and sometimes allow oxygen tanks on board with limitations.
• If you choose to bring some of your medications along in a multi-compartment pillbox, secure the box with a rubber band. Because if the box opens, the pills may spill and you may not be able to identify which pill is which.
• Its safer — and in many states and countries, required — to leave each prescription medication in its original labeled container. The label should show who prescribed the drug and when, as well as the drug name, dose, and your name.
• Pack your medication in a clear plastic bag and keep it in a carry-on so its always with you.
• Use extra caution when packing injectable medications and other drugs that must be kept cold.
• Liquid or gel medications are allowed on airplanes in excess of the standard 3.4-ounce liquid limits. But you must inform security that you have medical liquids, and you may be asked to open the containers.
• For travel in some countries, prescription labels are not enough to authenticate your medications. Check the government websites of countries to which you are traveling. It may be necessary to bring a copy of your prescriptions as well as a letter from your physician (on letterhead) explaining what the medications are and why you need them. This is especially important for controlled substances, such as prescription pain medications.
• If youre traveling to another country, consider having the letter translated into the language of your destination.
• Bring a master list. Keep a separate list of your medications and doses in case you lose anything.
• Include the name, address, fax number, and phone number of a pharmacy where the medication can be called in. (Harvard Newsletter)

Healthcare News Monitor

Pharma News

Cannabidiol might give a break to the drug-addiction cycle, claims study

Business Standard- ANI

While drug abuse has become prevalent in recent times, a new study has found that Cannabidiol (CBD) found in the cannabis plant, reduced cue-induced cravings in people who had past history of heroin abuse, indicating at a positive break to the cycle of addiction. The study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry also revealed that CBD tended to reduce physiological measures of stress reactivity, such as increased heart rate and cortisol levels, that are induced by drug cues. "We initiated a study to assess the potential of a non-intoxicating cannabinoid on craving and anxiety in heroin-addicted individuals," says Yasmin Hurd, PhD, first author of the study. "The specific effects of CBD on cue-induced drug craving and anxiety are particularly important in the development of addiction therapeutics because environmental cues are one of the strongest triggers for relapse and continued drug use."

Medtronic says wont recall pacemakers after drug regulator issues alert

Business Standard-PTI

Medtronic India has said it is not recalling its pacemaker models in the country and is in discussion with relevant stakeholders following an alert issued by drug regulator Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) over the performance of pacemakers. CDSCO has alerted patients with implants of three Medtronic pacemaker models to seek immediate medical care if they feel certain symptoms that could be signs of the devices sudden battery depletion. Medtronic sells in India, Astra pacemaker, Solara CRT-P and Serena CRT-P. "We have and continue to communicate proactively with the doctors and relevant stakeholders in India and have informed them about the performance note. There have been no patient issues reported in India related to this performance note," the statement by the company said.

UKs Amryt Pharma unites lomitapide franchise with Aegerion deal

ET Healthworld- Reuters

Britains Amryt Pharma has agreed to buy Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Novelion Therapeutics, in a deal that reunites the franchise for lomitapide, a treatment for patients with a rare cholesterol disorder. Amryt, which already had a licence to sell lomitapide in Europe and countries including Russia, said it would raise $60 million in equity funding for the deal, which will create a group with combined proforma 2018 revenue of $136.5 million.

Array BioPharmas colorectal cancer combo treatment meets main goals

ET Healthworld- Saumya Joseph

Array BioPharma Incs cocktail of three therapies helped patients with a type of colorectal cancer live longer than those on standard treatment, according to interim results of a late-stage study on Tuesday. The combination therapy, comprising Arrays Braftovi and Mektovi and Eli Lilly and Cos Erbitux, helped half the patients enrolled in the study survive nine months. This was in comparison to the standard regimen of Erbitux and chemotherapy irinotecan, which showed a median overall survival of 5.4 months in patients.

Merck to buy cancer drug developer Peloton for $1.05 billion in cash

ET Healthworld- Reuters

Merck & Co Inc said on Tuesday it would buy Peloton Therapeutics Inc for $1.05 billion in cash to gain access to the privately held companys renal cancer drug candidate. The companys lead drug candidate, PT2977, will be studied in a late-stage study for treating renal cell carcinoma. Peloton shareholders will be eligible to receive a further $1.15 billion on achieving certain milestones. The company had been looking to go public and gave a pricing range of $15 to $17 per share for its initial public offering last week.

Scientists invent method to transfer life-saving vaccines to impoversished areas

ANI

Scientists have developed a new way that can help store vaccines and their subsequent transfer to remote and impoverished areas of the world. The new method developed by McMaster scientists and published in the Scientific Reports combines the active ingredients in existing vaccines with a sugary gel, where they remain viable for eight weeks or more, even at elevated temperatures. "This, to us, is the ultimate application of this technology. To imagine that something we worked on in the lab could one day be used to save peoples lives is very exciting," said the papers lead author Vincent Leung. The method creates light, durable, and compact doses that would be ideal for shipping Ebola vaccine, for example, to affected regions of Africa, the researchers said. The process adds only marginal cost to preparing a vaccine and eliminates almost all the cost of transporting it - which can account for 80 per cent of the total cost of inoculation.

Slow releasing nerve pain killer that can be delivered via nose developed

Medical Dialogues

Drugs can be delivered in various ways such as orally or through injections depending on their intended action. But sometimes drugs administered this way may result in side effects as well. In order to minimise side effects, scientists have been exploring ways in which drugs can be delivered with greater precision. Now Indian scientists have developed a new nanotechnology-based drug which can be administered through the nose. They have found that when neuropathic drugs are encapsulated in nanoparticles and transported via the nasal route they can be more effective in curing nerve related pains. Neuropathic pain is often escalating pain that occurs due to injury or lesions in nerves. It can arise randomly and can last for minutes to days. This pain is often experienced by individuals suffering from arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, spondylitis and those who have undergone chemotherapy for cancer.

Aushidhi for the Underprivileged

News Patrolling

While most of the teenagers are busy scheduling travel plans or holidaying already, Vishad Khanna, a 17 years old, class 12th student of Delhi Public School, RK Puram, has been zealously working towards providing free of cost medicines to the underprivileged section of the society. As per The Lancet report, an estimated 8.6 million deaths in low- and middle-income countries every year are due to conditions treatable by healthcare, of which 5 million result from poor quality of care and 3.6 million from insufficient access to care. In order to overcome this problem, Vishad launched Aushidhi, an online platform which provides free of cost medicines to the needy. Despite having a thriving Pharma industry, several studies have claimed that there is a lack of accessibility to affordable and essential medicines in the country. India is still not able to curb the prevailing mortality rate due to the scantiness of medicinal care. This visionary leader is a student of Computer Science and has developed a portal which connects with the lifeline of needy and poor sick patients with Donors like Company/Pharmacy/Doctor. Aushidhi is pioneering in providing free medicines and health checkups to the deprived ones who required it the most but cannot afford it. Its online platform bridges the gap between free medicine provider and people who seek medicines.

Healthcare News

‘Stabilize patients, check bed status before shifting’

The Times of India- Debasish Konar

The state health department has issued a directive that without confirmation on the availability of beds, no patient can be transferred from one state hospital to another. The step was taken after the health department was flooded with complaints of patients being sent from various state hospitals to SSKM and other medical colleges without prior intimation. Patients and their relatives complained to the health department about the harrowing time they have had to go through after they were sent to new hospitals, but there, they were refused admission on grounds of non-availability of beds. The missive, jointly issued by director of health service (DHS) Dr Ajay Chakraborty and director of medical education (DME) Dr Pradip Mitra to all the hospital superintendents and CMOHs on May 16, stated that without stabilising moribund patients, they should not be referred mindlessly to any hospital. “Only when a patient is a bit stable, can the person be referred elsewhere,” the directive said. “While referring a patient to another hospital, availability of beds there has to be checked. Moreover, doctors are to alert the hospital authorities, where the patient is being sent, so that they can prepare before the patient arrives.”

Sitting inside locked car for 30 mins can prove fatal: Doctors

The Times of India

On January 19 earlier this year, a 26-year-old cab driver died of suffocation in Noida inside his car because of smoke from burning coal that he had kept on a grate under the dashboard to keep himself warm. A year before, on June 9, a 28-year-old businessman and his girlfriend were found dead inside a car, which was parked in the garage of the man’s house in Bengaluru. Postmortem revealed the duo had died of suffocation. On August 30, 2017, a 38-yearold lawyer was found dead inside his car near Sion in Mumbai. The street was waterlogged that day and he was waiting inside his locked car for the water level to subside, which may have caused suffocation, leading to his death. It is dangerous to sit inside a locked car. It is even more dangerous when the air-conditioning is on. Car exhaust emits carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases (in case the AC is on) that might kill an adult instantly. “If you sit inside a locked car for 30 minutes, you would feel suffocated. This is because there is no fresh air inside a locked car and what you inhale is actually carbon dioxide,” said Somendro Mohan Ghosh, an automobile expert and green activist.

Sraddha hospital issued closure notice

The Times of India- Siva G

Visakhapatnam: The district administration on Tuesday issued a closure notice to Sraddha Hospital, which was involved in the kidney scam. This comes in the wake of district collector K Bhaskar ordering on May 18 that the hospital be sealed after the three-member committee, probing the case, submitted its report. The notice lays down seven charges against the hospital. The charges include, the hospital has failed to set up an internal transplants committee that violates the Transplant of Human Organs Act. Second, four doctors at the hospital — donor surgeon Dr N Ravikumar Raj, recipient surgeon Dr Ravindra Varma, anaesthesiologist for donor and recipient Dr KB Chowadary and nephrologist for both donor and recipient Dr D Prabhakar — have not renewed their licences. Other charges include, the transplant coordinator was unavailable at the time of inquiry, standard operating procedures were not submitted, list of paramedical and technical staff was unavailable, list of doctors working in the hospital was not displayed in the hospital premises and some cases were not properly documented.

Doctor, nurses beaten up after three newborn die in Jharkhand

Business Standard- IANS

A doctor and some nurses at a government hospital in Jharkhands Giridih were beaten up by relatives of three newborn babies who died on Tuesday, police said. After the babies died at the hospital in Chaitadih village of the district, angry relatives thrashed Dr Govind Prasad and some nurses. Three women had given birth to the babies two days ago and the delivery was normal. Prasad had given an injection to all three babies on Monday night and relatives alleged that the babies condition worsened subsequently. The doctor also referred them to a hospital in Dhanbad. The father of one took the baby to Dhanbad but the two others remained in the hospital here. All three died on Tuesday. Prasad said that the condition of the babies born was critical so he had given them injection and referred to Dhanbad for treatment.

Navia Life Care launches Navi, voice-based virtual assistant for doctors

The Economic Times

Navia Life Care, a healthcare technology startup, said it has launched Navi - a voice-based virtual assistant for doctors. Navi like any other virtual assistant is an application that can understand voice commands and complete tasks for a user but with a slight difference that separates it from the rest. Navi creates and completes a digital prescription for the patient, which can be printed or sent via an SMS. This means it is not only a mere passive listening device that will respond once it recognizes a command, but also record and analyze both the doctor’s behavior and the patient’s medical history. It uses an algorithm that predicts possible remodification, diagnosis, medication schedules and investigations for patients, thus recommending them to doctors.

Polish sextuplets surprise parents and doctors expecting five

ET Healthworld- Reuters

Polands first sextuplets on record, two boys and four girls, were born in the southern city of Krakow on Monday to the surprise of parents and doctors who had expected five babies. "Imagine this: we were prepared from early in the morning to help deliver five tiny citizens. So we are in the operating room, there are five teams of doctors ready to take care of five children", Ryszard Lauterbach, head of Clinical Neonatology at the University Hospital in Krakow said. "They are being delivered one after another until all five places were occupied. And then all of a sudden it turns out theres another one waiting in there." He said the children, born at 29 weeks, were in "surprisingly good condition" for sextuplets, but they showed symptoms of immaturity of the respiratory system and the central nervous system that were typical for premature babies.

Bengaluru Doctor Gets Global Asian of the Year Award for Contribution to Womens Healthcare Ecosystem

News18- IANS

Bengaluru-based medical doctor Hema Divakar was honoured with the Global Asian of the Year 2018-19 award in Dubai recently for her yeomen services and contributions to the womens healthcare ecosystem, in India, said its organiser Asia One magazines publisher on Tuesday. Hema received the award at the Asian Business & Social Forum 2019 under the In Service of the Society and the Nation category from UAEs Trade Promotion Director Mohammed Naser Hamdan Al Zaabi. "The award is conferred on those who stand out for vision, action and ingenuity and represent contemporary ideas to make global impact," said the pan-Asian business and news publication in a statement here. Hema is also spearheading a healthcare initiative for the overall well-being of women, with affordable and quality treatment.

Every fourth patient visiting AIIMS dissatisfied: Government survey

Times Now- IANS

In a shocking result, a government survey has found that every fourth patient visiting the AIIMS is dissatisfied with treatment and other facilities at the premier institute. As much as 28 per cent of patients visiting the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are dissatisfied with treatment offered at its emergency and surgery departments, while 25 per cent of respondents were not happy with the services at the ENT department. At least 23 per cent of the patients were found to be unhappy with the overall treatment and other facilities offered by the countrys premier institution. A majority of these patients have expressed displeasure with the patient services at the emergency, surgery, orthopaedic, obstetrics and gynaecology departments. The feedback from the patients was taken under the "Mera Aspataal" initiative, which was launched by the Union Health Ministry in 2016 to seek the peoples views in improving public healthcare facilities. The survey has revealed that the behaviour of the staff towards the patients is a major cause of dissatisfaction among over a third of respondents.

Three held for attack on NIMS doctor in Hyderabad

Telangana Today

Anger among the healthcare workers over attack on Casualty Medical Officer (CMO) of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) continued to simmer, even as Punjagutta Police have taken into custody three persons for their alleged involvement in the incident. According to the police, the arrested persons have been identified as P Susheel, C Vijay Kumar and L Sandeep, all residents of Bhoiguda and they would be produced in the court on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the NIMS resident doctors on Tuesday have continued to protest citing frequent attacks on healthcare workers and have demanded a lasting solution. The resident doctors demanded that the State government intervene and immediately deploy Special Protection Force (SPF) personnel at emergencies and operation theatres.

Current Temperature Status and Warning for next five days

Heat Wave and Temperature Observed Yesterday (Past 24 hours from 0830 hrs IST of 20 May to 0830 hrs IST 21 May, 2019)

Heat Wave:

Yesterday, Heat Wave Conditions were observed in some part of Madhya Maharashtra and in isolated pockets over Vidarbha and Telangana. (Annexure 1 & 2).

Maximum Temperature

Maximum temperatures were markedly above normal (5.1°C or more) at a few places over Madhya Maharashtra; appreciably above normal (3.1°C to 5.0°C) at many places over North Interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Jharkhand; at a few places over Telengana, Tamilnadu & Puducherry and Gangetic West Bengal and at isolated places over Vidarbha and East Madhya Pradesh; above normal (1.6°C to 3.0°C) at most places over Kerala and Bihar; at many places over Uttarakhand, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and South Interior Karnataka; at a few places over Saurashtra & Kutch, Assam & Meghalaya, West Madhya Pradesh and Odisha and Gujarat Region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar. Yesterday, the highest maximum temperature of 45.9°C recorded at Bramhapuri (Vidarbha). (Annexure 1 & 2).

Temperatures Recorded at 1430 Hours IST of Today, the 20th May, 2019

• Bramhapuri (Vidarbha) recorded the maximum temperature of 45.6°C (Annexure 3).
• Temperatures recorded at 1430 hours IST of today have risen by by 1-4°C at most parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, West Rajasthan, East Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand; at many parts of Assam & Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and West Madhya Pradesh; at few places over Vidarbha, South Interior Karnataka and Marathwada and at one or two pockets of Gujarat, Bihar, Uttarakhand, East Rajasthan, Rayalseeema, Telengana, Kerala, Odisha and Coastal Andhra Pradesh(Annexure 4).