Vice President asks medical fraternity to launch awareness to prevent NCDs

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has asked the medical fraternity to take lead and launch an awareness campaign on the need to prevent non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cancer, which are assuming disturbing proportions. He wanted both private and public hospitals as well as individual doctors to visit nearby schools, colleges and community centres in their localities regularly and educate the youngsters on the health hazards posed by modern lifestyles and the need to undertake regular physical activity and adopt healthy dietary habits.

Inaugurating the 27th Annual Conference of the Indian Academy of Neurology - IANCON 2019, in Hyderabad today, Shri Naidu said the country was facing the twin burden of some communicable diseases and NCDs, apart from glaring absence of adequate modern medical facilities in rural areas.

The Vice President also advised the governments and policy makers to give more incentives for setting up medical institutions in rural areas. The Central Governments and the States must provide a helping hand to private sector without compromising on standards. He also wanted the Medical Council of India to address the issue of increasing seats in neurology, while ensuring that the colleges strictly adhere to regulations… (PIB, Oct. 3, 2019)

#MainFitToHiIndiaFit: Join the Fit Delhi-Fit India movement

If you can walk more than 400 m on a hard flat surface in six minutes with no discomfort, you are cardiac fit

On 2nd October, Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) organized a plogging run on the theme "Plog 2 km on 2nd October, 2019" as a part of the Join Fit India CMAAO-IMA Plogging campaign to make India free of single use plastic along with CMAAO, Indian Medical Association (IMA) and all its state branches and Padma Awardee Doctors’ Forum.

We are extending this activity to the 26th Perfect Health Mela being held from 18th to 20th October at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi and starting the #MainFitToHiIndiaFit movement for Fit Delhi and Fit India. ....read more

Sleeping less than 6 hours may increase risk of cancer and even death

Not getting enough sleep may put some people at risk for much more than being drowsy the next day.

As per a new study reported online Oct 2, 2019 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, middle-aged people with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke could be at increased risk for cancer and early death if they get less than 6 hours of sleep a night.

Specifically, those with high blood pressure or diabetes who slept less than 6 hours had twice the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke compared with people who slept 6 or more hours. Sleep-deprived people with a history of heart disease or stroke had three times the increased risk of dying from cancer during the study that spanned three decades. ....read more

The three types of Debts

Hindu scriptures have talked about three types of Hrin (debts): Dev Hrin, Pitra Hrin and Rishi Hrin.

God or the devtas gave us the consciousness, parents gave us our body and teachers gave us the knowledge or intellect. In Vedic language, our body is a mix of mind, body and soul, which can be equated to three Hrins of mind (teachers), body (parents) and soul (Rishi & Gods). In computer language, this can be equated to operational software (God), application software (teachers) and computer hardware (parents).

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this write up are my own).

Healthcare News Monitor

South Delhi Municipal Corporation takes steps to fight dust pollution

TNN-Vibha Sharma

NEW DELHI: To combat dust pollution this winter, South Delhi Municipal Corporation has prepared a detailed plan and arrangement in advance. According to the plan, SDMC aims to make all its 12 sprinklers operational, pave roadside berms, repair roads and set up waste processing plants. To implement its various projects, the civic agency has recently prepared an action plan mentioning the estimated funds required and has shared it with the ministry of housing and urban affairs. To begin with, after the rains, we will make our 12 tanker-mounted sprinklers operational. "To begin with, after the rains, we will make our 12 tanker-mounted sprinklers operational. Each of them has a capacity of 10,000 litres," said an official. SDMC standing committee chairman Bhupender Gupta said the roads under the corporation were supposed to be frequently maintained, but due to the shortage of funds, it has become difficult to achieve the target. "We have asked the Centre to provide us machines, which will help in the immediate repair work," he said. Besides, to combat the illegal disposal of plastic, SDMC has proposed to install 50 TPD waste plastic-to-fuel plant on a pilot basis

NHSRC redesignated as WHO collaborating centre for medical devices, health technology policy

ET Healthworld – PTI

New Delhi The National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) has been redesignated as a WHO collaborating centre for priority medical devices and health technology policy, an official statement said on Thursday. The mandate of the division of healthcare technology at NHSRC is to draw up technical specifications for technologies procured under National Health Mission, draft policies for medical device maintenance and management, undertake evaluations of health product innovations and support the ministry on issues related to diagnostics initiative, National Dialysis Program among others. In the past, NHSRC as a collaborating centre has supported WHO in formulating technical specifications for medical devices such as oxygen concentrators and resuscitation devices and continues to support evaluation of innovations for WHOs compendium on innovative devices, the statement said. "This year in collaboration with WHOs country office, NHSRC developed a guidance document for the health ministrys free diagnostics initiative to further strengthen the agenda of universal access to affordable diagnostics," said the statement.

Plastic ban: Biocon may replace disposable insulin pens with reusables

Business Standard - Sohini Das & Samreen Ahmad

With the government considering a blanket ban on all forms of single-use plastic, pharma major Biocon on Thursday indicated it could replace the disposable plastic pens with reusable ones for insulin products. The pharma industry said the government has indicated to it that it could find a solution for replacing the use of single-use plastic for pharma packaging within a year’s time or so. According to reports, the blanket ban has been held off, at least for the moment, given the industry is grappling with slowdown blues and it could be disruptive if implemented right away. Meanwhile, Biocon’s Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted on Thursday: “As a responsible company, we would like to lead the way in replacing disposable plastic pens with reusable pens for insulin products. I hope patients cooperate.” She said it was up to individuals and individual corporations to initiate a plastic reduction plan.

Failed drug molecules may be reused as semiconductors: Study

ET Healthworld- PTI

Washington: Researchers have found a way to repurpose drugs that fail pharmaceutical clinical trials into organic semiconductors, an advance that can pave the way for the development of new types of flexible electronics and biosensors. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, noted that biological molecules once considered for cancer treatment can now be redesigned as organic semiconductors for use in chemical sensors and transistors. The researchers, including those from the University of Illinois in the US, looked at a well-studied class of bioactive molecules called DNA topoisomerase inhibitors which prevented the genetic material from replicating, and was once explored as a potential anti-cancer agent. "While examining these pharmaceutical molecules, we noticed that their molecular structures looked much like the organic semiconductors we were working with in the rest of my group," said co-author and biomolecular engineering professor Ying Diao of the University of Illinois. The study noted that the DNA topoisomerase inhibitors were flat and contained neatly stacked columns of electrically conductive molecular rings, which according to the researchers were features of a good semiconductor.

Bhopal: Safer Blood test to detect HIV, Hep, HCV

ET HealthWorld- Jamal Ayub

Bhopal: Blood currently being supplied at hospitals cannot be ascertained to be a 100% free from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). But this is likely to be changed as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhopal will begin state-of-the-art Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) soon, confirmed AIIMS Bhopal superintendent Dr Manisha Shrivastava. The initiative is supported by National Health Mission (NHM). “The test brings down the window period from 3 weeks to 48 hours and the blood supplied is a 100% pure because of measures taken such as: voluntary blood collection, pre-donation counselling, thus eliminating high-risk behaviour”, said Dr Shrivastava. Currently Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) test is undertaken to ascertain HIV, Hepatitis, and other infections. AIIMS Bhopal will not limit the facility to itself. It is offering to utilise the specialised unit for other government-run hospitals on a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model. Samples can be collected from various locations and a centralised test can be conducted at AIIMS Bhopal.