Discovery of how cells sense oxygen levels gets the 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” They identified molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen and established the basis for our understanding of how oxygen levels affect cellular metabolism and physiological function. Their discoveries have also paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases.

With end of New York outbreak, US keeps measles elimination status

The United States has maintained its measles elimination status of nearly 20 years. On Oct. 4, the New York State Department of Health declared the end of the state’s nearly year-long outbreak that had put the U.S. at risk of losing its measles elimination status. “We are very pleased that the measles outbreak has ended in New York and that measles is still considered eliminated in the United States. This result is a credit to the cooperative work by local and state health departments, community and religious leaders, other partners, and the CDC. But this past year’s outbreak was an alarming reminder about the dangers of vaccine hesitancy and misinformation,"said Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar.

Healthcare News Monitor

Immediate action plans needed for Delhi’s 13 pollution hotspots: EPCA

TNN-Jasjeev Gandhiok

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s 13 most polluted hotspots will need fresh and “immediate” action plans that will list all measures that can be undertaken in October itself, the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority has told Delhi Pollution Control Committee and Central Pollution Control Board. At a review meeting ahead of the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan, EPCA on Monday said the action plans formulated for these hotspots were too “detailed” and could not be executed immediately. Instead, it sought two plans for each hotspot to be implemented to keep a check on pollution. “Our focus this year has to be implementation of action plans on hotspots. However, these action plans cannot be executed in the present state. We need action immediately and on the ground so that the spikes are controlled ahead of Diwali and during the crop stubble burning period. We need two action plans for each hotspot, one that can be implemented through this winter and one that is immediate, listing all actions that can be undertaken this month,” EPCA member Sunita Narain said. The 13 hotspots identified are Okhla Phase-2, Narela, Bawana, Mundka, Punjabi Bagh, Dwarka, Wazirpur, Rohini, Vivek Vihar, Anand Vihar, R K Puram, Jahangirpuri and Ashok Vihar. The “immediate” action plans will have to be submitted to EPCA within two weeks. EPCA also identified six hotspots for the National Capital Region, asking state pollution control boards to formulate action plans for them. Two areas were identified in Faridabad whereas the other locations included Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon, Bahadurgarh, Bhiwadi and Sahibabad.

Hospital suspended from PMJAY, MA schemes

The Times of India

Surat: Gujarat’s commissioner of health has suspended Kiran Hospital from Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) and Mukhyamantri Amrutum (MA) schemes on Tuesday. Kiran Hospital, set up by Samast Patidar Aarogya Trust of leading diamantaires, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017. The trust has set-up a state-of-the-art multi super speciality hospital and research centre to bridge qualitative lacuna in the sphere of medicines, especially among super speciality branches of modern medical sciences. In a letter issued by the commissioner of health, medical service and medical education, Dr MD Sukhanandi, it is stated that the office has received multiple complaints regarding money collection from AB-PMJAY and MA patients. As per hospital deempanelment guidelines, it has been decided to suspend Kiran Hospital from October 8 and stop all claim payments too. The hospital shall not be able to register new patients but needs to process claims of patients admitted till October 7, 2019. Management of Kiran Hospital refused to comment on the issue.

Kid dies; Kerala hospital booked for medical negligence

The New Indian Express

Police have filed a case against a hospital after parents of a three-year-old boy who died following a surgical procedure on Monday staged a protest alleging medical negligence. Kasaba police booked Comtrust Charitable Trust Eye Hospital on Tuesday. The boy, Anay, residing at Chelari in Malappuram was brought to the hospital at 9.30 am on Monday with an eye injury. The doctors recommended surgery and he was taken into the surgery room. Soon, they rushed him to MIMS Hospital citing low pulse. He was declared dead on arrival by MIMS Hospital. An autopsy was conducted. On Tuesday, his parents protested outside Comtrust alleging medical negligence while administering anaesthesia. Praveen Kumar, public relations manager of the hospital, said, “There was no negligence. The autopsy result will prove it.”

Gujarat: Doctors plan study to reduce high infant mortality rate in tribal areas

Daily News & Analysis

In a bid to remove the lacunas that attribute to the considerably high infant mortality rate (IMR) in tribal districts of the state, community medicine departments of four medical colleges in Gujarat have planned a study to ascertain the home-based newborn care practices prevalent in these districts. The study will also focus on removing the lacunas in these practices that directly or indirectly are connected to infant deaths. The study, being funded by UNICEF, will be carried out by the community medicine departments of BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad; GMERS Medical College, Gotri; GMERS Medical College, Sola; and Baroda Medical College, Vadodara, through their medical students and ASHA workers. According to Rajesh Mehta, head of the community medicine department at GMERS Medical College, Sola, hypoxia, hypoglycemia, and hypothermia are three major reasons behind infant deaths.