Could Building a Better Mosquito Cut Incidence of Dengue?

In various parts of the world where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were bred with the naturally occurring bacteria Wolbachia and then released into the wild, there was a reduced incidence of dengue infection, a researcher said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Large-scale deployments of these mosquito programs in Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Brazil produced field evidence of reduced dengue incidence, even up to several years after deployment, reported Katie Anders, PhD, of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. At a presentation, Anders discussed this real-world evidence for the effectiveness of these programs.

Healthcare News Monitor

AIIMS RDA opposes proposal to review students tuition fees, patients user charges

ET Healthworld- PTI

New Delhi: The AIIMS Resident Doctors Association has strongly opposed a Centres proposal to review the tuition fees for the students of the prestigious medical college and the user charges for various diagnostic procedures like blood tests, X-rays and OPD charges for its patients. AIIMS RDA opposed the proposal, saying it strongly supports quality and affordable education for all sections of the society. The proposal has been mooted close on the heels of a drastic hike in the hostel charges and other fees for the JNU students. "Quality education and healthcare are the building blocks of our nation and we will not allow any person, organization or the government to compromise on them in any aspect," said AIIMS RDA in a statement. "We need educated and skilled citizens to fulfil our long-cherished dream of becoming a developed nation. This dream can be fulfilled only if both the central and state governments make quality education affordable and healthcare accessible to all citizens," it added. AIIMS RDA president, Dr Amarinder Malhi, said, "We, the resident doctors, are against the memorandum issued by the administration. We are against any kind of increase in the tuition fees of students and user charges for patients in all medical institutes."

Central health scheme begins at Nanded railway hospital

ET Healthworld- TNN

Aurangabad: As many as four hospitals, including one located at Nanded in Marathwada, which is under the jurisdiction of the South Central Railway (SCR), are providing medical services to the beneficiaries of the national health protection scheme of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana. It is also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this has been signed between the Ministry of railways and the Ministry of health and family welfare, chief public relations officer of SCR Ch Rakesh said. The other railway hospitals on the zone that have started providing the benefits include Central Hospital, Lallaguda, Secunderabad, Divisional Railway Hospital, Vijayawada and Divisional Railway Hospital, Guntakal. Ayushman Bharat Yojana provides a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. Over 10.74 crore entitled families are eligible for the benefits. “The central scheme provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary. The implementation of the scheme at the railway hospital will help reduce expenditure for hospitalizations and will help mitigate the financial risk arising out of health issues,” SCR authorities said.

Red Cross blood bank, Thalassemia unit run sans licence

Orissa Post - Gyan Ranjan Mohapatra

Is the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) playing with the lives of patients in Odisha? An RTI response to this pertinent query recently revealed several shocking facts about the manner the Central Red Cross Blood Bank (CRCB) at Mangalabag in Cuttack is functioning. Interestingly, it is the only blood bank in the state, which is affiliated to the Indian Red Cross Society. The society has been running the blood bank without licence for the past 12 years. There is also a Thalassemia Day Care unit on the premises which has no formal registration at all. Notably, the state government has taken over all blood banks run by the IRCS in Odisha except the CRCB at Cuttack. According to data available on the website of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Odisha, the CRCB set up in 1959 is the first blood bank of the state. It meets two-thirds of the blood requirements of the SCB Medical College and Hospital, Acharya Harihar Regional Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment, Capital City Hospital, Postgraduate Institute of Paediatric, ESI Hospital and nearly 70 hospitals in Cuttack. The CRCB, in its response to an RTI query submitted by Pratap Chandra Mohanty, asserted that renewal of its licence (No.18) under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act in favour of the CRCB was done way back in 2007. The society which sent its reply September 25, 2019 said application for licence was pending with the Drug Controller, New Delhi, Deputy Drugs Controller, Kolkata and the Drugs Controller in Bhubaneswar.

Betnovate, Panderm samples fail quality tests; makers say products ‘counterfeited’

The Indian Express - Prabha Raghavan

India’s top drug regulatory authority has flagged around 35 batches of medicines, including skin treatment cream brands Betnovate and Panderm, for failing quality tests last month. At the same time, the companies that market these products in India have said that the samples tested were counterfeited versions of their popular brands. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), earlier this month, labelled specific batches of Betnovate C and Betnovate-N cream as well as Panderm ++ to be “not of standard quality”. According to the regulator’s findings, samples of these products failed tests conducted in October to determine the identity of their ingredients. It also found a batch of acidity drug brand Lupizole to have failed quality tests. CDSCO has red-flagged batch number NG980 of Betnovate-C cream for failing these identification tests as well as tests of ‘assay’ of clioquinol, which means there were less quantities of this ingredient than required in the approved combination. It has also found that batch number EZ277 of Betnovate-N failed identification tests. Samples of Panderm ++, belonging to batch number PCF901A, and samples of Lupizole from batch number T9004141 were declared substandard.