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Medical Voice 10th December 2019

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Dr KK Aggarwal    10 December 2019

WHO to Javadekar: No study shows pollution spares Indians

The World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations working on international public health, has rebuked Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar for stating that there is no link between air pollution and reduced lifespan. “We wish it didn’t kill people but unfortunately it does,” said WHO officials.

NAGPUR: The World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations working on international public health, has rebuked Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar for stating that there is no link between air pollution and reduced lifespan. “We wish it didn’t kill people but unfortunately it does,” said WHO officials.

The minister, while speaking in the Parliament on Friday, strongly stressed that there was no Indian study to prove the impact of air pollution on public health. Javadekar further told the house not to “create fear psychosis among people”. ....read more

"Undetectable Equals Untransmittable", or U=U.

This means that people living with HIV who achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load — the amount of virus in their blood — by taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) as prescribed do not sexually transmit HIV to others.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates this strategy is 100% effective against the sexual transmission of HIV.

This public health message has the power to reduce stigma, protect the health of people living with HIV and prevent sexual transmission of HIV to others. ....read more

Healthcare News Monitor

Can Generics fill the existing quality gaps ? : Dr Nirmal Kumar Ganguly, DG, ICMR

ET Healthworld – Guest Article

In a vindication that government is doing all that it can to make accessible healthcare a reality for India’s 1.34 billion, the government made a bold commitment to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030. The promise covers every aspect of healthcare, from financial risk protection to access to quality essential health-care services, effective and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. Today, India is home to the world’s largest healthcare scheme, Ayushman Bharat, which found heads nodding from both sides of the political aisle. In addition, we also saw the government’s healthcare policies leaning towards generics under the Jan Aushadhi initiative that promised to make available “quality drugs at affordable prices through dedicated stores selling generic medicines which are available at lesser prices but are equivalent in quality and efficacy as expensive branded drugs.” Now, for the pharmacy of the world, the case for generics-only makes for a perfect claim. However, for a country that has long depended on high quality branded generics, can we rely on a “generics-only” model? As we inch closer to the Universal Health Coverage Day, celebrated on December 12, with the 2030 aim only a decade away and the government inclining towards generics, we must first acknowledge the wrinkles in the world of generics. Moreover, this is not an argument between generics and branded but bridging the distance between accessibility and quality medicines.

Reliance’s biotech arm eyes tie-ups to enter diagnostics business

Mint- Kalpana Pathak

“Revenue sharing would be on net sales basis and the franchise would bear the cost of setting up the labs," the person said. In an emailed response, a spokesperson for RIL said, “The information you have is speculative." The entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, an RIL subsidiary, in September 2016 caused a massive disruption in the mobile telecom market with low-cost tariff and data plans. This forced an industry-wide consolidation leaving only three private telcos, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd, the merged entity of Vodafone and Idea. The RLS website says the company is developing business opportunities in bio-therapeutics (plasma proteins, biosimilars and novel proteins), pharmaceuticals (later-generation, oncology generics), clinical research services, regenerative medicine (stem cell therapies) and molecular medicine. The company plans to follow a hub-and-spoke model for its pathology business, with a reference lab serving as a regional hub providing super-specialized tests. Supporting the reference lab would be a chain of network labs that would provide routine as well as specialised tests. And assisting the network labs would be collection centres and points which will collect tests and send them to reference and network labs for processing. “RLS is selling it as a low investment-high return entrepreneurial joint venture. It has approached a number of players in the industry to partner with them to set up these labs," said the second person cited above. The company would also collaborate with doctors, local collection centres, pathology labs and hospitals to bring in additional business.

Medicine sales rise 14.5% in Nov, Indian pharma firms lead growth

Mint - Leroy Leo

A low base coupled with an early festival season helped pharmaceutical sales rise 14.5% year-on-year to ₹12,624 crore in November, with sales of most Indian drug manufacturers outpacing their foreign peers, data from market research firm AIOCD-AWACS showed. The market research firm said the sales were “one of the best growths seen in more than 32 months", and attributed it to the weak 7% sales growth seen in the corresponding month last year, as well as the entire festival season ending in October itself this year. Last year, Diwali was in November. Among the top 10 drug manufacturers, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Cipla, Cadila Healthcare, Lupin, Mankind Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories and Torrent Pharmaceuticals posted sales growth in the range of 12.6-17.9% in November. India’s largest firm Sun Pharmaceutical posted a 14.5% growth in sales for the month to ₹1,035 crore, while the Abbott group, the largest multinational firm and India’s second-largest, posted 12% growth to ₹779 crore. While sales of drugs under national list of essential medicines, which come under price control, grew 15.2% to ₹1,245 crores, that of medicines not under price control grew 14.6% to ₹10,866 crores. Among the major therapy segments, anti-infective and respiratory drug sales led the growth with 17.0% and 19.7% respectively in November.

Junior doctors at Meerut medical college stage protests after resident doctor accuses department head of molestation

First Post- ANI

Junior resident doctors of Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College (LLRMM) on Saturday sat on protest, against the Head of Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) department alleging that he molested a junior resident doctor of his department. A protest erupted in the campus after a female resident doctor alleged ENT head Dr Kapil of molestation and demanded his suspension from the college. Sharing details of the incident, police said, "A woman has given us complaint of harassment. We have registered a case and necessary action will be taken as per investigation". On Saturday night, junior doctors begin a protest in the campus and demanded strict action against the accused. Dr Sanket Tyagi, ex-president of Resident Doctors Association said, "A junior doctor has levied serious allegations against the head of her department. We are protesting in her support. We have given a complaint and have full faith in the administration that they will take appropriate action". Medical graduates and post-graduates took out a march to Principal RC Guptas residence and informed him of their demands.

 

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