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Medical Voice 16th April 2020

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Dr KK Aggarwal    16 April 2020

Corona: Govt targets 40,000 tests per day, to rope in more labs

NEW DELHI: The government plans to ramp up testing capacity to 40,000 tests per day by the end of April, say high level sources. As of Tuesday, ICMR said at the daily briefing that they are conducting 21,000 tests per day.The empowered testing committee of the government led by CK Mishra, and including Balram Bhargava (ICMR), Randeep Guleria (AIIMS), Bharat Lal (PMO), Debasree Mukherjee (ICMR), Nivedita Gupta (ICMR) and Venkateswaran (NABL) have been engaged in utilising existing capabilities as well as creating new ones to address the biggest challenge in the country’s fight against Covid-19. The idea is that if India has to get a handle on the spread of the infection, and control it, it needs to test much more....read more

Lockdown Exit Policy IMA HCFI CMAAO

CMAAO Corona Facts and Myth Buster 51548: What are the minutes of Round Table on Lockdown Exit Policy – ZOOM MEETING organized by IMA in Association with HCFI and CMAAO (11th April 2020, Saturday, 11am-1pm)The COVID 19-19 pandemic is the first outbreak of this nature and scale in our lifetime. We commend the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for taking pre-emptive timely measures to contain the pandemic at the very beginning of infection in India. Even the WHO has acknowledged India’s efforts....read more

CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster 52

Should COVID-19 positive asymptomatic healthcare workers continue working in COVID-19 positive non critical wardsThe new CDC guidelines state that essential workers who may have had possible exposure to the virus may continue to work if they are asymptomatic, wear a mask at all times for 14 days after their last exposure and have their temperature checked before entering the workplace....read more

Why is Ganesha worshipped in every puja?

Every Hindu ritual traditionally begins with a prayer to Lord Ganesh. The wedding ceremony too begins with a puja of Lord Ganesha invoking him to bless the couple and to ensure that the ceremony goes off well.Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is the harmonious Aacharan or characteristic disposition of man. Remembered and ritually worshipped before starting a new venture, the entity of Ganesha has in store the facets of a complete man....read more

Health Sutras By Dr K K Aggarwal

Fever, cough muscle pain, no breathlessness, consult your doctor

Healthcare News Monitor

BMC to try out hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis in Dharavi, Worli Koliwada

The Hindu- Jyoti Shelar

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in an attempt to arrest the spread of COVID-19 in slums, plans to roll out the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, as prophylaxis — a treatment course administered to prevent a disease — for the community. The first-of-its-kind pilot project will be implemented in Dharavi and Worli Koliwada this week. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani on Monday told The Hindu that medical experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and NITI Aayog had given a green signal for the pilot. “At present, 50,000 people are in the containment areas of Dharavi and Worli Koliwada each. We are planning to target the population in the containment areas in the age group of 18 to 55, but without any underlying ailments like diabetes and hypertension,” Mr. Kakani said. Due to the global interest in the drug, there are concerns of a possible shortage in India. But civic officials said Mumbai had enough stock as of now. “We have 10 lakh tablets available. We are prepared to start the pilot in a day or two,” Mr. Kakani said. Minor details of the project are being worked out. “It is a seven-week-long course. Our community health volunteers will be roped in to distribute the drug to the target population,” he said. Hydroxychloroquine is also prescribed for patients with arthritis and lupus. The national task force set up for the novel coronavirus by the Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended the use of the drug as prophylaxis for asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the treatment of positive COVID-19 patients as well as asymptomatic household contacts of positive patients.

India to consider use of Ebola-drug Remdesivir to treat critical coronavirus patients?

India Today- Milan Sharma

The compassionate use of Remdesivir, a drug used during the outbreak of Ebola, has yielded some favourable results with respect to the fight against the novel coronavirus. Gilead Sciences Inc.s experimental drug for patients with severe Covid-19 infection is showing promise in an early analysis, raising tentative hope that the first treatment for the virus may be on the horizon. Director of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr Raman Gangakhedkar dropped hints that India is taking into account data from this drug in its solidarity clinical trials as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). When administered, two out of three critical Covid-19 patients who were dependent on oxygen support and ventilators showed signs of improvement. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine speaks about the compassionate use and inference of Remdesivir. ICMR director Dr Raman Gangakhedkar said, "Remdesivir a drug that was being used in Ebola outbreak. The drug acts on the mutation of the Covid-19 virus, which is why researchers believe that it could work." However, the ICMR director clarified that it was not a clinical trial. "The study was not a clinical trial but an observational study, some people who have been administered the drug are being checked. It was found that 68 per cent, or 2 out of 3 patients did not need ventilator support or oxygen support after the drug was given to them."

Doctors, nurses share Covid-19 challenges, apprehensions as crisis deepens

Business Standard

As India is fighting the Covid-19 crisis with nationwide lockdown, doctors and healthcare workers are working day and night to minimise the damage due to the pandemic with constant checks on the patients, either through phone or video conferencing. The threat of them catching the coronavirus and infecting their own families also looms large, due to which most of the doctors have given up going homes and have shifted to solitary accommodations. "The disease is very contagious and till now we do not have any concrete solutions on how to manage it effectively which for us is the primary challenge. We always have to keep in mind that whatever we are doing for the patients should not be harmful, if it is not beneficial. We had to remodel the infrastructure into COVID ward keeping in mind various aspects," Dr Rakesh Garg, who is presently working at Covid-19 facility, National Cancer Institute, AIIMS Jhajjar told news agency ANI. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an essential gear that health workers have been mandatorily instructed to wear to protect themselves from harmful biological agents or contaminated surfaces.

Three COVID-19 patients cured; discharged from Mumbai hospital

IndiaTV- PTI

Three persons, who had tested positive for COVID-19, were discharged from Fortis Hospital in eastern suburb of Mulund in Mumbai, after they recovered from the infection following treatment. In a release issued on Tuesday, the hospital said a 42-year-old woman, her 69-year-old mother and 15-year-old son were admitted to its facility on March 29, after they tested positive for coronavirus. As per the release, the trio was discharged on Monday after they made full recovery following treatment and were counselled by the medical team to follow the health ministrys guidelines of home quarantine. he woman, who had no history of foreign travel, was first admitted to the hospital on March 28 with complaints of chills, fever and cough, it was stated. Throat swabs of the womans elderly mother and son, who showed no symptoms of the infection, were also collected and the duo tested positive for coronavirus soon after. The hospital has so far discharged seven COVID-19 patients following their recovery, the release stated.

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