Covid patients with very mild symptoms allowed home isolation option

New Delhi: The Health Ministry has issued guidelines for home isolation of very mild and pre-symptomatic Covid-19 cases under which a patient can stay at home but will have to be in touch constantly with the District Surveillance Officer, and a hospital and will have to sign an undertaking.The present guidelines are in addition to guidelines on appropriate management of suspect/confirmed cases of Covid-19 issued by the Health Ministry on April 7....read more

Game Changers - CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster 73

Game Changers in COVID-19(With regular inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev)Early suspicion: ●Dry Cough●Feverish like feeling●Loss of taste or smell●Diarrhea despite all hand wash precautions....read more

Alloveda Liver Update: NAFLD/NASH in patients with type 2 diabetes and related treatment options

An article published in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation discussed that T2D may reduce life expectancy and patients’ quality of life due to its micro- and macrovascular complications and higher risk of several types of cancer. The authors stated that an emerging important factor in this population is the hepatic involvement—it has been recognized that excessive hepatic fat accumulation represents a typical feature of diabetic patients and that it also plays an important pathogenic role. It has now been established that NAFLD, a benign condition, may have a significant deleterious impact for diabetic patients—increasing the risk for cardiovascular complications as well as serious hepatic diseases, in particular, NASH, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma....read more

Types of Memory

The easiest way to remember types of memory is by understanding the concept of Suno, Samjho, Jano and Karo (hearing, listening, knowledge and wisdom). Hearing is the shortest lasting memory. We hear and we forget is the rule.Once we listen and understand, the memory is longer lasting but the same memory becomes everlasting if we not only hear, understand and know but also incorporate the knowledge in our practice. ....read more

Health Sutras By Dr K K Aggarwal

n CoV 19 doesnt spread due to mosquito bite

Healthcare News Monitor

With covid-19, India has the potential to be global pharma hub

Mint- Nandita Mathur

The chief executives of corporates are shifting focus from protecting the business to recovery to retooling with each new week of the pandemic. Supporting clients during these challenging times is consulting firm Bain India. Managing partner of Bain & Companys India offices, Karan Singh, says that the covid-19 crisis is an opportunity to go on the offensive as turbulence enables significant reshuffling of strategic positions which endure. Edited excerpts of the interview: How has covid-19 affected the business of Bain in India? Like most businesses, consulting too is hit as customers significantly curtailed operations with CEOs, rightly focusing on addressing the crisis head on. However, our entire capacity is back to being fully deployed to help our clients address their toughest questions. We have pivoted the focus of our work to three areas: supporting clients to run war rooms, in helping clients zero basing costs including thinking boldly about digital transformation and very importantly, thinking through the retooling required to thrive in a different and uncertain environment. We also believe this is an opportunity to go on the offensive as turbulence enables significant reshuffling of strategic positions which endure. How will this pandemic transform healthcare in India? Health has become top of mind and we must seize this opportunity and focus on three opportunities. First, the government should continue to allocate more resources to health, enhance focus on public health and begin to wage war on non-communicable diseases with focus on primary care and screening to identify and effectively treat ~150-200M at risk. Second, healthtech is another game changer, and the government has moved quickly to enable telemedicine. This allows us to address accessibility challenges beyond top metros and allow e-pharmacies to scale. Third, India also has the potential to become a global pharma hub and an opportunity to become the research and clinical trial hub, a $35 billion opportunity over the next 5 years, enabling higher value added jobs.

Coronavirus update: Lincoln Pharmaceuticals gets nod to manufacture hydroxychloroquine tablets

Business Today - Ashish Pandey

Lincoln Pharmaceuticals on Monday said that it has received an approval to manufacture hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) along with other critical drugs to fight coronavirus. The nod was given by Food & Drug Control Administration, Gujarat to manufacture varied doses of hydroxychloroquine and hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets among others at its plant in Khatraj in Ahmedabad, Lincoln Pharmaceuticals said in an exchange filing. The company can now manufacture hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets USP in 200 MG, 300 MG and 400 MG doses and hydroxychloroquine tablets IP in 200 MG, 300 MG and 400 MG doses, respectively from Lincoln Pharmas Khatraj facility, it added. The company will also be exporting these products after necessary approval from Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). "We have all the necessary infrastructure at our state-of -the-art manufacturing facility at Khatraj, Ahmedabad and look to expedite the commercial production of the approved drugs at the earliest. Company is committed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and working closely with the governments and relevant stakeholders to ensure uninterrupted supply of medicines. Company has also constituted a task force to handle the distribution of medicines and essential drugs with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation by COVID-19," Mahendra Patel, Managing Director, Lincoln Pharmaceuticals, said.

Andhra hospitals to get more oxygen lines to make life easier for Covid patients

ET Healthworld- Umamaheswara Rao

Hypoxia has emerged as the new focus area in Covid-19 treatment in the state. Due to the compromised lung function and capacity in some Covid patients, oxygen cannot reach red blood cells, leading to hypoxia. There are about 1,200 beds with oxygen lines in the state-level Covid hospitals as well as district-level Covid hospitals, besides 2,200 beds with oxygen lines in other hospitals identified under line one to line six Covid hospitals. Now, the state health department has decided to add oxygen lines to about 2,000 more beds in the state-level Covid hospitals itself to augment its infrastructure in the battle against Covid-19. According to medical experts, some patients do not even exhibit any breathlessness symptoms despite having exceedingly low blood oxygen saturation levels, which is called as silent hypoxia or happy hypoxia in medical parlance. The insidious form of hypoxia makes it difficult for the treating doctor(s) before it progresses into the advanced stage. To tackle the same, the Covid-19 treating facilities in the state were recently supplied with nearly 1,900 pulse oximetres. These devices do not only help in monitoring the oxygen saturation levels of the patient, but also detect hypoxia early. According to reports, several Covid deaths in other countries were attributed to persistent hypoxia or it at least leading to severe complications such as tissue damage and infections.

Mumbai reels under bed shortage as private hospitals remain shut

ET Healthworld- Divya Rajgopal

It’s been nearly three weeks since five large hospitals in Mumbai were sealed after Covid-19 was found among medical staff. With the city reeling under the onslaught of the novel coronavirus, and more healthcare workers getting infected, its already overstretched healthcare system has come under more strain with shortage of beds and professionals to take care of the ill. The sealing of Wockhardt and Jaslok hospitals has taken nearly 800 beds out of the system. Both hospitals have still not indicated when they will open their facilities for treatment. The other hospitals were Bhatia Hospital and Hinduja Khar. Hinduja is operational again according to the hospital management. Text messages and phone calls made to Wockhardt’s management remained unanswered as of press time. A spokesperson for Jaslok had told ET last week that the hospital has started select services and is working on the protocols to take necessary precautions before its other services start. The growing number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai is testing the local administration’s prowess at handling the epidemic. The total number of active Covid-19 cases in Mumbai was 4,652 as on April 26. According to officials, the number of beds available in the city’s hospitals now is — 8,416 in public hospitals and 187 in private hospitals. With authorities projecting that the city could have between 8,000 and 15,000 cases, the shortage of beds is a matter of immense worry.