COVID-19 has made it difficult to manage cancer care, says Oncologist

New Delhi: Amid the lockdown in the country, patients suffering from cancer are at a higher risk, the oncologist said that COVID-19 has made it difficult to manage the cancer care delivery system.A recent report of Cancer Care Delivery Challenges Amidst Coronavirus Disease - 19 (COVID-19) Outbreak published in the journal of Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention has pointed out that cancer patients are more susceptible to coronavirus than individuals without cancer as they are in an immunosuppressive state because of the malignancy and anticancer treatment. Oncologists should be more attentive to detect coronavirus infection early, as any type of advanced cancer is at much higher risk for unfavorable outcomes....read more

A significant drop in air pollution levels across India after about a month COVID-19 lockdown

The levels of NO2 and ozone across India are within the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.No clear relationship observed between current air quality vs confirmed COVID-19 cases in India.During COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown enforced, countries across the world have reported a significant drop in air pollution and witnessed improvement in air quality. ....read more

CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster 74

(With regular inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev)What are COVID toes:Purple or red lesions on the toes and hands, have been termed “COVID toes” and has gained clinicians’ attention over the recent weeks.What should patients do if they notice them?Pernio, also known as chilblains, is a condition where red or purple tender bumps develop on the fingers or toes. It is usually a reaction to cold temperatures. In COVID-19, it is called “pernio-like” rather than pernio. A lot of these patients deny being exposed to cold temperatures. These skin lesions have been termed as “COVID toes.”....read more

Spiritual Prescription: Yoga, the Greatest Healer

The Sanskrit word for ‘healthy’ is ‘Svastha’ - Sav-Stha - means being established in one’s own true self. This is only possible when the body is in union with the mind and the consciousness.The Bhagavad Gita (Ch. IV shloka 36), says Api chedasi papebhya sarvebhya pap kritama or in other words “even if thou are the sinner of all sinners, you shall cross over all sin by the raft of knowledge”. Here sin can be equated with physical or mental sickness....read more

Health Sutras By Dr K K Aggarwal

Corona Namaste

Healthcare News Monitor

Researchers develop a molecule for potential COVID-19 drug in India

The Sentinel

Shiv Nadar University in Greater Noida on Monday announced that its researchers have created a molecule that has the potential to be developed into a drug that can cure Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. The team found a set of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) with the ability to cure Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) or Acute Lung Injury (ALI) induced by COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) or other Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which are also caused by coronaviruses. The two-fold strategy devised by the research team involved the application of the NCEs to inhibit attachment, entry and infection of the new SARS-CoV-2 through a known target on the virus and co-administration of a known drug (that modulates a set of hormonal receptors in human) and these NCEs to attenuate ARDS caused by novel coronavirus. “We hope our therapeutic approach will unravel solutions against maladies associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Our aim is to conclude the preclinical studies by the end of this year, post which the new compound will potentially be ready for the next stage of development along with human trials,” study researcher Dr Subhabrata Sen, Professor, Department of Chemistry at Shiv Nadar University said in a statement. According to the University, the discovery has come out of months of research, conceptualising small molecule modulators of a set of hormonal receptors in humans and how they are connected with potential receptors in the lungs that act as the entry of SARS-CoV-2, SARS and MERS in the human host. Additionally, the researchers looked into the pathophysiological condition of lungs during respiratory failure. This included extensive investigations of lung specimens from patients who were retrospectively found to have COVID-19

India approves Malaysia’s request for supplying hydroxychloroquine drug to deal with COVID-19 crisis

Zee News- Siddhant Sibbal

India has given go-ahead to Malaysias request for supplying hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a drug that is being called as a “game-changer’’ to deal with COVID-19 crisis. Kuala Lumpur had requested hydroxychloroquine from India to deal with COVID even as New Delhi got the request from several countries for the drug. New Delhi has gifted 5 million HCQ tablets to countries in the neighbourhood and the IOR, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, Eurasia and WANA regions. It is also providing 1.32 million Paracetamol (PCM) tablets to its neighbouring and other partner countries. Total Value of the medicines and other supplies to be gifted by India stands at INR 383 million (about USD 5 million). In addition to this, India has given clearance to commercial consignments of around 285 million HCQ tablets to 40 countries. Commercial consignments of around 500 million PCM tablets for 60 countries have also been cleared. Ties between India and Malaysia are headed towards a positive trajectory under the new leadership. Earlier this month, Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia, Mridul Kumar, met Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein regarding cooperation on COVID-19. That was the second meet between both of them in the last one month.

When would India run out of isolation beds and ventilators?

Mint- Arjun Srinivas

As India enters the final phase of lockdown 2.0, the preparedness of its healthcare infrastructure to combat covid-19 will come into increasing focus. Five weeks of lockdown have managed to slow the rate of growth of infection, with cases doubling in roughly 10 days. But the battle against the virus is far from over. As the lockdown is relaxed in a phased manner, and with expatriate Indians set to return, there could be a surge in cases. What is the readiness of healthcare infrastructure of individual states? If infections continue to rise at the same rate in May as they have done so far in April, India could be facing a deficit in isolation beds by the end of May, and in intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators by the first week of June, a Mint analysis suggests. The infrastructure stress will be especially acute in eight high-burden states, led by Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi. In April, cases in all these eight states grew at a compounded daily rate of above 10%—or, a doubling in about seven days or less. At the other end are states whose case growth is slower and which have greater reserves of covid-critical infrastructure relative to their case count. Healthcare capacity is also a moving target. Till the night of 27 April, the policy directive was to mandatorily isolate everyone who tested corona-positive in a standalone facility. This facility could be an entire hospital or a separate block where other patients are not allowed. This necessitated the establishment of isolation wards.

Delhi: Covid-19 patient forced to isolate at home after hospitals refuse admission for over 24 hours

India Today- Kaushik Deka

63-year-old cancer patient in Delhi had to wait for more than 24 hours to get hospitalised and quarantined even after he was found to be Covid-19 positive. What’s worse is that while he was sent back home by a private hospital after his Covid-19 diagnosis, Delhi government hospitals showed little interest in admitting him despite repeated calls to multiple helpline numbers for more than 24 hours. The patient stayed at his home without any preventive measures risking infection to family members and neighbours. Puspa Boruah, who hails from Assam has been undergoing treatment for cancer in Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, where he was found to be Covid-19 positive on April 27 at around 6 pm. The hospital authorities, instead of admitting him, asked him to go home. Since then, Boruah and his families tried to contact different helpline numbers provided by Delhi government but got no response. Boruah has been living in a rented house in Delhi’s Govindpuri area along with his wife and daughter. “It has been more than 24 hours and we have got no response. As responsible citizens, we are locked up inside the home, but looking at the Delhi government’s response I dread to imagine how an asymptomatic young man would behave in such a situation. Apollo Hospital took no precaution and casually asked my father to go back home on his own,” says Pallavi, Boruah’s daughter. A family friend of Boruah even contacted Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia at around 5 pm on April 28. Assam’s health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also got in touch with Sisodia seeking his intervention.