A Pandemic benefit: The expansion of telemedicine

Even if no other good for health care emerges from the coronavirus crisis, one development — the incorporation of telemedicine into routine medical care — promises to be transformative. Using technology that already exists and devices that most people have in their homes, medical practice over the internet can result in faster diagnoses and treatments, increase the efficiency of care and reduce patient stress. ....read more

World COVID Meter 11th May: Living with COVID 1.0: Building new set of social norms and culture

Let us end the social pandemic before the medical pandemic. Let’s live with it.212 Countries affected, Crosses 4.17M, Nearly 80,000 cases per day, Minimum Likely Deaths 290900, Deaths to Cross 300,000 this WeekWorld: Cases: 1M: April 2, 2 M: April 15, 3 M: April 27, 4 M: May 81st Case: 10th January. Total cases are based on RT PCR which has only 67% sensitivity. Does not include clinical cases. ....read more

CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster 93

(With inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev)8830: Three drugs betterPatients hospitalized with COVID-19 receiving a combination therapy with three antivirals, including-protease inhibitor lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra), nucleoside analogue ribavirin, and injectable interferon beta-1b (Betaseron, Extavia), exhibited significantly shorter median time to a negative SARS-CoV-2 test compared to controls, revealed a small phase II trial. Median number of days from initiation of study treatment to a negative test result, the trials primary endpoint, was 7 days compared with 12 days in the control group that only received lopinavir-ritonavir, reported Kwok-Yung Yuen, MD, of the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues writing in The Lancet....read more

What are Satvik offerings in Vedic literature?

1.Food Offerings: Panchashasha - grains of five types, i.e., brown rice, mung or whole green gram, til (sesame), mashkalai (white urad dal) or any type of whole black leguminous seed, jowar or millet.2.Panchagobbo: Five items obtained from cow: milk, ghee or clarified butter, curd, cow dung and gomutra; curd, honey, brown sugar, three big noibiddos, one small noibiddo, three bowls of madhupakka (a mix of honey, curd, ghee and brown sugar for oblation), bhoger drobbadi (items for the feast), aaratir drobbadi mahasnan oil, dantokashtho, sugar cane juice, an earthen bowl of atop - a type of rice, sesame oil....read more

MAPIAN GAINS FAME AS YOUNG ASTRONOMER

Nikhil Jha, 14 yrs old student of class X of Mount Abu Public School, Rohini, Sector 5, Delhi , India has discovered Asteroid in “All India Asteroid Search Campaign”, held in July- August 2019. It was the global level search campaign by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) and in India by SPACE, which conducts this campaign across India, in association with International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) conducted by Dr. Patrick Miller of Hardin Simmons University, the USA as an educational outreach program All India Asteroid Search Campaign, a unique and exclusive International platform created by SPACE for Indian students and amateur astronomers across India since 2010.This provisional discovery of Asteroid marks as one of the best achievement for Mount Abu Public School as asteroids are hard to search for and needs dedication and continuous efforts. .The discovery of asteroid by young students is the clear reflection of ideology that youth of today is indeed the change maker.

Jyoti Arora Principal of the school is all full appreciation for the greatest achievement of the young Mapian as she believes that it is the innovation bent of mind that makes every students a little different and unique among all.CMAAO, HCFI and Medtalks congratulates Nikhil Jha for his achievements : discovers an asteroid

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Definition of close contact in CORONA

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Pakistani opposition, pharma companies clash over imports from India

Hindustan Times- Imtiaz Ahmad

While Pakistan’s opposition parties have questioned the permission given to import medicines and raw materials from India, pharmaceutical companies say that if such imports are stopped, the country’s local drug production would be adversely affected. Last week, opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif criticised the import in Parliament. According to a report presented by the Health Ministry to the government, manufacturers and importers had imported 429 active pharmaceutical ingredients, 12 different kinds of vaccines and 59 medicines from India under a special permission. However, the imported drugs included vitamin tablets as well as medicines which are being produced in Pakistan also, the report said. Prime Minister Imran Khan had last week ordered a probe into the misuse of permission for the import of life-saving drugs from India.

PE firms chase Indian API makers amid covid-19 disruptions

Mint- Ridhima Saxena

Private equity (PE) investors are betting on Indian drug makers that manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), even as uncertainty over covid-19 has slowed down investments. This as the government looks to push local manufacturing of pharmaceutical ingredients, making India an alternative supplier to global drug makers hit by factory shutdowns in China. API is the raw material that gives any medicine its therapeutic effect. “We are already seeing a disruption in the pharma market as many countries, including India, are taking active steps to reduce their dependence on China, the largest manufacturer of APIs," said Amit Varma, managing partner and co-founder of Quadria Capital, one of Asias largest healthcare PE firms. "So, we are most likely to see a rise in PE investments in the API space in India," Varma added. Indian pharma market imports nearly 70% of its bulk drugs and intermediaries from China, which caused most generic drug makers in the country to suffer raw material shortage due to covid-19. As a result, the Indian government announced a ₹140-billion fund in March to set up three drug manufacturing hubs, while identifying 53 key APIs, including paracetamol and antibiotics, penicillin and ciprofloxacin, whose output will be boosted on priority.

Kashmir’s first doctor infected by Covid-19 anxious to return to work

Hindustan Times- Mir Ehsan

For 43-year-old Dr Javid Iqbal Monga, the most depressing and shocking news of his life came when he tested positive for coronavirus on April 19. He became Kashmir’s first doctor and frontline worker to test positive for the virus. Authorities promptly put him and his family in quarantine at the Medical College itself and began efforts to trace all his contacts. Fortunately, Dr Monga had already taken enough precautions as he was aware about consequences of the virus and had seen from close quarters the death of his colleagues in Saudi Arabia due to SARS while they were on duty in the city of Taif, where the doctor had spent around two decades of his life. “I had a sore throat for a couple of days before testing positive. I thought that since I am allergic to certain things it could be the fallout of that only. Once I was declared Covid positive, I started thinking where from I could have got this deadly disease.” Dr Monga suspects that he contracted Covid-19 from a patient during a 24-hour shift at the emergency of Medical College spread over April 13 and 14. “I examined many patients. I used to spend good time with my patients, especially the sick ones. It was an old man who was very sick who came to the hospital in the middle of night. I spent two hours with him and performed his intubation. But despite my efforts he passed away and it’s possible that I got the virus from him.’’ Dr Monga and his wife were initially shifted to a local hotel just 100 hundred meters away from the hospital. However, after spending a few hours inside the hotel in a comfortable room while getting treatment according to protocol for his chills and throat infection, some local residents raised objections for his stay in the hotel.

It’s a war against an invisible enemy, says doctor

The Tribune

“It’s not just a question of medical challenge, but a war against Covid-19, an invisible enemy. Hence, we (doctors and health professionals) should be battlefield ready,” says Dr Rajesh Raju. He has just finished a month of duty in an isolation ward at the Civil Hospital here, looking after Covid-19 patients. He is now posted in the OPD of the hospital. Dr Raju, who is the head of the TB and Chest Department at the Civil Hospital, has isolated himself from his family members to prevent any risk to them of getting infected with the virus. “We have to be careful for their sake. When I return home from work, I straightaway go to my room without interacting with anyone. I wash clothes on my own. I even have my own set of utensils,” says the 49-year-old doctor, who stays in Chandigarh. Asked about his experience in dealing with Covid-19 patients, he says: “We have to remain vigilant all the time. We need to ensure that we don’t get infected, and also that we don’t take the virus back home. Despite all this, we are committed to serving patients. Only cowards run away from the battlefield.” Emotional support works: “Not just medical care, emotional support also helps Covid-19 patients. It keeps their confidence high in the fight against the invisible enemy,” says Dr Rajesh Raju. Difficult to work while wearing PPE: “It is not easy wearing and working in PPE. We have to remain without food and water after wearing the PPE for six to eight hours. Even going to the washroom is out of question during the duty hours. We don’t take any liquid after wearing the kit and feel dehydrated most of the time. However, precautionary measures are a must to keep ourselves safe,” says Dr Raju.