Health Archive

Rs.80 crore aid to Madhya Pradesh to fight malnutrition: envoy

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

Bhopal, Nov 3 – British High Commissioner Richard Stagg Tuesday said that of the Rs.300 crore provided to Madhya Pradesh for development programmes from his country’s Department for International Development (DFID), Rs.80 crore were to tackle malnutrition.

Addressing a joint press conference with DFID head Michael Anderson, Stagg said the quality of life in slums has improved in Madhya Pradesh with the aid.

The two said that though the state government has not been as strong as it should have been in tackling malnutrition, it should also be kept in mind that malnutrition is not the problem of lack of food alone but a more complex problem.

‘Only supplementary feeding among the children in the age group of 3 to 6 years is not enough to tackle malnutrition. It should be taken to the household level among the children of 0 to 2 years age group’, they said.

The duo also visited the slum areas in Bhopal where the DFID assisted programmes are being implemented and expressed satisfaction over the pace of works.

Man dies during PM’s PGIMER visit, police shrug off blame

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags: ,

Chandigarh/New Delhi, Nov 3 – The Chandigarh police Tuesday sought to clarify that they had no responsibility for the death of a kidney patient who allegedly died outside Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here because the security measures for the prime minister’s visit barred the entry to the hospital.

‘After getting the information, an executive magistrate was deputed to conduct an enquiry. As per the findings, there was no lapse on the part of security personnel. In fact, the patient was attended to by doctors and he died during the treatment,’ according to a police statement, issued here late Tuesday evening.

‘Tight security arrangements were made for the visiting VVIP but the normal traffic was not at all disturbed. Traffic was stopped only for a few minutes at only one gate,’ the statement added.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Tuesday sought a report from PGIMER on the death of this patient, who could not enter the hospital because of security measures in place for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit.

‘The PMO is saddened at the death of a patient at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research today during the visit of the prime minister. A full report has been asked for,’ said a senior official Tuesday.

Sumit Prakash Verma, 32, died after the vehicle carrying him could not enter the emergency area of the PGIMER in time for treatment, his relatives said.

They alleged that their vehicle carrying Verma from Ambala, 45 km from Chandigarh, was stopped at different gates of the institute, due to which crucial time was wasted.

‘We came near the PGIMER when the prime minister’s motorcade was entering. The road near the emergency was sealed by police and we were told to use another gate. At that gate, we were told to go to a third place and then directed to go to the original gate. This delayed our reaching the hospital and he died,’ Richa Verma, a relative, told reporters.

Sources in the PMO told IANS that security personnel could not gauge how critical Verma was as he was not travelling in an ambulance.

Verma was suffering from a major kidney ailment and had breathing trouble. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Manmohan Singh was here for the 30th convocation of the PGIMER.

However, the hospital’s security officials maintained that they did not stop any vehicle from entering the premises.

‘We did not stop any person or any vehicle from entering PGIMER. Heavy security was deployed, but our officials did not harass anybody unnecessarily,’ P.C. Sharma, PGIMER’s in-charge, told IANS Tuesday evening.

Scheme to tackle malnutrition launched in Madhya Pradesh

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, National, PoliticsTags:

Bhopal, Nov 3 – Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Tuesday launched the ‘Sanjha Chulha’ (community kitchen) scheme, which he termed a ‘revolutionary step’ towards the challenge of eradicating malnutrition.

The scheme was launched in Parwalia Sadak village in Bhopal district.

Under the scheme, Anganwadi and school children will get freshly cooked food, prepared in same place as for the mid-day meal scheme by self-help groups. The scheme will be monitored in coordination with panchayats (village councils) and the community.

Chouhan said his endeavour is to ensure that all children get education and no one is left out.

‘Earlier, these schemes were being conducted separately due to which their monitoring and quality were affected on one hand and on the other, profits were pocketed by contractors. The community kitchen scheme is being jointly implemented by the two departments (women and child welfare and the school education department), so that their benefits can be received by both mothers and children,’ he said.

The new system of combined kitchen will not only facilitate proper monitoring and improve quality, but will also provide employment to women’s self-help groups, Chouhan added.

3 more in Orissa school found to have swine flu

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

Bhubaneswar, Nov 3 – Three more students tested positive swine flu in a residential girls’ school in Orissa’s Sundergarh district, officials said Tuesday. Two girls had already been detected to be infected Sunday.

‘Four swab samples had been sent to regional medical research center. Three of them were found to be positive,’ Gopinath Mahalik, director of health, told IANS.

He, however, said that there is no need to panic.

‘There is no need to panic. We have taken every precautionary measure. A team of doctors is already stationed at the school and treating the students. We have quarantined the students to prevent the spread of any contamination,’ he added.

Samples of two students of the Jampali Government Girls High School, sent to the regional medical research centre, turned out to be positive Sunday.

The health department was concerned after it found some of the students returned to their homes after they complained of fever last Saturday.

However, the officials say that the students have been traced and undergoing treatment.

‘We have traced ninety percent of the students who had gone to their homes after they complained of fever. We are treating them too,’ Mahalik added.

416 cases of dengue in Delhi

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

New Delhi, Nov 3 – The capital recorded 19 new cases of dengue Tuesday, taking the total number of cases of the vector-borne disease in New Delhi to 416, a health department official said.

‘There were 19 new, confirmed cases of dengue Tuesday,’ Chief Medical Officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) N.K. Yadav told IANS.

In the past few months, there have been two deaths recorded due to dengue – that of a 15-year-old boy and a nine-year-old boy.

Last year till Nov 1, a total of 1,070 cases of dengue were reported.

Besides the door-to-door checks, the MCD is also fumigating several places in the capital to curb mosquito breeding.

‘We are well-prepared to handle dengue, and our domestic breeding checkers have been taking rounds of their respective areas since May,’ Yadav said.

Two swine flu deaths take India’s toll to 477

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

New Delhi, Nov 3 – Two more people succumbed to the contagious swine flu Tuesday, taking the toll in India to 477, health authorities said here.

At least 76 new cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of people affected with the virus to 14,049.

One death was reported from Maharashtra and Kerala each.

With the latest casualty, the toll in Maharashtra has gone up to 204 – the highest in the country.

In Kerala, 16 people have died.

Of the 76 new cases, 22 were reported in the national capital alone. With this the total number of people affected with the virus in the Indian capital rose to 3,488.

However, it is Maharashtra that records the highest number of people who have been tested positive for the flu. As many as 3,675 people have been detected with the virus in the state. It is the highest in the country.

New cases were also reported from Karanataka (23), Tamil Nadu (16), Maharashtra (12), Goa (2) and Kerala (1).

Upto Rs.25 lakh reward for information on spurious drug

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

New Delhi, Nov 3 – Whistle blowers who pass on information about illegal drugs will be rewarded up to Rs.25 lakh (Rs.2.5 million), the union health ministry said Tuesday.

‘The reward of maximum of up to 20 percent of the total cost of consignment seized will be payable to them (whistle blowers). The amount should not exceed Rs.25 lakh in each case,’ said a statement issued here.

The scheme will be applicable to seizure of spurious medicines, cosmetics and medical devices. The identity of the whistle blower will be kept secret, the release said.

India accounts for 35 percent of spurious drugs in the world. Some fake drugs are passed off as life-saving ones and some as antibiotics and gastroenteritis tablets.

‘With a view to ensure that the informers are not made to wait till the final disposal of the matter, 25 percent of the amount will be given at the time of filing of the charge sheet in the court of law,’ the statement said.

The policy also kept in mind the fact that informers do not turn hostile during the trail of the case. Twenty-five percent of the reward money will be given after the case goes in favour of the government.

‘The remaining 50 percent amount will be paid only when the case has been finally disposed of in favour of the government and no appeal with respect to the matter is pending in any other court of law in the country,’ it added.

Officials from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) if eligible for the cash rewards will not get more than Rs.500,000 per case and Rs.20 lakh in their entire career, the statement said.

In July this year, union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had announced a whistle blower policy to involve public to provide information on any kind of unlawful activity in manufacture of drugs.

The Indian government in August had announced that offenders will now face life imprisonment or fine of Rs.10 lakh or three times the value of the drugs confiscated, whichever is more.

The cases will be filed in special courts that will be set up for the purposes of drugs related issues.

‘Since spurious or fake drugs is a sensitive issue affecting the health of the citizens as well as the prestige of the country’s pharmaceutical trade interests, there is a sense of urgency in taking on the menace on priority basis,’ a health ministry official said Tuesday.

‘People’s participation is imperative in this regard and would be a highly effective step in augmenting the efforts of taking on the elements engaged in such illicit trade of spurious drugs,’ the official said.

Man dies during PM’s PGIMER visit, PMO asks for report

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags: ,

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Nov 3 – The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Tuesday sought a report from Chandigarh’s Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on the death of a kidney patient, who could not enter the hospital because of security measures in place for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit.

‘The PMO is saddened at the death of a patient at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research today during the visit of the prime minister. A full report has been asked for,’ said a senior official.

Sumit Prakash Verma, 32, died after the vehicle carrying him could not enter the emergency area of the PGIMER in time for treatment, his relatives said.

They alleged that their vehicle carrying Verma from Ambala, 45 km from Chandigarh, was stopped at different gates of the institute due to which crucial time was wasted.

‘We came near the PGIMER when the prime minister’s motorcade was entering. The road near the emergency was sealed by police and we were told to use another gate. At that gate we were told to go to a third place and then directed to go to the original gate. This delayed our reaching the hospital and he died,’ Richa Verma, a relative, told reporters.

Sources in the PMO told IANS that security personnel could not gauge how critical Verma was as he was not travelling in an ambulance.

Verma was suffering from a major kidney ailment and had breathing trouble. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Manmohan Singh was here for the 44th convocation of the PGIMER.

Hospital officials were not available for comment as they were busy with the prime minister’s visit.

‘Malaria in Goa linked to migrant labour’

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

Panaji, Nov 3 – Linking the rising number of malaria cases in Goa to the steady influx of migrant labourers, a senior malaria research official has said the tourist hub has a long way to go to keep the vector-borne disease in check.

Speaking to reporters in Panaji Tuesday, Ashwini Kumar, deputy director of the National Institute for Malaria Research (NIMR), said the state needed to proactively think of ways to check the influx of migrant labour into Goa.

‘Goa receives labourers from 16 or 17 states, some of which are highly endemic and malaria affected regions like Chhattisgarh, Orissa etc. Screening all of them is tough, there is also the incubation period to think of, when malarial symptoms do not show,’ Kumar said, adding Goa was reeling under the threat of malaria for several years now.

He said with so many development activities being carried out in Goa, especially the coastal belt, it was virtually impossible for the state authorities to stop migrant labourers from entering the state.

From January to June this year alone, Goa saw 2,433 cases of malaria, with a majority of the cases concentrated in the popular beach tourism hubs of Calangute and Candolim, in north Goa, which sees a large amount of construction activity all year round.

Kumar, however, said although the state government had adopted several innovative norms in an effort to keep malaria under check, a lot more needed to be done.

‘The Goa government has the unique concept of a health card, which is mandatory for all labourers – their blood samples are checked for malaria at the time of processing the card. Nearly four percent of the labourers test positive for malaria in this test,’ he said.

Kumar also said the state government had procured 20,000 insecticide-laced mosquito nets which were given to the labourers through builders, in a bid to keep the vector-borne disease under check.

Family blames PM’s security for man’s death

Published: November 3, 2009Posted in: Health, NationalTags:

Chandigarh, Nov 3 – Tight security measures for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to a premier health research institute here Tuesday cost a man his life, the victim’s family has alleged.

Sumit Prakash Verma, 32, died after the vehicle carrying him could not enter the emergency area of the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in time for treatment, his relatives said.

They alleged that their vehicle carrying Verma from Ambala, 45 km from here, was stopped at different gates of the institute due to which crucial time was wasted.

‘We came near the PGIMER when the prime minister’s motorcade was entering. The road near the emergency was sealed by police and we were told to use another gate. At that gate we were told to go to a third place and then directed to go to the original gate. This delayed our reaching the hospital and he died,’ Richa Verma, a relative, told media.

Verma was suffering from a major kidney ailment and had breathing trouble. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Manmohan Singh arrived here Tuesday morning for the 44th convocation of the PGIMER.

PGIMER officials were not available for comment as they were busy with the prime minister’s visit.

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