Indian Medicos

MCI for ban on gifts to docs by pharmaceutical company

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:21:00 +0000

Medical Council of India has written to the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for an amendment in Indian Medical Council Regulations 2002 to prohibit doctors from accepting any gift from any pharmaceutical or allied health care industry.

The move is likely to face stiff resistance from the pharma lobby as well as a section of doctors who have been benefiting from largesses showed by the pharma industry. MCI chairman Dr Ketan Desai, an Ahmedabad-based urologist, said the council has forwarded to the Centre an MCI resolution adopted on November 18 titled “Building a healthy relationship based on self-regulation between doctors and pharmaceutical and allied health sector industries and preventing unscrupulous practices by doctors.”

Source

Silver nano-particle has anti-platelet action:BHU

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:07:00 +0000

May be such an era is coming where we do not have to use aspirin or clopidogrel as an anti-platelet agent! Researchers found that silver nano-particle has anti-platelet property, they keep platelets in an inactive state.It is our pride that this research is being done at deptt. of Biochemistry,IMS-BHU.The scientists, led by Debabrata Dash, Head, Department of Biochemistry BHU, said lab testing of silver nanoparticles seemed to keep platelets in an inactive state.
"Nanosilver is already known to have antibacterial property. However, ours is the first ever discovery that nanosilver also possesses significant anti-platelet property," Dash said in an email interview.

"Low levels of the nanosilver, injected into mice, reduced the ability of platelets to clump together by as much as 40% with no apparent harmful side effects," Dash said.

Source

Its time to be united

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Junior doctors are again attacked in the Gandhi Hospital,Hyderabad on 11th June.It is very unfortunate that the death of a 28 yr old pregnant patient was followed by ransacking of the hospital and assaulting the doctors in the labour room.Even on-duty junior doctors were beaten up severely. Patient was brouht to the hopital in very critical condition & the patient party was then informed about the risks involved.Despite of the fact the attackers alleged that the woman died due to medical negligence.

Meanwhile, the medicos took up a dharna and demanded that the police invoke the ordinance and arrest the attackers.But unfortunately the police did not able to take any action against the attackers till now! The indifferent attitude of the authorities making the public more daring to attack the doctors very frequently even without any reasons.And this type of incidence is increasing all over the country.
We,the junior doctors are not united, that' why the authorities are so much indifferent to these serious matter.Its time to come-up friend,its time to be united.Unless we would n't able to save ourselves.

Is Resvervation Justified in Post-graduate Medical Education?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Reservation in Indian Constitution is a form of affirmative action whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, union and state civil services, union and state government depaerments and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the religious/ linguistic minority educational institutions, for the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the Scheduled Castes and Tribes who were inadequately represented in these services and institutions. The reservation policy is extended for the SC and STs in representing the Parliament of India, etc. The central government of India reserves 27% of higher education, Reservation in most states is capped at a maximum of 50%, but certain Indian states like Rajasthan & Tamil Nadu have proposed a 68 % reservation which ironically includes a 14% reservation for forward castes.

My topic of discussion is not "Reservation", but "Reservation in post-graduate education".The primary aim of the Reservation system in Indian constitution is to bring the under-privileged society in to the main stream of the country.Now, question rises here.

Suppose a candidate from the under-privileged area of our society becomes a doctor/engineer through the help of this reservation system.It is very good upto this point.But when he/she becomes a doctor/engineer how can he/she counted as back-ward then?

The falacy of this system is that even after being a doctor/engineer a candidate is still counted as backward.After being a doctor/engineer all candidates are in same situation both economically & socially.Then if some candidates gets advantage in future studies is it not unfair?

India's first stemcell transplant for traumatic brain injury

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

We are not lagging behind from the mainstream of medical science today.A 27-year old woman, suffering from severe disability for the past one year following an accident, has succesfully underwent brain stemcell transplant surgery, the first such case in the country, doctors at a superspeciality hospital here claimed today. A team of Neurosurgeons led by Dr N K Venkataramana, Chief Neurosurgeon and Vice-Chairman, BGS Global Hospitals, carried out the complex surgery on Madhu Mallika who sustained the severe brain injury in an accident last year.

"The patient was suffering from altered sensorium, severe cognitive dysfunction and lack of movement in limbs. Following the surgery, she has now regained full consciousness, memory, communication abilities and purposive movements in limbs," Venkataramana told reporters here.

The patient was admitted in an unconscious state with severe injury and on first examination doctors gave her only 20 per cent chances for survival, he claimed. "It was perplexing that the woman did not show any improvement despite all available treatment in the last one year and ultimately the possibility of stemcell therapy was considered after discussions with her family and it proved successful," Chief Neurosurgeon said.

"This is an eye opener that there is a possibility of reactivating brain cells following injury with very gratifying clinical results. To our knowledge such attempts were made only in China. This is the first attempt in the country and India is the second country in the world to use such therapy," he said.

Source

Donations in medical education kills merit

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:30:00 +0000

For the last couple of days, the headlines of the many leading daily's of the country was occupied by a news "officials of two leading medical colleges demanding Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh for an MBBS seat."
The investigation exposes how Chennai-based colleges violate an SC order and state legislation banning capitation fee. Officials of Sri Ramachandra University (SRU) and Shree Balaji Medical College and Hospital were caught on camera demanding donations from a student who cleared his Class XII exams this year.
This is the situation of medical education in India now-a-day.Government are reluctant to open new medical colleges despite of the fact that the county needs more specialized doctors to strengthen its health system.So many private institutions are coming up to provide medical education.These institutions are demanding capitation moneys from the students to be admitted there.The situation is worse in post-graduate medical education.
The main reason for such high rates is the dearth of seats for PG programmes. The average ratio of undergraduate (MBBS) seats to those for post-graduate is 100:29. In effect, nearly 32,000 doctors graduate from medical schools across the country every year, and the number of PG seats available to them is roughly one-third of the requirement.
Only a fraction of PG seats in India, i.e the seats in govt. colleges are filled up on the basis of merit.Rests are on the basis of money!The ultimate sufferer are the patients & the nation itself.Side-by-side a huge number of meritorious but poor students are deprived from the education.

Doctor severely beaten up by furious mob

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Another unfortunate incident of harassment of a doctor in Srirampur Wallce Hospital came from WB.A pediatrician named, Dr.Sujoy Saha was severely beaten by furious mob in Srirampur on 3rd June.
The mob alleged,there was a negligence on the part of the doctors, due to which a post-cesarean patient,Rita Pradhan(24), died on 2nd June.It is very unfortunate that the people beaten up a pediatrician inside the ward for this incident.There was also indulge from a political party in this event.

Stipend of the Junior doctors in West Bengal has been increased

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:32:00 +0000

After a period of two months doubts & anxiety, ultimately stipend of the Junior doctors has been increased in West Bengal according to the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission.It has been made Rs. 12180/-p.m for the internees & Rs.19700/- p.m for the first year PGTs & house-staffs. Senior PGTs are also getting more.
But are the Juniors doctors getting what they deserve? Yes, internees are getting what they should get.But what about the PGTs?Are they still not under-paid? It is a clear fact beyond doubt that the PGTs run the teaching hospitals in WB. They take a very major part in patient care activity of these hospitals.Doing a same kind of job, a junior doctor in Delhi is paid around 45 K p.m ! Even a DNB PGT in Railway Hospitals is also getting around 40K p.m.
More over PGTs in WB are not paid house-rent.And there is a severe scarcity of hostel accomodation in all colleges.Lots of them have to stay outside the hospital campus.

The apex court ticks of doctors for medical negligence cases

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:31:00 +0000

The Supreme Court on Friday ticked off doctors for increasing number of medical negligence cases being reported in the country."Doctors can today do anything. They can leave behind a forcep or a scissor inside a patient's stomach and get away with it."Six months down the line when the patient develops pain and comes back, then you would discover the scissor left behind in the stomach and then remove it," a vacation bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Deepak Verma remarked.
The bench made the remarks while issuing notice to Pintoo Kumar, a victim, on the petition filed by Dr Mahendra Prasad, a doctor who was slapped with a compensation of Rs 4 lakhs by the Bihar State Consumer Commission in a case of alleged medical negligence.Mr. Kumar had alleged Prasad, a private medical practioner at the Neha Nursing Home, Buxar who had performed an operation on September 16, 2004, to set right a fracture in his right leg, left behind a screw in the operated portion. The alleged negligence resulted in the patient developing "callus formation" warranting another surgery at the Apollo hospital.
According to the victim, Dr. Prasad was not an orthopaedic surgeon but an MBBS with M.D (patho) and yet peformed the operation.
Read the original article

Applicant told to compensate "framed" doctor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:42:00 +0000

More than 10 years after an applicatnt alleged against a doctor in court, alleging medical negligence on losing her son, a 97-year-old Mumbai resident not only lost the case but was also ordered to compensate the doctor.
The Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, while dismissing a case of negligence against Dr Anil Pinto and the trustees of Holy Family Hospital, recently ordered Irene Pais, the aged mother of the alleged victim, to pay the doctor Rs 5,000 as costs for the legal battle. Alfred Pais, her 67-yearold son, had died within 10 days of surgery to remove his gall bladder in 1997.
The state commission told “at the very outset we would like to mention that reckless and groundless charges of medical negligence against surgeons are on the rise”. Commission president Justice B B Vagyani and members P N Kashalkar and S P Lale said in their order that relatives sometimes make allegations against operating surgeons under a wrong impression. “It is very easy to make these allegations but very difficult to prove the serious charge,” the commission said, referring to the recent Supreme Court verdict which warned police not to go about arresting doctors without proper evidence. The SC had held that a doctor should be issued a notice only after an expert committee makes out a prima facie case of medical negligence, and that a doctor “can’t be blamed simply because the patient did not respond favourably to treatment”. The hearing of the Pais case, which was filed in 1998, was completed last June. Ten months and the recent SC verdict later, the state commission delivered its judgment, holding that Pais had no cogent evidence of negligence by Dr Pinto or the hospital. “She made up her mind on her own notions of medical negligence and twisted facts,” the commission said. Pais had alleged that her son underwent surgery without being put on a course of antibiotics to prevent infection. He had jaundice before the operation, developed an infection soon after surgery, and died within ten days after developing septicaemia.
Courtsey: Times of India

Warning picture on tobacco products from 31st May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Now it is the time to quit smoking! Smokers may think twice before lighting up from Sunday. All the harmful health effects of tobacco like cancer & death, deformity and sterility would be highlighted in the form of pictorial warnings on tobacco products starting Sunday, May 31 2009.Starting May 31, the World No Day, all tobacco products will carry graphic pictorial warnings like the skull and cross bones or a cancer-disfigured face or diseased lungs to highlight the hazards of tobacco intake.
The pictorial warning would occupy 40 percent of the space on the front of all packets of tobacco products.

"According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India records about 800,000 tobacco deaths every year or 2,200 deaths a day. The pictorial warnings are a big breakthrough. They will help in sensitising people about tobacco hazards and new tobacco consumers will think twice before taking these products," Bhavna Mukhopadhaya of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) said.

In India, over half of men (57 percent) in the age group of 15-49 years use tobacco in some form and over a tenth (10.9 percent) of women in this age group also use tobacco, according to a National Family Health Survey conducted in 2005-06.

Azad vows to respect autonomy of institutions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:16:00 +0000

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's promise to put the autonomy of the country's premier institutes over self may act as the much needed balm for a deeply divided AIIMS.

After taking over as health minister, Azad made it clear that "individuals will come and go but the supremacy of autonomous institutions should not be diluted" and must be allowed to function in its own area of expertise.

"I am interested in strengthening institutions. We should not allow anybody to dilute the supremacy of institutions, whether it is AIIMS or the health ministry. AIIMS is a premium institute and we should not lower its image," Azad said.

AIIMS, not so long ago, had witnessed a bitter turf war between former health minister A Ramadoss and former director of the institute Dr P Venugopal after the cardiac surgeon complained of interference in the functioning of the institute by the minister.

Read the full article

Doctors perform bypass surgery on 20-month-old boy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 May 2009 05:33:00 +0000

Stawan Bijal Shah is now likely to live a normal life after undergoing coronary artery bypass for a rare heart disease in a Delhi hospital, with the 20-month-old possibly becoming the youngest patient in the world to undergo this surgery, doctors said.

Shah underwent a coronary artery bypass surgery on Monday after he was found to be suffering from the Kawasaki disease, which damaged his heart. He is now recuperating in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Batra Hospital here where doctors believe that Stawan is the youngest child in the world to undergo such surgery.

Read the full article

Post Graduate Medical Degrees from UK, US and Canada Recognised in India

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:47:00 +0000

Union Health Minister of India Anbumani Ramadoss has said that Union Government of India has taken a unilateral decision to recognise postgraduate degrees in medicine obtained from foreign institutes in UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand. This would mean that Indian doctors who have obtained their postgraduate qualifications from these countries would be able to legally practice in India as a specialist in their areas of post graduate qualification.

This is a welcome move from Indian government as the demand for the recognition of such qualifications has been a long standing demand of Indian medical diaspora.

The Health Minister clarified that this decision doesn't come under the purview of Indian Medical Council (IMC). However he indicated that the decision would be informed to IMC.

"In fact this unilateral decision of the union government to recognize foreign degrees in medicine would help thousand of Indian doctors in UK who are out of job because of recent changes in the recruitment of foreign doctors," Ramdoss said. Anbumani Ramadoss is the Cabinet Minister in India in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He was elected to the Parliament as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2004.

Are Junior doctors being made soft target in West Bengal?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:27:00 +0000

There was a news about death of a three months old child in RG Kar Medica College on 24th Mays news paper.The child expired in the deptt. of Pediatrics in that hospital on 23rd May.Relatives of the deceased showed agitation in the hospital,they also alleged that the death of the child was due to negligence, as stated in the news paper.They again said that they were told to bring blood for the child on 22d May,they did it accordingly,but doctors did not transfused the blood and the patient died.

As usual the College officials made a inquiry to this matter.In today's Ananda Bazar Patrika the results of the inquiry came out.And one House staff & two PGTs were held responsible for this event.The college officials held them responsible for not transfusing the blood. The Principal,RG Kar Medical College also said that the College Council will decide about the punishment of the acused.

My question is why only the Juniors are held responsible?Why the Visiting Physicians & RMOs won't be responsible?Is it just the duty of the junior doctors to run the hospital?