No superbug hazard - Health ministry of India |  |
- No superbug hazard - Health ministry of India
- Advisory board on pre-natal tests re-jigged
- Mentally-ill girl in chains for 17 years
- Effects of a large reduction in alcohol prices on mortality in Finland
- Superbug does not pose risk: Health ministry
- Superbug doesn't pose health risk: Ministry
- India faces manpower crunch in post-disaster situations
- Review ban on Japanese food imports: foreign ministry
| No superbug hazard - Health ministry of India Posted: 11 Apr 2011 05:14 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) There is no major health threat by the presence of a multi-drug resistant bacteria in Delhi's environment, the union health ministry said Monday, even as a prestigious medical journal accused the Indian government of 'suppressing the truth' about the presence of the superbug. 'We have rejected it and we still reject it,' Director General Health Service R. K. Srivastava told IANS. However, he said that a final statement can be made only after the research wing of the health ministry - completes its study. 'The research wing will examine every thing, the protocol and the method of research, all will be examined and only after that, a final statement can be given by the concerned authorities,' he said. Days after health ministry rejected the study on the presence of the superbug in Delhi's environment, published in British journal The Lancet, study co-author Mark Toleman accused the government of India of 'suppressing the truth'. The study, published last week, said the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase - gene, which makes bacteria resistant to an array of antibiotics, including the most powerful ones, has been found in open water pools, water from overflowing sewage and even a couple of drinking water samples in the Indian capital. The health ministry, however, said such bacteria existed all over the world and the study was targeting India. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also reiterated Monday that water in the city was safe for drinking and there was nothing to panic about. 'Please don't spread panic when there is no panic. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi - has been saying and I think Delhi Jal Board - has said that this is not so and water is safe for drinking,' Dikshit told reporters here. DJB CEO Ramesh Negi said the water quality in the city meets the official standards. 'We are testing the water as per the Bureau of India Standard - standard and we are following it. Delhi's water is safe for drinking and... http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Advisory board on pre-natal tests re-jigged Posted: 09 Apr 2011 08:33 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 9 - After the preliminary Census 2011 report presented a skewed child-sex ratio in India, the government Saturday reconstituted the supervisory board on pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques, tasked with curbing their misuse for female foeticide. The reconstituted board will have Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad as its chairman and Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath as the co-chair, a health ministry official said. Health Secretary K. Chandramouli will be the vice-chairman. The 35-member board will have two geneticists, gynaecologists and obstetricians, paediatricians, social scientists and representatives of women welfare organisations each, three woman MPs, and also four members from states and union territories on rotational basis. The three women MPs will be Prabha Kishor Taviad and Poonamben Veljibhai Jat from the Lok Sabha and Mabel Rebello from the Rajya Sabha. Among its main functions, the board will advise the central government on policy matters relating to use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques, sex selection techniques and against their misuse. It will review and monitor implementation of the Act and rules made under it. 'It will recommend the government changes required in the act and rules and also how to spread public awareness against female foeticide and infanticide,' an official said. 'It will also look after the effective implementation of laws,' he added. According to 2011 census, child sex ratio - declined to reach an all time low of 914 - down from a ratio of 927 in the 2001 census. The first meeting of the reconstituted board is likely to be held in the last week of May. Prior to that, a review meeting of state health secretaries has been scheduled on April 20 for an in-depth review of the implementation of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act - - which bans the use of sex selection techniques before or... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Mentally-ill girl in chains for 17 years Posted: 08 Apr 2011 03:45 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sirohi -, April 8 - Unable to pay for her treatment and getting no assistance from the government, the family of a mentally-ill girl in Rajasthan's Sirohi district has kept her tied in chains for more than 17 years now. Basanti, 20, a resident of Mandar village in the district, over 400 km from Jaipur, developed the illness in childhood when she suffered a mental trauma after she heard and saw lightening in the sky and since then she has been kept under restraint. Shanti Devi, distraught mother of Basanti, told IANS that she did not move for months after the shock and when she came out of the near-coma situation, she kept shouting and throwing things at people. 'She doesn't sleep for many nights and keeps us awake as well by shouting. The neighbours keep complaining about her. So we decided to keep her in iron chains,' said Shanti Devi. The real trouble for the family began when Basanti's father died after a prolonged illness two-and-a-half years ago. 'Whatever money we had was spent to keep her father Kishanram alive. Now, we are completely bankrupt. I had to send my 12-year-old son to Pune in Maharashtra for work. He was dropped out of school after Class 6,' Shanti Devi said. 'After the savings dried up in my husband's treatment, I cannot even think of getting cure for Basanti. My earnings by working as domestic help at households are not enough even for our survival, leave aside treatment,' she added. Shanti Devi said she has four daughters, of them, Basanti is youngest. 'The other three have been married, but no future is in sight for Basanti,' she said. She added that they have failed to get any assistance from the government so far. 'I have approached many administration officials, but nobody has so far come forward for help. I get assurances only. I have requested for a handicap certificate so that we can avail financial help, but that too has been denied,' Shanti Devi said. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Effects of a large reduction in alcohol prices on mortality in Finland Posted: 08 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Does a reduction in the price of alcohol result in an increase in deaths due to alcohol? This was the subject of a study following a significant reduction in taxes in Finland in 2004 (30% for spirits, 3% for wine).The abolition of import quotas by the EU in 2004 also made it possible to import from other member countries and this led to an increase of approximately 10% in alcohol consumption in Finland. This paper is particularly interesting as it not only reports the effects of reducing costs of alcohol on alcohol-related mortality, but it also reports the effects of such changes on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. The authors assessed the impact of a reduction in alcohol prices by analysing the monthly aggregations of deaths for the period 1996-2006. Key results of paper: The key results of the analyses were that for subjects over the age of 50 years, the decrease in the cost of alcohol was associated with an increase in rates of alcohol-related mortality. For men aged 40-49 years and men and women aged 50-69 years, these increases in risk estimated 1.6 to 2.9 additional monthly deaths per 100,000 person-years. On the other hand, the trend was very different for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality rates. For men and women aged 40-49 years and those >69 years, there were clear decreases in mortality from cardiovascular disease, with estimated 19 fewer monthly deaths per 100,000 person-years for men and 25 for women. For ischemic heart disease deaths among subjects >69 years of age, many fewer deaths were estimated. These effects were not different when the investigators included numbers of coronary operations as a control series in the models. For all-cause mortality, the estimates implied 42 and 69 fewer monthly deaths in the oldest group. The lower all-cause mortality rates relate not only to decreases in CVD deaths but to fewer deaths from pulmonary disease, dementia, and diabetes; there were no changes... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Superbug does not pose risk: Health ministry Posted: 07 Apr 2011 11:10 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 7 - The Indian health ministry Thursday denied superbug NDM-1 posed any public health threat to Delhi's environment, as a study published by a British medical journal has alleged. 'The environmental presence of NDM-1 gene carrying bacteria is not a significant finding since there is no clinical or epidemiological linkage of this finding in the study area,' V.M. Katoch, director of the Indian Council of Medical Research, told reporters. The Lancet journal Wednesday said that NDM-1, a bacteria with multidrug resistant gene, was found in sewage and drinking water samples in a study done in the city. 'The bacteria is one of the millions present in environment. They develop multidrug resistance capacity because they have to survive in their environment. Such bacteria are found all over the world and it poses no great health risk,' Katoch said. The Lancet said the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase - gene, which makes bacteria resistant to an array of antibiotics including the most powerful ones, has been found in open water pools, water from overflowing sewage and even a couple of drinking water samples. Katoch, along with Director General of Health Services R.K. Srivastava, said the study was not a scientific one but targetted India with 'other motive'. 'The issue is very simple, some people are trying to turn the heat on India. If you do it scientifically, you will take it on a global scale rather than targeting a particular region,' Katoch said, refusing to state what the motive maybe. 'I am not in position to say what the motive may be,' he said. The officials highlighted a study at Sir Gangaram Hospital which studied over 2,000 pregnant women over a period of two years for presence of multidrug resistant bacteria and none of the samples was found positive. 'In the same area - the study carried out by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital tested for multidrug resistant strains of Esch.coli but it did not show any... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Superbug doesn't pose health risk: Ministry Posted: 07 Apr 2011 07:43 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 7 - The health ministry Thursday said the environmental presence of superbug NDM-1 gene in Delhi does not pose a public health risk. 'The environmental presence of NDM-1 gene carrying bacteria is not a significant finding since there is no clinical or epidemiological linkage of this finding in the study area,' V.M. Katoch, director of the Indian Council of Medical Research, told reporters. 'Targetting a specific geographical region is totally unscientific as such bacteria is present all over the world,' he added. A study published in British Journal Lancet reported that the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase - 1 gene, which makes bacteria resistant to an array of antibiotics, including the most powerful ones, has been found in open water pools, water from overflowing sewage and even a couple of drinking water samples. The NDM-1 is an antibiotic resistant gene which makes microbes resistant to strongest antibiotics. According to the study, the water samples in which the superbug gene was found come from water supplies which people use for drinking, washing and food preparation. The most significant finding is the presence of this gene in bacteria Shigella boydii and Vibrio cholerae which that cause dysentery and cholera respectively. This could make these bacteria drug resistant and render these diseases untreatable with available drugs. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| India faces manpower crunch in post-disaster situations Posted: 07 Apr 2011 06:37 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 7 - India is least prepared to deal with psycho-social and mental health problems that arise in the aftermath of a natural disaster because of manpower shortage, the National Disaster Management Authority - officials said here Thursday. 'India faces a shortage of manpower in dealing with psycho-social problems that arise after disasters,' NDMA vice-chairman Shashidhar Reddy said at the national workshop on psycho-social support and mental health services during disasters. Noting that there is a 'disconnect' between planning and implementation of the policies related to disaster management in the country, Reddy said: 'It has something to do with the mindsets. We need to evolve a system to deal with it.' The NDMA issued guidelines on Psycho-Social Support on Mental Health Services in Disasters - in December 2009 which set a timeline of eight years to make India self-reliant in meeting all post-disaster psychological needs of the victims. 'However, nothing much could be done in the past one year, 'Reddy added. 'There has been a complete lack of established institutional mechanism for planning and implementation of PSSMHS activities,' NDMA Secretary Noor Mohammad said. 'The potential of the district mental health programme for providing PSSMHS needs to be reviewed carefully and an integration of district mental health programmes with primary health centres needs to be attempted,' he added. For every one lakh people in the world, there are 1.2 psychiatrists. However, for India the figure is 0.2. The average number of social workers globally is 0.4 and in India it is 0.03 per one lakh people. Experts called for developing a multi-layered approach as people are affected in different ways and require different kind of supports. 'Japan has shown the need for an effective programme. There is a need to plan and adopt an integrated and intersectoral approach to address immediate and long term needs in this field,'... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Review ban on Japanese food imports: foreign ministry Posted: 07 Apr 2011 05:08 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 7 - The external affairs ministry wants a review of the health ministry's decision to suspend for three months food imports from Japan due to radiation hazards from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, in a tweet, said she had already taken up the three-month import ban on food items from Japan with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India -. 'Have taken it up with food safety and urged review of advisory -,' Rao said in the tweet. She also noted that since the quantity of food imports from Japan was small and since there was no formal notification, this advisory from the health ministry could be withdrawn. 'Quantity imported small. No notification...so not set in stone -,' she said. India Tuesday suspended food imports from Japan for three months or until concerns remain in the wake of radiation hazards arising from the Fukushima nuclear plant following a deadly earthquake and tsunami March 11. 'Import of food articles coming from Japan stand suspended with immediate effect for three months or till such time as credible information is available that the radiation hazard has subsided to acceptable limits,' the health ministry advisory had said, promising to hold weekly reviews by the FSSAI. The advisory followed a review of the situation arising out of radioactive incidents in nuclear power plants in Japan and possible contamination of Japanese food imported into India. India decided March 15 to test all food items coming into India from Japan for radiation. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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