The preliminary probe conducted by Dr. Showkat Zargar, director of the prestigious Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura (SKIMS) found that the hospital lacked in ‘capacity on many fronts.’

M.K.Dwivedi, Commissioner-Secretary of Health and Medical Education told that as an administrative measure, the medical superintendent of GB Pant Hospital have been transferred to medical education department.

It is confirmed by several sources that there had been 68 children’s deaths in the hospital in January, 66 in February, 105 in March, 85 in April and 44 up to May 15 totally to 368 deaths since January.

The Government of Jammu and Kashmir ordered the investigation into the matter following the protest made at Srinagar over the alarming number of infant deaths occurred at the hospital.

Rashid, an independent MLA from north Kashmir’s Langate constituency led the protest outside the GB Pant Hospital, raised slogans against the hospital administration and urged Chief Minister to intervene in finding the cause of the alarming children death at the hospital.

Rashid said that the hospital having 1,700 patients is just having only three ventilators.

“It demonstrates negligence on the part of doctors and the government and it is grave concern for all of us,” Rashid said.

“The government should take stern action against all doctors for their negligence of duties” Rashid said.

He added that he is going to lodge FIR on Friday against the doctors in connection with the deaths. “It is nothing short of a mass murder,” he pointed out.

“Either close this hospital or ensure better treatment to the patients,” he said.

R.S Chib had said that 35 newborn death at the hospital in the last fortnight is true and we are examining the true reasons behind it and we will find the corrective action to save the life of the precious newborns.

However, the minister opined that it would be premature to blame the doctors for the deaths. “Some of the children died of encephalitis, where the normal mortality rate is 98 per cent,” Chib told reporters after visiting the hospital on Wednesday.

“The investigating team containing specialist will probe and submit their findings of negligence on the part of the doctors within a week and we will take stern action against doctors on their recommendations,” said Chib.

Chib said that the GB Pant hospital is already having 62 doctors and due to heavy rush, the government is already processing to engage more para-medicos, with upgrading the medical equipments to provide necessary health care.

He added that GB Pant hospital is the only referral pediatric hospital available in the valley and parts of Jammu and Ladakh region.

According to WHO’s finding that Canada and United States are in the lowest risk category, affected by less than 20 percent of adults, whereas WHO estimates the figure to 50 percent.

Previously the wealthier countries were associated with chronic diseases due to increased life expectancy and the condition is now affecting the lower income or undeveloped countries.

“We are being successful in reducing the impact of infectious diseases and child mortality is coming down — that means more people are surviving to advanced ages when non-communicable diseases develop,” said Colin Mathers, coordinator of the WHO’s mortality and burden of disease unit

Mathers expressed the views that people living longer are more prone to chronic diseases and he pointed out that both obesity and smoking are the two culprits play the role in increasing the risk factors in undeveloped countries.

However, he explained that growing countries reduce the risk rate by improved income and calories.

He blamed the fast spread of fast food, salt added and processed are the reasons behind the cardiovascular and cancer risks.

It is the fact that Australia, the developed nation had its peak heart problems during 1960 and 1970 where people diagnosed and given treatment and such treatments are not available at African countries. Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique are the countries that are mostly affected with high blood pressure by having 50.3, nearly 44.5 and 46.3 percent respectively.

The WHO world health statistics, on Wednesday for the first time released the raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose level conditions associated with diabetes.

WHO director general Margaret Chan said that the present report is the further evidence that provides information that low and middle income group of countries are under threat of increased risk conditions for heart and other chronic illness.

The WHO said deaths in children aged under five years dropped from almost 10 million in 2000 to 7.6 million a decade later, with the decline in deaths from measles and diarrhoea-related disease “particularly striking.”

The World Health Assembly which is the decision making body of the WHO is going to meet in Geneva from May 21-26 to fix new targets on cutting down the cases of heart and lung diseases, diabetes and cancer.

The day is to mark and watch the constant improvement and raise continued urgent need for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. HIV/AIDS advocates, on May 18, express their hearty thanks to every volunteers, health professionals, supporters and scientists for their joint work to find out a safe and effective AIDS vaccine. They also call all of them every year on May 18 to investigate new technologies to find out a solution to prevent HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The then U.S President Bill Clinton made his speech on May 18, 1997 in which he called and wished the world to find out a solution for prevention of HIV using new technologies and thereby to prepare a vaccine within the next decade and stated, “Only a truly effective, preventive HIV vaccine can limit and eventually eliminate the threat of AIDS.”

Hence, May 18 is marked as International AIDS vaccine day to mark Bill Clinton’s first challenge against the disease AIDS and since then the day is observed as International AIDS vaccine day.

Every year on May 18, World health activists raise awareness for the need of an effective AIDS vaccine to fight and prevent AIDS pandemic and save lives.

Paramedics arrived Purdy home March 20 and saw that Margaret was simply sitting in a chair at her home with a plastic bag was over her head tightly tied at the neck.

A suicide note about her death and dying was found written by Margaret herself was placed in the folder on her desk. The suicide not written by her illustrated the unbearable pain caused her to kill her by herself.

Alan Purdy himself told paramedics that her 84 year old wife had taken about 300 sleeping tablets mixed with applesauce and then suffocated herself.

It is stated that Margaret had donated all of her body parts to UC San Diego Medical Centre to take the necessary organs from her as soon as possible.

Sheriff’s deputies enquired Purdy about the death of Margaret and he repeated the same what he told medics and admitted himself that his wife committed suicide in front of him and he did nothing to stop her from suicide.

After several hours, he was taken to the San Diego County jail in Vista and booked on suspicion of assisting in a suicide.

At Purdy’s arraignment March 28, prosecutors told the judge that the case was under review. San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis has not yet decided whether to file a criminal charge against Purdy.

Yes, I sat beside her as she died and added that he did not want her to feel abandoned – said Purdy in a statement.
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Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) studied lab rats for six weeks in two groups to find out the reaction of sugar in brain.

One group of rats were fed with high-fructose corn syrup and water for six weeks and whereas the other group were given with omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for the same period of six weeks.

All rats of two groups were enrolled for a five day training session in a complicated maze before undergoing the trial.

After six weeks, the rats fed with sugar solution were placed back in the maze.

“The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The brain cells in rats deprived of DHA were found disrupted in signaling each other and it affected the ability of rats’ brain in thinking and recalling to find out the route they have already learned in the maze six weeks earlier.

The study also illustrated that DHA deprived rats have shown insulin resistance, a hormone that controls blood sugar level and regulates brain function.

“Because insulin can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss,” Gomez-Pinilla said.

Gomez-Pinilla said that their present study is unique and new by saying that insulin plays two rolls simultaneously in controlling blood sugar and also do the harm to brain and disturb memory and learning.

The researchers said that their study provides some evidence that metabolic syndrome can affect the mind as well as the body.

.”Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Gomez-Pinilla.

“Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimise the damage.”

The study appeared in the Journal of Physiology.

The court said that love and affection between the donor and recipient held top priority in such cases and a request made by the recipient could not be turned down for the mere reasons that a family member had not stepped forward for donation of organ.

While observing the petition and plea of Parveen Begum, Justice Vipin Sanghi, settled the case in favour of Begum who is in urgent need of organ.

The case came to high court since the authorization committee of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital refused approval for donation of organ and her case was in news and was reported by Newline April 24 when she approached lower court for redress.

The high court on its ruling said that authorization committee could reject donations in the cases of organ donations only when there is sufficient evidence and materials for commercial transactions involved in such donations.

An argument made by the committee saying that a distant relative would not come forward to donate organ willingly and such donations gives room for suspicion would not be sufficient to reject the organ donation approval- the court observed. Or the authorization committee is not entitled to compel the donor to donate the organ to a distant relative, the court said.

The committee could reject a petition to receive organ donation only when there is sufficient material evidence for involvement of commercial elements.

“The Act (regulating organ transplant) recognizes two of the greatest human virtues of love and sacrifice and also the fact that such intense love and affection need not necessarily be felt for one’s own blood or spouse but could also extend to those not so closely related, or for those not related at all,” the court observed.

While going in depth, the court gave its meaning for distant relative, said that a sense of love, gratitude and love is enough to establish further and provided the moral drive or impetus to donate one’s organ. Any expected financial help in future by the recipient would not account to come to a conclusion that a monetary deal was struck between both recipient and donor at the time of donation.

The court examined thoroughly with the records of the committee and found feebleness in the decision made by committee and said mere existence of disparity in the income of the donor and the recipient could not have been a reason to reject the plea.

The court saw the family photos taken before 30 years and relied upon them to prove the relationship between the donor and recipient.

The court heard the statement of the donating niece in which she said that the recipient family had helped her in many ways which includes money when they were in poverty and the eventual feeling, out of gratitude, now want to donate one of the kidneys.

The court observed that Begum was in need of one kidney since June 2011 and she petitioned the committee for approval during August 2011 and since then her health condition of Begum has really been deteriorated.

While coming to conclusion, Justice Vipin Sanghi agreed the contentions made by Begum’s lawyer Vikas Pahwa and quashed the arguments made by authorization committee and ordered the committee to give Begum formal approval for the donation in two days.

The functioning of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation’s (CDSCO) is governed by Pariliamentary standard committee on health and family welfare and doing so, found some doctors including top ones have sent identical letters to the manufacturers on certain drugs., that it is to say the letters have been written by a common philosophy while the doctors just signed them. This identical letters are being received by the manufacturers from several parts of the country.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) is expected to probe into the issue and Dr.KK.Talwar said that the actions on the doctors would be taken on the basis of the evidence found against them, on the gravity level of the allegations and recommendations of the committee.

MCI is expected to ask the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to list out the names of all the doctors involved in the supposed scam.

According to DNA report, three experts Dr. Randeep Guleria, of AIIMS, Dr.Satish Laholi, KBN medical college, Karnataka and Dr. Appoorva Mukherjee, RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata working in different regions of India had written the identical letters of recommendation for the drug Clevudine.

According to the committee, the three doctors sitting in various places of the country, had written identical letters using identical words of recommendation.

These are the adequate documentary evidence that had been written by manufacturer itself and getting the signature only from the top doctors.

All the letters were sent to DCGI by the manufacturers itself requesting for their permission to market the drug without conducting mandatory clinical trials in India-committee said.

The committee said such identical letters were given by seven leading doctors to a manufacturer giving their recommendation which were also found identical by word by word though the drug was already banned in several other countries.

. “No wonder that many experts gave letters of recommendation in identical language apparently drafted by the interested drug manufacturer,” the committee noted.

Dr. Kalpana Ernest when responding a such allegation on her said and denied the allegations and said it was not done with the motive of malpractice and added, “I do not remember the contents of the letter as this happened in 2007,” Dr Ernest added.

Dr.Mani, in the case of ‘doxofylline’ that an opinion on generic drug cannot mean endorsing it and he did not know by generic name which company is going to manufacture it.

“If such observations are made against doctors then no one will come forward to give their advice and honest opinion.” Dr. Mani said.

He underwent surgery at Lilavati hospital on February 12. The surgery to bring him to life took 13 hours which involved a complete reconstruction of the affected aortic vessels.

After surgery, Savio developed blisters on his left leg below the knee and unable even to walk and undergone 12 graft surgeries to heal the wound on his leg.

However doctors said that Freitas reported sores are called ‘pressure sores’ is common in patients who underwent such a long procedure and it is seen in almost 10 to 12 percent of the patients underwent aortic reconstruction surgeries and explained that such surgeries deprives body to get circulation and reduces body temperature during the procedure.

“We are considering filing a consumer court complaint,” Mr Freitas’ wife Preeti said.

“We were already tense due to the three days’ delay in surgery. Post surgery, we were shocked to see the burnt left leg, the blisters in the right leg and damaged nerve,” said Preeti, Savio’s wife.

“After the operation, I was unable to walk properly or sleep, and was in deep pain due to the leg burning,” recalled Savio.

. “In such surgeries, blood supply reduces, which can cause pressure sores. It cannot be construed as medical negligence,” said Dr Suresh Rao.

When DNA contacted the official spokesperson of Lilavati Hospital, Mohan Rajan, he said he would look into the issue and get back. But when he was contacted later, he refused to take the calls.

Thomson’s stepping down decision reportedly was being taken by him due to his reported ill health of having thyroid cancer.

The Wall Street Journal reportedly said that Thomson has started treatment for his thyroid cancer and did not want his illness made public.

The unnamed sources in the Journal’s report did not go into further details about what kind of thyroid cancer Thompson may have.

According to people familiar with the matter, the 54 year old disclosed the fact of his disease to the company’s director and several colleagues last week.

However, there is no any confirmed statement has been released so far either about the reason behind his resignation or about his thyroid cancer.

It is to be mentioned, that rare form of thyroid cancer is life threatening one and other types of thyroid cancer is treatable if diagnosed in the early stages-according to thyroid cancer experts.

The people who came to the mosque for worshiping on Monday heard cries of a baby, searched in the direction of cry and found a baby girl abandoned wrapped in a lungi.

The police who arrived the spot, took her to the Kayamkulam taluk hospital, and shifted her to the ambulance and they produced the child before the District Child Welfare Committee.

On admission of the baby in WCH by DCWC, the doctors took care of her and told that the baby girl will take another two to three days to get well.