All about Holi colours, Harms, Removal and Prevention

We all love playing with Holi colours, but do they leave any harmful side-effects?

With the festival of colours just around the corner, we are all bound to be excited about having fun with family and friends.

However, as Holi is played with lots of colours, it’s important to keep safety in mind and take proper care to control the damaging effects of colours.

HOLI COLOURS

The market is flooded with a variety of colours – paste, dry and watercolours. Rather, industrial dyes being cheap and bright are widely used to make them. However, these can have detrimental effects on humans as they were never meant for playing Holi.

Metallic pastes: These pastes are used for a silver, golden and/or black effect. While it’s a very popular practice in youngsters, the use of metallic pastes during Holi is highly discouraged in view of the harmful effects.

Dry colours: Commonly called as gulaal, dry colours are a mix of toxic heavy metals like lead, chromium, cadmium, copper, mercury, nickel, and asbestos.

Water Colours: These colours commonly use gentian violet dye as colourant. Gentian violet is a hazardous chemical that can cause many serious health problems. The water colours used in Holi fare no better.

Harmful effects of colours

All these are known to cause skin allergies, dermatitis and a host of other issues including problems with the scalp.

Metallic pastes- These colours can cause eye allergies, blindness, skin irritation, skin cancers, and even kidney failure.

The colored powders used during Holi can cause various respiratory problems when inhaled. This can lead to conditions such as bronchitis, asthma, and allergies.

Being exposed to these colors can cause irritation and inflammation of the eyes, nose, and throat, and can also trigger asthma attacks in people with pre-existing respiratory conditions.

Long-term exposure to these chemicals can lead to chronic respiratory problems such as bronchitis, emphysema, and lung cancer.

Other problems include conjunctivitis and hair loss.

Additionally, the colours, if inhaled can irritate the delicate tissues in the nose and throat, causing inflammation and discomfort.

If Holi is played out in the sun, it can further damage the skin, causing depletion of moisture and sun tan, leaving your skin dry and dull.

HOW TO PREVENT THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF HOLI COLORS?

To apply sunscreen 20 minutes before going out in the sun. Make sure to use sunscreen for SPF 30 and above. Most sunscreens have built-in moisturizers. For the hair, apply a hair serum or leave-in conditioner. Alternatively, you can use pure coconut oil and massage it lightly into the hair.

REMOVAL OF COLOURS

Appropriate removal of colours is equally important to get rid of the damaging effects of playing Holi. To begin with, rinse your face with plenty of water, followed by a cleansing cream or lotion, and lastly, wipe off with moist cotton wool. In case you experience itching, add two tablespoons of vinegar to a mug of water and use it as a last rinse.

Cleanse the area around the eyes. While bathing, gently scrub the body and apply a moisturiser on the face and body immediately after while the skin is still damp.

He said that if itching continues or you see a rash and redness, make sure to consult a doctor as there may be an allergic reaction to the colour. For the hair, use plenty of water to wash away the dry colours and tiny mica particles. Then use a mild shampoo and massage the scalp gently and rinse thoroughly with water again. Lastly, condition your hair with a mild conditioner.

Prevention

Instead, opt to use eco-friendly colours made of flower petals, herbs, vegetable extract, and turmeric.

Keep an eye out for any of these symptoms post your Holi party.

If you experience fever, nausea, vomiting, red eyes, difficulty seeing, skin eruptions, burning skin, dizziness, confusion, inability to concentrate, headaches, and/or blurred vision consult a doctor immediately.

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March 8, 2023 0

How Heart (Cardiovascular) Disease in Women differs from that of Men #Sushmita-Sen-Angioplasty

A long-held belief has been that women are less prone to heart attacks, because of their so-called oestrogen advantage. Heart attacks in men is much higher than women. By classic teaching women have an advantage of 10 years in terms of getting cardiovascular disease (CVD), usually around the age of 55, compared to men who can get a CVD around the age of 45. That is partially correct as well, but one should be extra careful about the hugely increased vulnerability of post-menopausal women. More recent research findings that even younger #Sushmita Sen shared that she has had to undergo angioplasty, much public surprise centred on her age.

As a Lancet global commission has emphasised, despite being responsible for causing 35% of deaths in women each year, their cardiovascular disease remains understudied, under-recognised, under-diagnosed, and under-treated, with women also under-represented in clinical trials.

Heart disease may be considered by some to be more of a problem for men. Because some heart disease symptoms in women can differ from those in men, women may not know what to look for.

The following discussion is about the differences in cardiovascular disease between men and women.

How is the cardiovascular system different in women vs. men?

Researchers have found many sex-related differences in the cardiovascular system. These complex differences, often at a microscopic level, can affect how women and men experience heart disease. A few examples include:

Anatomy. Women have smaller blood vessels and heart chambers. The walls of their ventricles are also thinner.
Blood count. Women have fewer red blood cells. As a result, women can’t take in or carry as much oxygen at any given time.
Cardiovascular adaptations. Changes in altitude or body position (like quickly standing up after lying down) affect women more than men. Women are more likely to have sudden drops in blood pressure or faint.
Hormones. Estrogen and progesterone dominate in women and people AFAB, while testosterone dominates in men and people AMAB. These hormones can impact many aspects of heart health and overall health.

Heart attack symptoms for women

The most common heart attack symptom in women is the same as in men — some type of chest pain, pressure or discomfort that lasts more than a few minutes or comes and goes.

But chest pain is not always severe or even the most noticeable symptom, particularly in women. Women often describe heart attack pain as pressure or tightness. And it’s possible to have a heart attack without chest pain.

Women are more likely than men to have heart attack symptoms unrelated to chest pain, such as:

Neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back or upper belly (abdomen) discomfort
Shortness of breath
Pain in one or both arms
Nausea or vomiting
Sweating
Lightheadedness or dizziness
Unusual fatigue
Heartburn (indigestion)

These symptoms may be vague and not as noticeable as the crushing chest pain often associated with heart attacks. This might be because women tend to have blockages not only in their main arteries but also in the smaller ones that supply blood to the heart — a condition called small vessel heart disease or coronary microvascular disease.

Compared with men, women tend to have symptoms more often when resting, or even when asleep Emotional stress can play a role in triggering heart attack symptoms in women.

Because women’s heart attack symptoms can differ from men’s, women might be diagnosed less often with heart disease than are men. Women are more likely than men to have a heart attack with no severe blockage in an artery (nonobstructive coronary artery disease).

Heart disease risk factors for women

Several traditional risk factors for coronary artery disease — such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity — affect both women and men. But other factors may play a bigger role in the development of heart disease in women.

Heart disease risk factors for women include:

Diabetes. Women with diabetes are more likely to develop heart disease than are men with diabetes. Also, because diabetes can change the way women feel pain, there’s an increased risk of having a silent heart attack — without symptoms.
Emotional stress and depression. Stress and depression affect women’s hearts more than men’s. Depression may make it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and follow recommended treatment for other health conditions.
Smoking. Smoking is a greater risk factor for heart disease in women than it is in men.
Inactivity. A lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for heart disease.
Menopause. Low levels of estrogen after menopause increase the risk of developing disease in smaller blood vessels.
Use of Contraceptives – They do tend to increase a woman’s blood pressure. If a woman has other risk factors for heart disease, taking birth control pills can compound that risk of heart disease.
Pregnancy complications. High blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy can increase the mother’s long-term risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. These conditions also make women more likely to get heart disease.
Family history of early heart disease. This appears to be a greater risk factor in women than in men.
Inflammatory diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other inflammatory conditions may increase the risk of heart disease in both men and women.

Women of all ages should take heart disease seriously. Women under age 65 — especially those with a family history of heart disease — also need to pay close attention to heart disease risk factors.

Lifestyle remedies

Living a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Try these heart-healthy strategies:

Quit smoking. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. Try to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke, which also can damage blood vessels.
Eat a healthy diet. Opt for whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, and lean meats. Avoid saturated or trans fats, added sugars, and high amounts of salt.
Exercise and maintain a healthy weight. If you’re overweight, losing even a few pounds can lower heart disease risks. Ask your health care provider what weight is best for you.
Manage stress. Stress can cause the arteries to tighten, which can increase the risk of heart disease, particularly coronary microvascular disease. Getting more exercise, practicing mindfulness and connecting with others in support groups are some ways to tame stress.
Avoid or limit alcohol. If you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men.
Follow your treatment plan. Take medications as prescribed, such as blood pressure medications, blood thinners and aspirin.
Manage other health conditions. High blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes increase the risk of heart disease.

Exercise and heart health

Regular activity helps keep the heart healthy. In general, aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise, such as walking at a brisk pace, on most days of the week. If that’s more than you can do, start slowly and build up. Even five minutes a day of exercise has health benefits.

For a bigger health boost, aim for about 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day, five days a week. Also do strength training exercises two or more days a week.

It’s OK to break up your workouts into several 10-minute sessions during a day. You’ll still get the same heart-health benefits.

Interval training — which alternates short bursts of intense activity with intervals of lighter activity — is another way to maintain a healthy weight, improve blood pressure and keep the heart healthy. For example, include short bursts of jogging or fast walking into your regular walks.

You can also add exercise to your daily activities with these tips:

Take the stairs instead of an elevator.
Walk or ride your bike to work or to do errands.
March in place while watching television.

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March 6, 2023 0

Medical Education #NEET & Termite of Corruption, Legalities, Touts

Med admission season sees flood of legal cases Our society has failed itself to develop a robust system of choosing and nurturing good doctors and therefore itself responsible for decline in standards of medical profession. Therefore the quality of doctors who survive and flourish in such system will be a natural consequence of how society chooses and nurtures the best for themselves. A complicated admission process of NEET counselling has spawned a micro industry of medical education counsellors- nothing more than mediators and touts. Imagine, an opportunity is available to a patient, to decide the doctor as based on his route or marks for entry into medical college. Whether patient will like to get treated by a doctor, who secured 20% marks, 30 % marks or 60% marks or 80% marks for medical college. Even an illiterate person can answer that well. But strangely for selection of doctors, rules were framed so as to dilute the merit to the minimum possible. What is the need to dilute and shortlist around half a million for few thousand seats? Answer to that is simple. To select and find only those students from millions, who can pay millions to become doctors?

Our society has failed itself to develop a robust system of choosing and nurturing good doctors and therefore itself responsible for decline in standards of medical profession. Therefore the quality of doctors who survive and flourish in such system will be a natural consequence of how society chooses and nurtures the best for themselves.

A complicated admission process of NEET counselling has spawned a micro industry of medical education counsellors- nothing more than mediators and touts.

Imagine, an opportunity is available to a patient, to decide the doctor as based on his route or marks for entry into medical college. Whether patient will like to get treated by a doctor, who secured 20% marks, 30 % marks or 60% marks or 80% marks for medical college. Even an illiterate person can answer that well. But strangely for selection of doctors, rules were framed so as to dilute the merit to the minimum possible. What is the need to dilute and shortlist around half a million for few thousand seats? Answer to that is simple. To select and find only those students from millions, who can pay millions to become doctors?

Doctors are just as offshoots of a tree called as society. They essentially are the same as rest of the society. It is a specialized branch of tree which helps other offshoots of tree to save others. As part of same tree, they resemble the parent society, of which they are part. Society needs to choose and nurture a force of doctors carefully with an aim to combat for safety of its own people.

Exorbitantly expensive medical education and lowered merit has hollowed the quality of doctors like termite. Aspiring doctors are now forced to pay exorbitant fee, in millions. Many go under heavy debt to pay medical colleges fee. Children with lower ranks in merit pay millions and can become doctors. The real problem here is that real deserving will be left out.

Medical students from the very onset, are victims and witness to these practices and exploitation. They see their parents pay this unreasonable fee through their noses or take loans. Such blatant injustice will have an everlasting effect on the young impressionable minds.

The paradox- Society and armchair preachers give doctors lessons about corruption and exploitation.

Medical admission season sees flood of legal cases

Mumbai TIMES OF INDIA: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, while speaking at a recent event in a Delhi hospital, called for reforms in medical education, referring to the sheer volume of cases that have made their way to the Supreme Court. It is no exaggeration, as the Directorate of General of Health Services’ Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), under the umbrella body of the union ministry of health and family welfare, alone has to deal with nearly 400 cases every year. From high courts to the apex court, the admission season is marred by litigation, from students aspiring to be doctors to doctors aspiring to be specialists and super-specialists. Sometimes, there are other stakeholders too and the stakes are indeed high. The National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate courses, for instance. In the past four years, the number of MBBS aspirants registering for the test rose almost by 25%. Around 17.6 lakh students appeared for NEET-UG in 2022 —the highest for any competitive exam. On the contrary, the number of aspirants for engineering (registering for JEE-Main) dropped in the corresponding four years—from 11.5 lakh in 2019 to 9.05 lakh in 2022. If one takes into account the direct ratio of students to medical seats, 33 are vying for a single seat in a government college. It is further skewed if one considers the pool of seats in each category. The number of seats shrink at PG level. “The competition is fierce for students in the lower rank bracket. Eligibility issues are also a concern in lawsuits. There is a lot of emphasis on students bagging a PG degree, from parents, even colleges.

More students going for higher studies give colleges brownie points in the accreditation process. There is a general sense of feeling that only an MBBS degree is of no consequence. After all of it, if students lose their seat over a technical point, they will prefer moving court over losing a year, he said. Even as thousands of students appear for their NEET-PG today, courts saw several litigation seeking postponement of the exam till last week. “There is no uniformity in the schedule followed by different states, even as there is one central exam for all. Students have to mandatorily complete their internship to be eligible for a PG seat, but the internship deadline in states differ. What is the point of completing the exam in March and waiting till July for the counselling round? Such policy decisions are not student-friendly, and therefore are met with opposition,” said parent representative. Former member (board of governor), erstwhile Medical Council of India and dean (projects) at Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr Kailash Sharma, said clarity from National Medical Commission, from MCC, government of India, is expected. “Similar cases in lower courts should be bundled and heard by the apex court that will also reduce time on each case,” said Sharma. Meanwhile, a complicated admission process has spawned a micro industry of medical education counsellors. The process is complicated for an 18-year old to manage on his own.

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March 5, 2023 0

Unregulated Pharmaceuticals Industry’s Greed Pushing Drug Pricing- #Eli-Lilly cuts insulin prices 70%

“Look at the profit margins of these companies — they’re hundreds of billions of dollars,” Biden said. “It’s not like they’re getting hurt.”

The Indianapolis drugmaker’s price cuts and discounts for insulin come as federal and state lawmakers and patient advocates pressure drug companies and health insurers to improve affordability for the lifesaving medication used by millions of Americans. The move follows criticism from federal lawmakers and advocacy groups.

The noise level in the news regarding expensive medical costs is high. So who’s to blame? Frequently buck stops at naming the doctors without really doing proper root cause analysis, not infrequently hiding the real culprits. It is easy to point the finger at calling the medical professionals greedy to keep the veil over mammoth medical and pharmaceutical industry. But there is a whole system of unregulated medical business associated with large and various health care industries: for example pharma industry, biomedical, equipment, consumables etc. These industries although play important part in medicine, cost, sale and purchase, but are largely remain unregulated and remain hidden to the patient.

Pharmaceutical Companies associated with the production and pricing of the drugs have contributed to the problem and has negatively affected the patient’s expense, directly and indirectly.

When it comes to prescription drugs, rampant inflation has been the norm for decades. Drugmakers fearlessly increase prices on hundreds of medications every year because each of their products has no or few competitors. If the cost of a medication are kept high, that would increase directly influences the cost of health care for individuals.

Eli Lilly cuts insulin prices up to 70% amid pressure to slash costs

Drug giant Eli Lilly said Wednesday it will slash the cost of its top-selling insulin drugs by 70% as Congress remains stalled on capping prices on the medication vital to millions of Americans who suffer from diabetes.

The Indianapolis-based drugmaker also will lower the price of its Lispro insulin injection to $25 a vial and expand its insulin value program so that an existing $35 cap on some insulins will now apply in about 85% of US pharmacies.

The move comes as President Biden has pushed to extend to most Americans the $35 cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs available to recipients of the government’s Medicare health program, a move some lawmakers have also said they would support with legislation.

“While we could wait for Congress to act or the healthcare system in general to apply that standard, we’re just applying it ourselves,” Chief Executive Dave Ricks told CNN in an interview.

The changes could help around 2 million people pay for the life-sustaining drug. Although many people, including some 3.3 million on Medicare, already pay $35 a month or less for insulin, about 1-in-5 with private insurance and the 17% of insulin users who are uninsured stand to benefit.

Eli Lilly, along with Sanofi and Novo Nordisk make up 90% of the US market for insulin. Lilly shares were up 1.3% at $315.30.

Some analysts have suggested the company was trying to get out ahead of lawmakers. “It certainly appears they were reacting to the growing chances that Congress is going to cap insulin prices,” said Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at Stifel investment firm.

The insulin products currently cost hundreds of dollars a month. Humalog reportedly has a list price of $530 for a five-pack of injection pens and $274 for a vial, though the company said it only costs less than $95 a month for patients with commercial insurance and Medicare. List prices for drugs often differ from what patients actually pay, including after insurance and other assistance programs.

While the $35 price is only available in pharmacies participating in the company’s insulin value program, Ricks said patients using other pharmacies can receive a rebate through the drugmaker’s website.

These price cuts “should be the new standard in America,” Ricks said, and he called on other companies and stakeholders “to meet us at this point.”

Around 8.4 million of the 37 million people in the United States with diabetes use insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association. Ricks said the company’s insulin price cuts had been planned for some time and were accounted for in Eli Lilly’s December financial forecast, which projected 2023 revenue of at least $30.3 billion.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in America. Those needed the medication spend an average of $16,752 a year, The Post reported.

In addition to substantial price reduction, Eli Lilly said it would launch on April 1 a new insulin product called Rezvoglar — a copycat version of Sanofi’s Lantus insulin. It will sell its version for $92 for a five-pack of injection pens, a 78% discount to the list price for Lantus.

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March 2, 2023 0

End of Life issues- ‘Hold on’ or ‘Let go’ #Tom-Sizemore

A difficult decision near death- try to ‘hold on’ or ‘let go’

The eternal human wish is to fight hard against age, illness, and death and holding on to life, to our loved ones, is indeed a basic human instinct. However, as an illness advances, “raging against the dying of the light” often begins to cause undue suffering, and “letting go” may instead feel like the next stage.

Tom Sizemore has no hope of recovery after he suffered a brain aneurysm, his family has said, confirming they are making an end-of-life decision for the Saving Private Ryan actor. The 61-year-old has been in a coma in the intensive care unit of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Los Angeles since he was hospitalised on 18 February. On Monday night, Sizemore’s representative, Charles Lago, issued a statement revealing that there was no chance for his recovery. “Today doctors informed his family that there is no further hope and have recommended end of life decision. The family is now deciding end of life matters and a further statement will be issued on Wednesday,” Lago said.

Humans have an instinctive desire to go on living. We experience this as desires for food, activity, learning, etc. We feel attachments to loved ones, such as family members and friends, and even to pets, and we do not want to leave them.

When we realize that the end of life may be approaching, other thoughts and feelings arise. Fears arise, and may be so strong that they are hard to think about or even admit to: fear of change, of the dying process, of what happens after death, of losing control, of dependency and more. Both the person who is ill and the caregiver might also experience resentment, guilt, sadness, and anger at having to do what neither wants to do, namely face death and dying.

As death nears, many people feel a lessening of their desire to live longer. This is different from depression or thoughts of suicide. Instead, they sense it is time to let go. They may reach a point where they feel they have struggled as much as they have been called upon to do and will struggle no more. Refusing to let go can prolong dying, but it cannot prevent it. Dying, thus prolonged, can become more a time of suffering than of living.

Family members and friends who love the dying person may learn to accept a life limiting illness, and then accept the possibility of a loved one dying. They may see that dying is the better of two choices and accept the inevitability of death.

The dying may be cause distress and grief for those who love them. If a stage has reached when treatments are no longer working as well as before, and everyday life maintaining activities are becoming more and more burdensome. In a sense, life is disappearing. One has to look beyond the fears and wishes. What is really best for the one who is dying, and for the others around? Given that death is unavoidable, what is the kindest thing to do? It might be holding on or it might be letting go.

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The Myth of cost of spending on medical education needs to be made transparent.

March 1, 2023 0

Medical CPA- Becoming Tool to extract money from Doctors- NCDRC penalizes patient

In a reverse trend and one of the rare instances where a patient asking for 25 lakhs of compensation was penalized by NCDRC for frivolous complaint.

In present era, when patient is no more “patient” and defined as consumer, doctors’ status has been reduced to merely a service provider in lieu of little money. With Medical Consumer Protection Act has acquired roots, the whole system of medical delivery and healthcare has changed. Most striking is this entire fiasco is the “Us and Them” syndrome that seems to afflict all the stake holders. Doctors are pitted against every one- versus administrators, patients, managers, society and lawyers.

There is no dearth of such patients, relatives and lawyers who are ready to try their luck, sometimes in vengeance and sometimes for lure of huge money received in compensations. This encouragement and instigation of lawsuit against doctors has become a major disadvantage for medical profession.

Zero fee advertisements and fixed commission ads on television by lawyers in health systems in certain developed countries is an example of instigation against medical profession. They lure patients to file law suits and promise them hefty reimbursements.

The patients’ right activists, media, administrators, managers and lawyers have made their career and wealth out of it. Doctors know the truth that complications are not preventable beyond a point and are part and parcel of treatment. The line separating errors or natural complications is really blurred and arbitrary. The doctors who work in life and death situation know it well that even natural poor prognosis can be labelled and proved as error by retrospective analysis and wisdom of hindsight and more certainly with luxury of time at disposal for lawyers and courts.

It becomes an unbalanced match specially when the amount of money which was paid to doctor to save a life was peanuts as compared to now being paid to punish him.

One of the rare instances where a patient asking for 25 lakhs of compensation was penalized NCDRC10,000 rupees for frivolous complaint

A mere perusal of the prayer clause of the Complaint shows that on the face of it itself an exaggerated claim was made without any justification given.

14. The OP is a qualified Radiologist, having post graduate degree, MD (Radiology), and having extensive experience in performing USG of abdomen. There are certain limitations in USG. Sometimes the renal calculi are not visible due to intestinal gases shadows in the abdomen, sometimes stones even pass out through urine. Even the best of Radiologists cannot be better than the machine used for the USG, he cannot improve on the technical soundness or advancement of the machine available at his command. The more advanced a machine, the more precise is its report. However, not every hospital can afford the latest state of the art machines. And the Radiologist has to function with the machine available to him. Pertinently, an advanced Apollo Diagnostic possesses USG 730 (GE) Machine having Advanced Live 4-D Voluson, which has more precision and accuracy, was used in the USG cited at (c) in para 11 above, in which left lower ureter stone was detected.

15. The State Commission appears to have hastily arrived at its findings of medical negligence on the part of the OP, without examining to the requisite depth, the limitations and technicalities of USG, and without taking independent expert opinion on the subject where experts in the field could have thrown light from standard medical literature and brought forth limitations of the level of advancement of the machine used for imaging. As such its appraisal cannot sustain.

On the basis of the entire material on record and the critique made hereinabove no negligence is attributable to the OP Dr. Hulesh Mandle.

It is apparent that the instant Complaint was filed by the Complaint with wrong current address of the OP, beyond limitation, with highly inflated claim. The same, being bereft of any substance, being frivolous and vexatious, merits dismissal with cost of Rs. 10,000/- contemplated for such Complaints under Section 26 of the Act, 1986, to be deposited in the Consumer Legal Aid Account of the State Commission within six weeks from this Order.

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21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

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NEET- Not so Neat- percentile system

The Myth of cost of spending on medical education needs to be made transparent.

February 28, 2023 0

Harm of unregulated Heath Products-Sad Picture of Gym Supplements

While pharmaceuticals and scientific drugs are regulated to some extent, side effects and harms associated with various health products worth billions of market remain untested and unregulated.

It has become a common practice to advertise health products that claim to be panacea for all ailments, enhance immunity, to increase power and health by creating an impression on minds on various platforms. Instead of producing scientific evidence, such products and therapies are sold under disguise of natural therapies or alternate medicines. Needless to say, the objective evidence or global neutral trial for the claimed efficacy or about real side effects is always missing.

No one can deny that the knowledge circulated through various media plays an important role in reframing the narrative in patient’s or people’s mind. These can be in form of advertisements in television or articles in newspapers. The subjectivity of such advertisements creating new impressions and replacing previous ones, right or wrong cannot be denied.

A youth with a history of taking excessive gym supplements and protein powder

Companies have created huge fortunes based on circulation of such pedagogic narratives and social knowledge. But in real sense, these are actually chemical and have biological actions and reactions. Chemical derived from natural sources can have side effects and contain impurities. Global neutral trials to validate effects and side effects remain an urgent need of the hour for all health products.

A frightening scenario is emerging as there seems to be an epidemic about fake or substandard medicines, spurious drugs and heightened belief in marketed therapies by advertisements. An epidemic of ignorance that causes people to believe in pseudoscience or merely in projected promise of cure. A hope of miracle is flashed to patients, who have been given a ‘no hope’ by scientific medicine. Such patients are an easy prey for such fraudsters. It is not uncommon that lethal substances like steroids, hormones and heavy metals are given in dangerous doses.

In the absence of strict Government control, all kinds of dubious assertions are available about curing all types of ailments. These alleged remedies, and the belief systems they are based on, are based on the facts that can neither be proved nor disapproved. They are dangerous to life of patients, which is why it is necessary to fight them and refute them. But who should fight? Patients themselves are blinded by a projected faith and false belief about definite cure.

NEW DELHI: A youth with a history of taking excessive gym supplements and protein powder was brought to the emergency ward of Hospital in south Delhi in a comatose and critical condition. Doctors said the unconscious 22-year-old youth had extremely low oxygen levels, necessitating ventilatory support. He was immediately shifted to intensive care, where he stayed for almost a week. The patient was eventually discharged with no neurological deficit of any kind, said doctors at the hospital.

Citing the youth’s case, doctors caution against excessive use of fitness supplements and said that this can cause serious neurological damages besides proving fatal in some cases. He was found to be suffering from multiple severe metabolic derangement, including very high level of muscle enzymes, creatine phosphokinase, suggesting breakdown of muscle tissue. Further investigations revealed extremely low calcium levels which were also responsible for his deteriorating state. The patient was diagnosed as having toxic encephalopathy (brain dysfunction caused by toxic exposure) and rhabdomyolysis (a serious medical condition that can be fatal or result in permanent disability) which, occurred after excessive consumption of gym supplements. After stabilising the patient in the ICU, the youth was treated for correction of these medical issues, leading eventually to his recovery. The patient had no history of substance abuse and the toxicology screening of his urine also returned negative. After regaining consciousness after two days, the 22-year-old confessed to excessive intake of gym supplements and various types of protein powders. The case highlighted the hazards of use of body-building supplements, which could have catastrophic consequences. There was a strong possibility that significant muscle breakdown resulted in depletion of calcium levels which manifested with convulsions and altered level of consciousness. This can be labelled as toxic encephalopathy.

Advantages-Disadvantage of being a doctor

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21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

Medical-Consumer protection Act- Pros and Cons

Expensive Medical College seat- Is it worth it?

NEET- Not so Neat- percentile system

The Myth of cost of spending on medical education needs to be made transparent.

February 19, 2023 0

Formula Milk Companies’ Exploitive Tactics to undermine Breastfeeding: Lancet

In another example of Medical Industry exploiting masses by false projection of Modern Medicine, the formula milk industry uses poor science to suggest, with little supporting evidence, that their products are solutions to common infant health and developmental challenges.

The CMF industry generates revenues of about $55 billion annually, with about $3 billion spent on marketing activities every year,” stated a Lancet editorial. The series details how marketing practices in violation of the voluntary Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, developed by the World Health Assembly in 1981, have continued in nearly 100 countries and in every region of the world since the adoption of the code more than forty years ago.

A Lancet series on breastfeeding details strategies used by commercial formula manufacturers to undermine breastfeeding to turn the feeding of infants and young children into a multibillion-dollar business generating revenues of about $55 billion each year.

Lancet has issued an urgent call to protect breastfeeding. Formula milk marketing tactics are exploitative, and regulations need to be urgently strengthened and properly implemented, the three-paper series argued. The authors of the series argue that apart from influencing political organisations, formula milk companies also draw on credibility of science by sponsoring professional organisations, publishing sponsored articles in scientific journals, and inviting leaders in public health onto advisory boards and committees, leading to unacceptable conflicts of interest.

“The formula milk industry uses poor science to suggest, with little supporting evidence, that their products are solutions to common infant health and developmental challenges. Adverts claim specialised formulas alleviate fussiness, help with colic, prolong night-time sleep, and even encourage superior intelligence. Labels use words like ‘brain’, ‘neuro’ and ‘IQ’ with images highlighting early development, but studies show no benefit of these product ingredients on academic performance or long-term cognition,” stated Professor Linda Richter, Wits University, South Africa. “Breastfeeding has proven health benefits across high-income and low-income settings alike: it reduces childhood infectious diseases, mortality, and malnutrition, and the risk of later obesity; mothers who breastfeed have decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancers, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. However, less than 50% of babies worldwide are breastfed according to the WHO recommendations, resulting in economic losses of nearly US$350 billion each year. Meanwhile, the CMF industry generates revenues of about $55 billion annually, with about $3 billion spent on marketing activities every year,” stated a Lancet editorial. The series details how marketing practices in violation of the voluntary Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, developed by the World Health Assembly in 1981, have continued in nearly 100 countries and in every region of the world since the adoption of the code more than forty years ago. The series says that voluntary uptake of the Code is not enough and calls for an international legal treaty on the commercial marketing of food products for babies to protect the health and wellbeing of mothers and families. “Only 32 countries have legal measures that substantially align with the Code. A further 41 countries have legislation that moderately aligns with the Code and 50 have no legal measures at all. As a result, the Code is regularly flouted without penalty,” pointed out the editorial. An analysis in the series describes how profits made by the formula milk industry benefit companies located in high-income countries while the social, economic and environmental harms are widely distributed and most harmful in low and middle income countries. The authors stress that breastfeeding is a collective responsibility of society and call for more effective promotion, support and protection for breastfeeding, including a much better trained healthcare workforce and an international legal treaty to end exploitative formula milk marketing and prohibit political lobbying.

Advantages-Disadvantage of being a doctor

25 factors- why health care is expensive

REEL Heroes Vs Real Heroes

21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

Medical-Consumer protection Act- Pros and Cons

Expensive Medical College seat- Is it worth it?

NEET- Not so Neat- percentile system

The Myth of cost of spending on medical education needs to be made transparent.

February 13, 2023 0

Selling of the Medical Seats near Bubble Burst: lower percentiles #NEET

Now, super specialty medical seat cut-offs slashed to 20 percentile MUMBAI: Post-graduate doctors scoring as low as 20 percentile in NEET-SS will now be eligible for superspecialty seats in the country. Despite two rounds of admissions, over one-fifth of the seats in the courses are lying vacant. To ensure these seats do not go wasted, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences slashed the cut-offs to 20 percentile from 50. In some of the courses, the raw scores for eligibility have dropped even to 188 or 217 out of 600. 2/10/23, 6:39 PM Now, superspecialty medical seat cut-offs slashed to 20 percentile.

Lowering NEET Percentile In PG or SS Making seats available at a lower percentile (15 -20) in post graduate and Super specialities courses will jeopardize the already crumbling quality of Medical Education and will result in bidding for the seats.

This potpourri portends to be a travesty of quality, not just of medical education but more seriously, of the quality of doctors. Allotment of medical seats is being left to the vagaries of populism and commercialism, through a false sense ‘the illusion of merit’ secured via NEET. Admission criteria whittled down to mere 10-20 percent, will result in an irreversible and regressive compromise with quality of doctors. Will patients approve such dizzying choice and at what cost?

Going by selection of candidates as doctors, if given a choice, by which a patient will like to get treated? A candidate who scored 20 % marks or a person getting 60% or 80% marks. NEET eligibility getting lower and a candidate getting around 20 % of marks may be able to secure a degree to treat patients. What will be the deciding factor? The criteria as to why a person with 60% marks not getting a seat and another with 20% marks will be able to secure. It will depend upon, whether a candidate is able to pay the exorbitant fee or not. Present system and mechanism of admission permit and accept such huge variation! That strange equation is acceptable in lieu of money paid!

Lowering NEET Percentile In PG or SS is an illusion of merit. Overplayed narrative of fewer doctors in the country, rather than a system for proper utilization is an effort to increase numbers of doctors is associated with dilution of merit. But this goal needs to be achieved with preserving quality of medical education.

Selling the medical seats is heading towards bubble burst, when despite declining demand for poor quality and expensive medical education, new private colleges being approved along with lowering merit to a dismal percentage.

Future doctors getting admissions by scoring just 10-20 percent of marks, poor teacher student ratio, seats being awarded to highest bidder are few pointers to the poor quality of medical education. Few years back NEET percent system was changed to percentile and now the bar is lowered further, just to accommodate more ‘bidders’ with less marks, to be able to buy medical seats.

Now, super specialty medical seat cut-offs slashed to 20 percentile

MUMBAI: Post-graduate doctors scoring as low as 20 percentile in NEET-SS will now be eligible for superspecialty seats in the country. Despite two rounds of admissions, over one-fifth of the seats in the courses are lying vacant. To ensure these seats do not go wasted, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences slashed the cut-offs to 20 percentile from 50. In some of the courses, the raw scores for eligibility have dropped even to 188 or 217 out of 600. 2/10/23, 6:39 PM Now, superspecialty medical seat cut-offs slashed to 20 percentile.

On February 8, the board issued a circular announcing the special mop-up round in NEET-SS counselling and also the revised cut-offs in different specialty groups. The schedule for the mop-up round will be released soon. An official from the ministry of health and family welfare said that approximately 1,000 seats are vacant out of close to 5,000 superspecialty seats in the country. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association India had requested the Centre to relax the eligibility criteria to ensure there is no wastage of seats, after receiving representations from aspirants, said Dr Kulsaurabh Kaushik, a member. He said sometimes seats go vacant in private colleges because of higher fees. Dr Avinash Supe, former dean of KEM Hospital, said, “Total SS seats in the country have gone up tremendously in recent years and students have become selective. For instance, in the surgical group, many are now preferring urology, gastrointestinal (GI) surgery and surgical oncology, whereas there is not much demand for paediatric, or cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. You need larger set-ups for these, which many cannot invest in. On the contrary, urology and GI surgeries need smaller set-ups and there is a demand too,” said Supe. He added in some courses, supply is higher than demand in the country. For a long time, even KEM did not get students for courses such as paediatric surgery. Last year, the Centre brought down the cut-off to 15 percentile after seats remained vacant in superspecialty courses.

Advantages-Disadvantage of being a doctor

25 factors- why health care is expensive

REEL Heroes Vs Real Heroes

21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

Medical-Consumer protection Act- Pros and Cons

Expensive Medical College seat- Is it worth it?

NEET- Not so Neat- percentile system

The Myth of cost of spending on medical education needs to be made transparent.

February 10, 2023 0

Violence against doctors: No support – Saviours need to save themselves

No separate law to prohibit violence against doctors, healthcare professionals: Centre More of a law and order issue, the physical assault on doctors reflects that they are serving an uncivilized society. Such news is viewed by medical community anxiously and is definitely a poor advertisement for younger generation to take medicine as profession. The medical students need to think, why they wish to enter medical profession in such an unsupportive environment? Strangely media, courts, prominent people, celebrities, human right commission, right activists are little concerned about the blatant injustice done towards doctors. This again brings forth the hypocrisy of our society and law enforcement agencies, which otherwise cry hoarse about human rights, but practically doctors (while they save others), need to fend for themselves when ugly situations arise. NEW DELHI: The Central government has decided not to enact separate legislation for prohibiting violence against doctors and other healthcare professionals, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

More of a law and order issue, the physical assault on doctors reflects that they are serving an uncivilized society. Such news is viewed by medical community anxiously and is definitely a poor advertisement for younger generation to take medicine as profession. The medical students need to think, why they wish to enter medical profession in such an unsupportive environment?

Strangely media, courts, prominent people, celebrities, human right commission, right activists are little concerned about the blatant injustice done towards doctors. This again brings forth the hypocrisy of our society and law enforcement agencies, which otherwise cry hoarse about human rights, but practically doctors (while they save others), need to fend for themselves when ugly situations arise.

NEW DELHI: The Central government has decided not to enact separate legislation for prohibiting violence against doctors and other healthcare professionals, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

In a written reply, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said that a draft of the Healthcare Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019 was prepared and was also circulated for consultations.

“Thereafter it was decided not to enact a separate Legislation for prohibiting violence against doctors and other health care professionals,” he said to a question on the reasons for the withdrawal of the Bill, which intended to protect healthcare professionals and institutions.

No separate law to prohibit violence against doctors & Health care workers

Mandaviya said that the matter was further discussed with relevant ministries and departments of government as well as all stakeholders, and an ordinance namely The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated on April 22, 2020.

However, the government, on September 28, 2020, passed the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, 2020 under which acts of violence against healthcare personnel during any situation were considered cognizable and non-bailable offences.

Speaking with TNIE, Dr Rohan Krishnan, National Chairman, FAIMA Doctors Association, said that there have been many cases of violence against doctors and health professionals in the past few months inside the government hospitals, but the union health ministry has not taken their demand to have a separate law for providing safety and security to healthcare workers and doctors seriously.

“The government needed us during the Covid-19 pandemic and came out with rules and regulations. We also felt safe and secure. But now that Covid-19 is declining and we were able to bring normalcy, the government is showing its true colours. It is shameful,” he said.

“The government is not standing up to its promise of bringing a separate law to prohibit violence against doctors and healthcare professionals,” he added.

“On the one hand, it has failed to provide mental and physical safety and security to the doctors and healthcare professionals; on the other hand, instead of having verbal communication with us regarding this matter, the government is denying any scope of providing a separate law in the future. This is a very serious issue. We will raise this issue at every level,” Dr Krishnan said.

Under the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, the commission or abetment of acts of violence or damage or loss to any property is punishable with imprisonment for a term of three months to five years, and with a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000.

In case of causing grievous hurt, imprisonment shall be for a term of six months to seven years and with a fine of Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000.

In addition, the offender shall also be liable to pay compensation to the victim and twice the fair market value for damage to property.

Since, law and order is a state subject, State, and Union Territory governments also take appropriate steps to protect healthcare professionals/institutions under provisions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)/Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the minister said.

To another question on the number of security guards hired/outsourced by government hospitals in the country, the Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar said that public health and hospitals are state subjects, therefore no such data is maintained centrally.

Advantages-Disadvantage of being a doctor

25 factors- why health care is expensive

REEL Heroes Vs Real Heroes

21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

Medical-Consumer protection Act- Pros and Cons

Expensive Medical College seat- Is it worth it?

NEET- Not so Neat- percentile system

The Myth of cost of spending on medical education needs to be made transparent.