Tag: doctors

Whistle-blower Doctor who informed about Corona-sacked in Kerala


 

The ease with which doctors can be punished for doing even the right has finished the independence of the medical profession. The harassment of Chinese whistleblower doctor and now  sacking of the doctor who informed authorities about the coronavirus patient in Kerala are just an example of day to day troubles doctors are facing in every day working. These incidents are just the tip of the ice-berg. The evolving systems in the present era have made it difficult to deliver health care in the right way, as a consequence to routine harassment of doctors. Who will be the ultimate sufferer does not need an Einstein brain to predict.

 

 Kerala: Doctor who informed authorities about patient with coronavirus symptoms sacked by clinic.. Adoctor in Kerala on Tuesday alleged that she was sacked by the management ofthe private clinic she was working with for informing authorities about an NRI patient who reportedly declined to undergo the mandatory check for coronavirus. Dr Shinu Syamalan said the patient had come to the clinic recently with suspected symptoms of the virus. “When he was asked whether he had visited any foreign countries, he said he was coming from Qatar. But he had not reported to the health department about his foreign trip,” she said. When he was directed to inform about his foreign travel to the state health department, which has been monitoring people coming from abroad for the virus, he refused and said he was going back to Qatar, she told reporters. Concerned over the health of the person who had a high fever, Syamalan informed health and police authorities. “Officials who let the patient go abroad do not have any problem, but I have become jobless,” she posted on social media. 3/10/2020 Kerala: Doctor who informed authorities about patients with coronavirus symptoms sacked by the clinic – Times of India https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/kerala-doctor-who-tipped-authorities-about-patient-with-coronavirus-symptoms-sacked-by-clinic/articleshowprint/74564864.cms 2/2 She alleged she was sacked by the management of the clinic for reporting the matter to police and informing the public about the incident through social media and through television. “The argument of the management is that no one would turn up for treatment in the clinic if they come to know that it was visited by patients with suspected symptoms of Coronavirus,” she said. There was no immediate reaction from the management of the private health clinic. Official sources said the district medical officer (DMO) at Thrissur has complained to the collector against Shinu Syamalan accusing her of defaming health officials. Sources said the DMO informed the collector that health officials had tried to prevent the patient from traveling abroad immediately after getting information from Syamalan.

corona virus unmasks risk to doctor and nurses

21 occupational risk to doctor and nurses

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Antibiotic for resistant super bugs discovered by machine learning (AI) for first time


 

An important breakthrough   towards  discovering new antibiotics, that has potential to change  the ways, new molecules are discovered,  Team at MIT says HALICIN  kills some of the world’s most dangerous strains. Discovery  has been possible using artificial intelligence.  It also signifies the role of artificial intelligence in medicine, in future.

Antibiotic resistance arises when bacteria mutate and evolve to sidestep the mechanisms that antimicrobial drugs use to kill them. Without new antibiotics to tackle resistance, 10 million lives around the world could be at risk each year from infections by 2050.

To find new antibiotics, the researchers first trained a “deep learning” algorithm to identify the sorts of molecules that kill bacteria. To do this, they fed the program information on the atomic and molecular features of nearly 2,500 drugs and natural compounds, and how well or not the substance blocked the growth of the bug E coli.

A powerful antibiotic that kills some of the most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria in the world has been discovered using artificial intelligence.

The drug works in a different way to existing antibacterials and is the first of its kind to be found by setting AI loose on vast digital libraries of pharmaceutical compounds.

Tests showed that the drug wiped out a range of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, including Acinetobacter baumannii and Enterobacteriaceae, two of the three high-priority pathogens that the World Health Organization ranks as “critical” for new antibiotics to target.

“In terms of antibiotic discovery, this is absolutely a first,” said Regina Barzilay, a senior researcher on the project and specialist in machine learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“I think this is one of the more powerful antibiotics that has been discovered to date,” added James Collins, a bioengineer on the team at MIT. “It has remarkable activity against a broad range of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.”

Once the algorithm had learned what molecular features made for good antibiotics, the scientists set it working on a library of more than 6,000 compounds under investigation for treating various human diseases. Rather than looking for any potential antimicrobials, the algorithm focused on compounds that looked effective but unlike existing antibiotics. This boosted

the chances that the drugs would work in radical new ways that bugs had yet to develop resistance to.

Jonathan Stokes, the first author of the study, said it took a matter of hours for the algorithm to assess the compounds and come up with some promising antibiotics. One, which the researchers named “halicin” after Hal, the astronaut-bothering AI in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, looked particularly potent.

Writing in the journal Cell, the researchers describe how they treated numerous drug-resistant infections with halicin, a compound that was originally developed to treat diabetes, but which fell by the wayside before it reached the clinic.

Tests on bacteria collected from patients showed that halicin killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bug that causes TB, and strains of

Enterobacteriaceae that are resistant to carbapenems, a group of antibiotics that are considered the last resort for such infections. Halicin also cleared C difficile and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections in mice.

To hunt for more new drugs, the team next turned to a massive digital database of about 1.5bn compounds. They set the algorithm working on 107m of these. Three days later, the program returned a shortlist of 23 potential antibiotics, of which two appear to be particularly potent. The scientists now intend to search more of the database.

Stokes said it would have been impossible to screen all 107m compounds by the conventional route of obtaining or making the substances and then testing them in the lab. “Being able to perform these experiments in the computer dramatically reduces the time and cost to look at these compounds,” he said.

Barzilay now wants to use the algorithm to find antibiotics that are more sekills only the bugs causing an infection, and not all the healthy bacteria that live in the gut. More ambitiously, the scientists aim to use the algorithm to design potent new antibiotics from scratch.

“The work really is remarkable,” said Jacob Durrant, who works on computer-aided drug design at the University of Pittsburgh. “Their approach highlights the power of computer-aided drug discovery. It would be impossible to physically test over 100m compounds for antibiotic activity.”

“Given typical drug-development costs, in terms of both time and money, any method that can speed early-stage drug discovery has the potential to make a big impact,” he added.

Antibiotic resistance

 

 

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Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV); diagnosis, DO’s and DON’Ts, prevention


2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)-  WHO reported that a novel virus was identified by the Chinese authorities. It is a contagious virus, can transfer from human to human. WHO advisory

The virus is associated with an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

 

Clinical Features
Fever

Tightness of chest

Running nose

symptoms of lower respiratory illness

cough, difficulty breathing

Headache

Feeling unwell

Pneumonia

Kidney failure

Incubation period: 14 days

  

 

Mode of Transmission – Human coronaviruses most commonly spread from an infected person to others through

  • the air by coughing and sneezing
  • close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands
  • touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands
  • rarely, faecal contamination

Prevention- How to reduce risk

How to protect yourself

There are currently no vaccines available to protect you against human coronavirus infection. You may be able to reduce your risk of infection by doing the following

  • wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
  • avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
  • avoid close contact with people who are sick

How to protect others

If you have cold-like symptoms, you can help protect others by doing the following

  • stay home while you are sick
  • avoid close contact with others
  • cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, then throw the tissue in the trash and wash your hands
  • clean and disinfect objects and surfaces

 

Treatment

There are no specific treatments for illnesses caused by human coronaviruses. Most people with common human coronavirus illness will recover on their own. However, you can do some things to relieve your symptoms

  • take pain and fever medications (Caution: do not give Aspirin to children)
  • use a room humidifier or take a hot shower to help ease a sore throat and cough

If you are mildly sick, you should

  • drink plenty of liquids
  • stay home and rest

If you are concerned about your symptoms, you should see your healthcare provider.

 

DO’s and DON’Ts

DO’s:

  •   avoid close contact with others
  • cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • wash your hands and clean and disinfect objects and surfaces
  • take pain and fever medications (Caution: do not give Aspirin to children)
  • use a room humidifier or take a hot shower to help ease a sore throat and cough
  • drink plenty of liquids
  • stay home and rest- avoid crowded areas
  • consult a doctor

DON’Ts

-touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands

-Hugging, kissing, shaking hands while greeting

-spitting in public places

-taking medicines without consulting doctor

-excessive physical exercise

-disposal of used napkins or tissue papers in open areas

-touching surfaces usually used by public (railing, gates, etc)

-smoking in public places

-unnecessary testing.

 

For doctors and nurses

 CORONAVIRUS – DO’s in case of suspicion 

Obtain a detailed travel history for patients with fever and respiratory symptoms.

Is there a history of travel from Wuhan City, China on or after December 1, 2019?

Are there any Symptoms like runny nose, headache, cough, sore throat, fever and difficulty in breathing?

If yes to any or both questions above, then such patients to wear a surgical mask as soon as they are identified.

Healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses and others to conduct their evaluation in a private room with the door closed, ideally an airborne infection isolation room.

Personnel entering the room should use standard precautions, contact precautions, and airborne precautions and use eye protection (goggles or a face shield).

 

Recommendations for Reporting, Testing, and Specimen Collection

Interim Guidelines for Collecting, Handling, and Testing Clinical Specimens from Patients Under Investigation (PUIs) for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

Healthcare providers should immediately notify both infection control personnel and administration at their healthcare facility and their local or state health department in the event of a PUI for 2019-nCoV.

To increase the likelihood of detecting 2019-nCoV infection, collection of three specimen types, lower respiratory, upper respiratory and serum specimens for testing is recommended. Additional specimen types (e.g., stool, urine) may be collected and stored. Specimens should be collected as soon as possible once a PUI is identified regardless of time of symptom onset.

For biosafety reasons, it is not recommended to perform virus isolation in cell culture or initial characterization of viral agents recovered in cultures of specimens from a PUI for 2019-nCoV.

For further details on Guidelines for Collecting, Handling, and Testing and Laboratory Biosafety Guidelines refer – Information for Laboratories (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/guidance-laboratories.html) This page includes interim guidance for laboratory professionals working with specimens from patients under investigation for human infections with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

 

Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients Under Investigation

Airborne infection isolation

For additional infection control guidance you can visit CDC’s Infection Control webpage.

nurses and doctor at risk from mutated viruses

administrators prefer to refrain from  the risk to health workers

21 occupational risk to doctor and nurses

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30 hours baby born to a Wuhan Coronavirus patient infected; possible vertical transmission


The child was born in Wuhan on Sunday and tested positive 30 hours later .

Medics were monitoring the baby closely, but said its condition was stable 

  • Doctors warned the virus might be passed from mothers to unborn babies
  • Another 17-day-old baby in Wuhan was also found to be infected by the virus
  • Coronavirus death toll continues to soar as at least 493 people have been killed 
  • A Chinese baby born to a Wuhan coronavirus patient has been diagnosed with the deadly disease 30 hours after being delivered.Doctors in China. The child was born in Wuhan on Sunday and tested positive 30 hours later .
    Medics were monitoring the baby closely, but said its condition was stable
    • Doctors warned the virus might be passed from mothers to unborn babies
    • Another 17-day-old baby in Wuhan was also found to be infected by the virus
    • Coronavirus death toll continues to soar as at least 493 people have been killed
    • A Chinese baby born to a Wuhan coronavirus patient has been diagnosed with the deadly disease 30 hours after being delivered.Doctors in China are now fearing that the infection could be passed from mothers to their babies in the womb.The news came after experts claimed that the virus might also be spread by faeces. The infected child, whose gender has not been revealed, was born in Wuhan on Sunday. Its mother had been confirmed to have the coronavirus before going into labour.
    • Medics gave the baby a test 30 hours later and the result turned out to be positive. The baby was then transferred to the Wuhan Children’s Hospital, which has been appointed by the government to treat all infected children.The three-day-old baby’s condition was stable and it was being closely monitored, the hospital announced through a post on its official social media account today.’This reminds us to pay attention to a potential new transmission route of the coronavirus – vertical transmission from mothers to babies,’ said Dr Zeng Lingkong, chief physician from the hospital’s Department of Neonatal Medicine.
    • he newborn is one of the two babies that have been found to carry the coronavirus by Wuhan Children’s Hospital. Another 17-day-old baby was found to be sickened after being born healthy on January 13. The hospital said its family hired a wet nurse to look after it on January 22, but the wet nurse was diagnosed with the disease shortly after.The baby’s mother was found to have the coronavirus on January 26 and the baby started to cough and develop a fever three days later. The child was diagnosed with the virus on January 31 after doctors gave it a series of medical checks.
    • Medics are yet to confirm if the baby had caught the virus from its mother or its wet nurse.On Saturday, doctors and nurses wearing hazmat suits and goggles delivered a 7lb 14oz boy in Wuhan Union Hospital.
    a     are now fearing that the infection could be passed from mothers to their babies in the womb.The news came after experts claimed that the virus might also be spread by faeces.The infected child, whose gender has not been revealed, was born in Wuhan on Sunday. Its mother had been confirmed to have the coronavirus before going into labour.
  • Medics gave the baby a test 30 hours later and the result turned out to be positive. The baby was then transferred to the Wuhan Children’s Hospital, which has been appointed by the government to treat all infected children.The three-day-old baby’s condition was stable and it was being closely monitored, the hospital announced through a post on its official social media account today.’This reminds us to pay attention to a potential new transmission route of the coronavirus – vertical transmission from mothers to babies,’ said Dr Zeng Lingkong, chief physician from the hospital’s Department of Neonatal Medicine.
  • he newborn is one of the two babies that have been found to carry the coronavirus by Wuhan Children’s Hospital. Another 17-day-old baby was found to be sickened after being born healthy on January 13. The hospital said its family hired a wet nurse to look after it on January 22, but the wet nurse was diagnosed with the disease shortly after.The baby’s mother was found to have the coronavirus on January 26 and the baby started to cough and develop a fever three days later. The child was diagnosed with the virus on January 31 after doctors gave it a series of medical checks.
  • Medics are yet to confirm if the baby had caught the virus from its mother or its wet nurse.On Saturday, doctors and nurses wearing hazmat suits and goggles delivered a 7lb 14oz boy in Wuhan Union Hospital.
  • corona virus
  • risk to doctor and nurses from mutated virus
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Stools, diarrhea may be hidden risk of Corona Virus Spread


While most of screening for Corona virus is  focused on respiratory samples from pneumonia cases to identify corona-virus patients,  there is possibility that doctors might have ignored a less apparent and hidden source of the spread: diarrhea.

The new corona-virus was detected in faeces inthe first case confirmed in the United States and that finding could point to a hidden risk in the spread of the virus.

“It’s not only excreted in your respiratory secretions, it’s also secreted in your stool,” Scott Lindquist, the state epidemiologist for infectious disease at Washington State’s Department of Health, said on a conference call on Friday, reported Bloomberg.

Fang Li, an associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences at the University of Minnesota, said that the SARS and Wuhan viruses attach to the same protein receptors, which are seen in the lungs and intestines.

John Nicholls, a clinical professor of pathology at the University of Hong Kong, told Bloomberg that fecal material “would be a very likely place where you might get the transmission.”

“If it’s using the same receptor as for SARS, I can’t see why it shouldn’t be replicating in the gut,” he said.

Ten to 20 percent of SARS patients experienced diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Diarrhea was the source of a major outbreak of that coronavirus in a Hong Kong complex. The CDC said that coronaviruses most commonly spread through the air by coughing and sneezing or close personal contact. In rare cases, the viruses spread through fecal contamination.

risk to doctor and nurses from new and mutated germs

Corona virus

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Human-to-human transmission of China Corona virus # symptoms # doctor, nurses


Symptoms: including fever, coughs, breathing difficulties and pneumonia.

Coronaviruses are transmitted between animals and people, and the outbreak in Wuhan has been linked to a now-closed seafood market where live animals were reportedly sold. Preventive measures were also being taken to protect doctors and health care workers.

Patients carrying specially unknown germs are handled by doctor and nurses, who have no clue, what they are dealing with. Time gap in such patients coming to the hospital and the exact diagnosis of finding a dreaded disease, may be quite dangerous to doctors and nurses.To add to the problem, In large number of patients, exact viruses cannot be diagnosed or even suspected. In many cases of ARDS, the causative organism cannot be isolated or identified. It is important for doctors and nurses to take universal precautions at every level. There can be many more viruses or germs which are yet to be discovered or mutated ones that are unknown.

H1N1, Zika, Ebola, SARS are few examples, just to imagine that they existed and handled by health workers as unknown germs, till they were discovered.

China’s National Health Commission has confirmed human-to-human transmissionof a mysterious Sars-like virus that has spread across the country and fueled anxiety about the prospect of a major outbreak as millions begin travelling for lunar new year celebrations.

Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert and head of the health commission team investigating the outbreak, confirmed that two cases of infection in China’s Guangdong province had been caused by human-to-human transmission and medical staff had been infected, China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

Authorities earlier reported 139 new cases of the new strain of coronavirus over the weekend, bringing the total number of infected patients to 217 since the virus was first detected last month in the central city of Wuhan.

Cases were confirmed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong province in the south, heightening fears ahead of the lunar new year holiday, when more than 400 million people are expected to travel domestically and internationally.

State broadcaster CCTV said on Monday evening there were seven suspected cases in other parts of the country, including Shandong in the east, and the south-western provinces of Sichuan, Guangxi and Yunnan. Five people who travelled from Wuhan were also being treated for fevers in Zhejiang province.

“People’s lives and health should be given top priority and the spread of the outbreak should be resolutely curbed,” said China’s president, Xi Jinping, weighing in on the matter for the first time.

The strain has caused alarm because of its connection to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-03. Three people have so far died in the current outbreak, which has spread to Thailand, Japan and South Korea.

The World Health Organization has said an animal source was “the most likely primary source” of the outbreak, with “some limited human-to-human transmission occurring between close contacts”. Researchers worry the number of infections has been severely underestimated.

21 occupational risk to health workers

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Doctor & nurses at risk from unknown or mutated germs@ Mystery virus in China


 

First pneumonia death from mystery virus in China, world on high alert

          The  viruses, bacteria are germs  had been discovered only in last one century and many more are still not known. Patients carrying specially unknown germs are  handled by doctor and nurses, who have no clue, what they are dealing with.   Time gap in such  patients coming to the  hospital  and  the exact diagnosis of finding a dreaded disease, may be  quite dangerous to doctors and nurses. To add to the problem, In  large number of patients, exact viruses cannot be diagnosed or even suspected. In many cases of ARDS, the causative organism cannot be  isolated or identified.  It is important for  doctors and nurses  to take universal precautions from the beginning. There can be many more viruses or germs which are yet to be discovered or mutated ones that  are unknown.

21 occupational risk to doctor and nurses

H1N1, Zika,  Ebola,  SARS  are few examples,  just to imagine that they existed and handled by health workers as unknown germs, till they were discovered.

The death of a 61-year-old man  due to pneumonia from a mystery virus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Saturday has put the world on high alert against another new life-threatening illness. Seven of the 43 others diagnosed with the disease are in a critical condition, but no new cases have been reported since January 3.

To protect the world still smarting from the lightning spread of devastating viral diseases such as H1N1, Zika and Ebola, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued this year’s first  international travel and trade alert on  on January 10 that advised all international travellers to report symptoms of fever with breathlessness and difficulty breathing, especially if they have travelled from China.

On January 9, China announced that the cluster of pneumonia cases reported in December in Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China was caused by a new coronavirus.

Only six viruses from the coronavirus family infect humans, which would make the new one the seventh to cause human disease. The coronavirus viruses cause diseases ranging from the common cold to very severe and life-threatening illness from Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome that caused 851 deaths since it was identified in 2012, and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed 774 of the 8,098 people infected in an outbreak that started in China in 2002.

“Though currently there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, we need to remain vigilant. WHO has shared with all Member States technical guidelines on surveillance, testing as well as infection prevention and control practices for suspected cases. WHO is in close contact with national authorities in the region and will extend all possible support to ensure core capacities are geared up for addressing potential cases that may come to countries,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director, South East Asia Region.

Unknown threat

Some countries in the region, including Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand, have started screening passengers travelling from China for pneumonia symptoms at airports. The health ministry reviewed the situation with WHO experts on Wednesday and plans to start providing travellers with risk-reduction information at airports and other ports of entry, travel agencies and conveyance operators.

“We are waiting and watching as entry screening at ports of entry like airports, seaports, train stations and border check-posts are not cost-effective. It is resource-intensive but offer little benefit,” said a health ministry official, who did not want to be named.

Though no pneumonia have been reported outside Wuhan, which has a population of 11 million, WHO said there is need for caution as the city is a major domestic and international transport hub with heavy population movement. Travel in the region is expected to significantly increase during the Chinese New Year in the last week of January, which increases the potential of infected travellers carrying to other parts of China and the world.

New viruses are formed when mutate to jump species and cause infection in humans. SARS jumped from the civet cat into humans, MERS from dromedary camel, H1N1 from pigs, and Ebola from bats, just to name a few.

The Wuhan City cases have been linked to the South China Seafood Wholesale Market, where some of the patients worked as dealers or vendors. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market deals with fish and other seafood, including sea mammals, along with chicken, bats, rabbits and snakes.

Signs of trouble; The clinical signs of the new lung infection are mainly fever, with a few persons reporting difficulty in breathing. Clinical signs include chest x-rays showing bilateral lung infiltrates (markings) associated with pneumonia and tuberculosis.

With no infection among health care workers treating the patients, preliminary information suggests there is no significant human-to-human transmission, but till the mode of transmission is clearly established, it’s best to take precautions to stay safe.

The WHO advises people travelling in or from affected areas (currently Wuhan) to avoid close contact with people with acute respiratory infections; wash hands frequently, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment; and avoid close contact with live or dead animals. In case of respiratory symptoms before, during or after travel, travellers must seek medical attention and share their travel history with the doctor.

“The WHO advises against travel or trade restrictions on China based on the information currently available on this event,” said Dr Singh.

 

 

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Healthcare system a sinking ship: Says Niti Aayog


A chaotic and non-uniform system, after years of neglect cannot be corrected overnight or by change in piecemeal policies. It needs to be revamped from the roots. To do it from grass root  level especially with financial constraints,  it will need a  sincere will to develop  the system.

                     India’s top think tank said Thursday that the country’s healthcare system resembled a “sinking ship”and desperately needs more private participation in smaller towns to run the government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat program efficiently.

“We would require all hands on deck, as they say,” Niti Aayog adviser Alok Kumar said at the Healthcare Federation of India’s Sixth Annual Summit, referring to the poor state of healthcare in India. The Ayushman Bharat’s insurance program, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), has been facing constraints in smaller cities due to a dearth of hospitals.

“We can’t have all the patients being transported to tier-1 and tier-2 cities for treatment because that is not a model which is sustainable,” Kumar said.

The Lancet, the world’s oldest and most prestigious journal, had last year ranked India’s healthcare system at a dismal 145 out of 195 countries, worse than even North Korea and Syria. The ranking was worse than its smaller Asian peer Philippines and neighbour Sri Lanka, a fact also pointed by Kumar.

Kumar said that a number of hospitals in smaller cities, including those run by public sector enterprises, are under-utilized even though there is strong demand for their services in these regions, especially because of the insurance program.

“Singrauli, for instance, the power capital of India, has hospitals of NTPC, Coal India Ltd; all of them underutilized (like) shells standing. Railway hospitals (are like) shells standing but not being utilized efficiently enough,” Kumar said.

He urged large private hospital chains to manage the hospitals run by state enterprises better by widening the scope of their services to beyond their own employees.

The PMJAY was introduced last year, and aims to provide health insurance cover of ₹5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, which would total around 50 crore beneficiaries.

Ayushman Bharat is the umbrella program, with PMJAY for secondary and tertiary hospitalization, and health and wellness centres for primary healthcare facilities. Under the Ayushman Bharat, the government aims to create around 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres.

While the Indian government aims to increase the share of public health spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2025 under the National Health Policy, currently it is still only around 1%.

Another major problem for the poor state of the sector is the lack of health insurance for patients, leading to an out of pocket expenditure making up for 61% of total health expenses for households, as of 2015-16, latest National Health Accounts data showed.

To reduce out of pocket expenses, the government introduced the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme, but large private hospital chains have shown resistance to participating in it due to ‘low package rates’ for various treatment procedures. Kumar said that the government was willing to listen to hospitals and other private entities and make changes to policy if they were ready to invest in the sector.

 

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Risk to health workers working in remote areas (specially-Women; Doctors & Nurses)


 

Often  an issue is raised that doctors and nurses  are hesitant to go to  remote places.  Brutal rape and murder of Hyderabad vet doctor  is an evidence of the  dangers lurking because of  preying eyes   and lack of security, specially to women health workers (doctors and nurses).

 A  ghastly  incident that highlights the dangers associated with entering unfamiliar places, unsecured environment  and a dark world with  no one to listen to   heart wrenching cries of the unassuming victim. With no serious policing activities, it may turn out to be unthinkable nightmare.

       But  the lady doctor  went  to a place where transport was difficult and paid the price. A  women  is being  posted to an area where transport and security  were not provided and thereby  assigned  an unsafe posting.

         Doctor   should consider these factors before joining at unsafe places.

          Problem is that the system does not take into account the risk to health workers, their convenience  and  family obligations. Their difficulty in transport,  the security issues, providing basic amenities are  not considered important by  administrators.

  The system  that failed to  provide proper transport and security is the  real culprit.

 Till  some one  puts a question to  the  system and makes them accountable, there will be  more cases of this kind.

  Had  the  deceased  not been  a doctor, or from  some  other profession,  there was no compulsion  for her to go to remote areas.

        Lack of medical facilities  and infrastructure add to the  risk, as the health workers are held responsible for  all the short comings. Not infrequently they become the punching bags for the  inept system and infra structure deficiencies.     Females doctors and nurses are at greater  risk for obvious reasons and strangely there are no special provisions made for their security. Usually they are allotted a place where  they have to fend for themselves.  If one thinks it seriously, risk is even  greater than anticipated.

   Women -Doctors & Nurses- need to take precautions and save themselves in view of system insensitivity.

 

21  occupational-risk factors – for doctor and nurses

Real story of female doctor assault- serving uncivilized society

Work life balance problem for female doctor and nurses

Disadvantage of being a doctor

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Who killed Hyderabad  Vet Doctor? Answer : “OUR SYSTEM”


 

      A vet doctor  was subjected to   brutal rape and death in Hyderabad.  An incident that filled  our hearts with  grief  and  pain.

Who are culprits? The four men, caught and will be given punishment. But are they alone the culprits?

       No; there are culprits who will not be even named. Our system is the biggest culprit.             

 Often  an issue is raised that doctors do not go to  remote places.

 But  the lady doctor  went  to a place where transport was difficult and paid the price. A female is posted to an area where transport and security  were not provided. She was given an unsafe posting with no security  and no transport.   The person who gave her  such posting is also the  culprit

         The system  that failed to  provide proper transport and security is the  real culprit. Till  some one  puts a question to  the  system and makes them accountable, there will be  more cases of this kind.

        May  the departed soul rest in peace. 

       Doctor   should consider these factors before joining at unsafe places.

 

 female  doctor  assault ; serving uncivilized society

Young veterinarian murdered, set on fire near Hyderabad after her vehicle broke down

The victim, who had left her house in Shadnagar for Kolluru village to attend her duties at a veterinary hospital, called her sister on Wednesday night to inform that her two-wheeler had broken down while returning home.

A young veterinarian has been murdered by unknown persons, while her burnt body was found on Thursday in Shadnagar town close to the Telangana state capital, police said.The charred body of the victim was found at Chatanpally bridge near Shadnagar town in the Ranga Reddy district.The victim, who had left her house in Shadnagar for Kolluru village to attend her duties at a veterinary hospital, called her sister on Wednesday night to inform that her two-wheeler had broken down while returning home.She told her sister that she was feeling scared and that somebody had offered to help her and taken her vehicle for repair. When her family members tried to contact her later, her mobile phone was found to be switched off.Police said the charred body of a female, aged between 20-25 years, was found near the bridge. Sridhar Reddy identified victim’s body as being that of his daughter.Senior police officers rushed to the scene for launching their investigations and were scanning CCTV footage from a nearby toll gate for clues.It may be recalled that in another gruesome incident earlier this month in the same district a man burnt alive a woman revenue official inside her office near here, but in the process also suffered critical burn injuries himself. The shocking incident occurred in the Abdullapurmet Tahsil Office in Ranga Reddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

 

 

 

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