Organ transplant system still needs work
On Oct. 16, 1997, the Organ Transplants Law went into effect, clearing the way for organ transplants from donors who have been determined brain dead. Although it has been more than a half-year since the landmark legislation was passed, not a single tranplant from the brain dead donors has been …
Weapon against strokes
Researchers have found a way to use a drug to help people avoid strokes by keeping open the blood's channels to the brain. Dr. Bankole Johnson, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, made his discovery using the drug, isradipine, which prevents contraction …
Eating your way to immunity
US researchers reported recently that for the first time they had immunized people against a disease by having them eat a few servings of genetically engineered food. In that experiment-the first such effort in people-volunteers dined on gene-altered potatoes and developed immune respones against a disease-causing bacterium.
Toxic waste
Hazardous to waste health : While international attention focusses on the widespread fires causing air pollution in Southeast Asia, a less obvious health threat is sickening thousands of Asians. Hazardous waste threatens millions of people in Asia, a booming region that seems intent on industrializing at almost any cost.
Court asks Apollo to subsidise medicines
The Delhi high court has directed the state governemnt to consider the possibility of subsidising the important medicines which were extremely costly and cannot be provided free of cost by hospitals in the city.
The viagra craze
Viagra may help millions of men and even some women. But there are some risks to taking Viagra that everyone, should consider before rushing to the pharmacy.
State to bear cost of blood
The Government is considering to levy a processing charge for blood being supplied by the government hospitals, a senior health ministry official has said.
Cell-culture change boosts artificial liver
A research group from Kyushu University said it has developed a high performance artificial liver for treatment of fulminant hepatic failure, where patients fall into a coma due to a sudden severe decline in liver function.
200 hospitalised with gastro
High incidence of gastroenteritis was reported in some parts of the city with the admission of around 200 cases during the last two days at the Fever hospital, in Hyderabad at Nallakunta.According to hospital records, the hospital was flooded with an unusual number of patients suffering from gastroenteritis on Saturday …
Dengue surges in Singapore
Dengue cases have risen sharply in Singapore and if not checked would reach a record this year, the Sunday Times reported. It quoted the environment ministry as saying there were 1,786 cases in the first four months of the year, almost double that in the same period last year.The number …
Wrong policies lead to shortage of blood
India will soon have to import blood worth thousands of crores annually because of shortage resulting from short-sighted policies. Leading social activists trace the policies to a public interest petition filed by the chief of Common Cause H.D. Shourie demanding the stoppage of a decades-old system whereby Indians who needed …
Male teens at higher HIV risk
study : Male teen-agers engage in risky behaviour associated with HIV infection more than previously thought, and they are also much more willing to report such behavior if the survey is administered by computer, rather than on paper, a new study suggests. The research appears to call into question much …
- Seeping death
Safe drinking water, sanitation and a healthy living environment remain a dream for the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy of December 3, 1984 , that claimed 16,000 lives. Today over 1.5 lakh people in the 10 wards around the Union Carbide Limited (UCL) are forced to use water, contaminated …
- Hiccups in AIDS control
Govt : In a rare brainstorming session on strategies and programmes to control the spread of AIDs in the state, the West Bengal government has admitted there were several drawbacks in the implementation of projects during the first phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) which began in 1992.
Criminalising dissent
Food slander laws in the U.S. : Citizens have become even more concerned about food safety and other health-related agricultural issues. In the US, some 80% of consumers have expressed concern about issues such as pesticide and antibiotic residues, genetic engineering, animal feeding practices and bacterial contamination. Quietly but persistently …
SmithKline to launch hepatitis vaccines
International Healthcare major SmithKline Beecham (SB), is all set to launch a cluster of vaccines in India in 1998-99. These include a hepatitis-A vaccine, a two-in-one hepatitis A &B; vaccine and another targeted at preventing chicken pox.
Kidney-theft racket flourishing in Bihar
A flourishing kidney theft racket, involving foreign national was traced to a nursing home in Ranchi by a Mumbai Crime Branch team, following complaints of a man who was robbed of one of his kidneys by doctors of a local nursing home working in nexus with agents in Mumbai. This …
