At BJ, saftey is a PJ

Ticker leading to the headline: Last October, twoKashmiri youths were detained for illegal stay at BJ Medical College hostel.You would like to think it was a wake up call for authorities. Nope. The newhostel blocks are even more unsafe

*The new hostel is located in a slum area, 4 km from the college

* Anybody can get in since guards do not check ID cards.
*A month ago, local goons barged into the hostel with weapons and threatened students

* Cellphone worth Rs 40,000 stolen from hostel room

Authorities of BJ Medical College have still not learnt their lesson. After a fire broke out in the one of their hostel rooms last October, police had detained two Kashmiri youths who were found to be staying illegally in a room allotted to an undergraduate doctor.

State not in the pink of health

Gujarat is promoted as themodel state but when it comes to health conditions, things are not that rosy;the state has the unenviable record of topping the chart on diseases like TB,cholera and oral cancer

Gujarat's model of development might be a thing of envy for many states, but the health index of the state shows that the government has lagged behind in social healthcare. Nationally, the state has recorded the highest number of cases in several other diseases even as swine flu seems to be the biggest health scare affecting Gujarat and a few other states right now. Gujarat recorded the highest number of HIV, drug-resistant cholera, swine flu and oral cancer patients in 2014.

THANK YOU AIN'T ENOUGH

A team of 115 doctors, nurses,anaesthetists, ward boys and laboratory staff has been working round-the-clockat Civil Hospital, attending to patients fighting the H1N1 virus

Swine-flu outbreak has already infected 2,637 people in the city and claimed 46 lives so far.

Most of them have undergone or are still admitted to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital where a team of 115 staff members has been working round-the-clock to save lives. Every day, 21 doctors are assigned different shifts along with anaesthetists, nurses, ward boys and laboratory assis tants.

Very Shameful

In a brazen display of insensitivity, doctors at VSHospital refused to attend to an eight-yearold rape victim for 45 minutes asshe lay in the emergency ward, bleeding from her private parts and writhing inpain. That was not the end of Sunita's (name changed) harrowing experience.When the staff finally attended to her, they made the child relive the traumaby asking uncomfortable questions and discussing the incident among themselvesin front of her. The hospital's alleged delay in providing medical assistanceand the shameful behaviour of the staff is in clear violation of The Protectionof Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012.

SWINE FLU DEATHS - A MATTER OF HEART

Four of every 10 patients who died ofswine flu had cardiac issues; experts say that expectant moms, people withasthma, arthritis, HIV, diabetes and poor immunity are more vulnerable to thevirus

Sixty-four-year-old Sudhir Mehta died of swine flu on January 31, three days after being admitted to Civil Hospital. He was a resident of Thaltej and was referred to the hospital by a private hospital in his neighbourhood.

Swine flu is quickly acquiring epidemic-like proportion in the state and people from across society are dying every day, taking the death toll in the city to 55 by Monday. But a strand seems to run through Mehta's and 22 other cases of death: all of them had a long history of cardiac ailments.

Masking Reality

Swine flu is not new to Gujarat, yet its death toll has gone menacingly out of control. The state has registered 1,392 cases this season, the highest since the deadly disease struck Gujarat in 2009. Despite this, public city hospitals that receive the maximum number of swine flu patients are being careless with the health and safety of their employees and visitors. Mirror visited Civil Hospital, Shardaben Hospital, VS Hospital, and LG Hospital only to find that the hospitals have violated safety guidelines issued by the Union health ministry.

The guidelines mention that people near wards containing patients with infectious diseases should wear masks and protective gear. Children and pregnant women without masks were seen walking past these wards. Forget family members, even hospital staff do not wear masks and gloves. Doctors who are supposed to use N95 respirators wear simple masks while attending to patients. The respirators are not the same as loosely fitted

F(L)UTILE

Prevention is better than cure,they say. But shortage of swine flu vaccines is making it a tough advice tofollow. Flu season has hit Gujarat hard, with experts predicting it to growworse. As death toll rises to 108 in the state this season, shortage ofvaccines is stoking people's fears. "I recently learned that we could vaccinate ourselves against swine flu. I visited four big pharmacies and several small ones across the city but was unable to find anyone stocking the vaccine.

Why is it not available to the common man?" asks Viren Patel, a 34-year-old Bodakdev resident working with a private firm. Monica Raval, a 28-year-old homemaker from Prahladnagar, says, "There are two types of vaccines available: shots and nasal spray. I am pregnant and cannot take the nasal spray which is unsafe for children. I have put my entire family on vaccine watch. They have been to many pharmacies across the city but were unable to find even one that stocked flu shots.'

1,000 new cancer patients at GCRI every year 

The cancer research institute alone has registered an increase of 43 per cent patients in the past five years. Of these 21 per cent are from Ahmedabad

Cancer could well be on its way to becoming the next common cold, if the surge in new cases is any indication. The Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute (GCRI) registered a 43 per cent increase in cancer cases in the past five years. Every year 1,000 new cancer cases are registered at GCRI; of these almost 21 per cent cases are from Ahmedabad.

STRIKE 'EM YOUNG

ONCE DIAGNOSED AMONG PEOPLE ABOVE 60 YEARS, MOUTH AND THROAT CANCERS NOW....

Over the past five years, number of adolescents and people under 40 years of age who have been detected with oral cancer has surged by 106 per cent, say city oncologists

Once considered an old man's disease, oral cancer is on the rise in young adults. Till 2010, people above 60 years were susceptible to oral cancer. However, figures of past five years from city cancer hospitals reveal that more and more youths are being detected with this deadly dis ease. Drinking smoking, unhealthy diet, chronic traum and bad oral hygiene has led to increase in oral cancer in young people, warn experts. According to a recent World Health Organisation report on oral cancer in Ahmedabad, the age of patients shifted from 70-74 years or above in 1985 to 55-59 years in 2010. By 2014, it dropped to those aged 40 years or less.

Data by Gujarat Cancer Research Institute shows that Ahmedabad has highest number of people succumbing to oral cancer. As per the data, most of the oral cancer patients are aged between 20 and 35 years.

Oral cancer surgeon Kaustubh Patel, who works at HCG hospital, says, “In the past five years, oral cancer due to tobacco consumption has increased by 53 pc. Sadly, number of patients below 40 years has also surged by 106 pc between 2012 and 2014.“

Last year alone, the hospital received 1,320 cancer patients. “In 2005, only 14 pc of oral cancer patients were below 40 years of age. This rose to 32 pc in 2014 and continues to rise,“ Dr Patel added.

SIXTH MOST COMMON CANCER

Oral cancer, which is considered to be world's sixth most common cancer, affects lip, tongue, gums, mouth and cheeks. Cancer associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) is mostly found on the tonsils and pharynx. Anyone who develops mouth ulcers or suspicious lesionslumps or sees redwhite patches in their mouth or tongue which do not heal within two weeks, should make an immediate appointment with a doctor.

Interestingly, while awareness has led to decrease in smoking, thereby reducing cases of lung cancer over the past decade, cases of oral cancer are on the rise. Experts believe it is because tobacco is sold in different forms like gutkha, and mawa. In addition, rural dwellers face practical hurdles to diagnosis and treatment, with cancer centres located primarily in city centres, making access to services more difficult.

“Eighty per cent of oral cancer cases is caused by gutkha consumption. Most users are way below 40 years of age. Youngsters do not have money to buy cigarettes so they make do with other forms of tobacco,“ says Dr Vishal Choksi, head and neck cancer surgeon of Apollo Hospital in Gandhinagar.“What is the point of banning gutkha when its substitutes are easily available?“ he asked.

GCRI data supports this. “Areca nuts have alkaloid content which when mixed with mawa and gutkha becomes dangerous. Not just men, even women below 40 years of age are developing oral cancer caused by chewing tobacco,“ says Geeta Joshi, deputy director at GCRI.

CHRONIC TRAUMA, HPV ARE OTHER CAUSES

Dr Patel says, “Chronic trauma can also cause cancer. Sometimes, we constantly bite the inside of our cheek or tongue. Such repeated trauma can lead to lesions which develop into cancer. Cancer can also be caused by the sexually transmitted disease HPV.This can be transmitted through kissing and oral sex. It is important to maintain good oral hygiene as lesions, canker sores or bleeding gums provides entry point for the virus to enter the body.“

If care is not taken, oral cancer will soon spread among adolescents, say experts. Dr Nirav Trivedi of Narayana Multispecialty Hospitals says, “In our hospital, every fourth patient is below the age of 40.We are getting more and more teenagers who get oral cancer after consuming tobacco.“ Awareness, preventive tests and early detection can save lives of many, advise experts.

LOOK OUT

Symptoms of oral cancer includes:

» Loose teeth

» Unresolved sore in the mouth that continues to bleed

» Spot of tissue in the mouth that is white or red in color

» Difficulty swallowing or chewing

» A lump found in the cheek, mouth, or neck

» Persistent earache

» Numbness in the mouth, neck, or face

» Users with less than 5 yrs of tobacco addiction should go for yearly checkups

» Users with more than 5 years of addiction should go for six-monthly checkups

Microbes, heavy metals slip past AMC water labs

The laboratories are not equipped to test heavy metals and advanced microbes in drinking water; this despite the fact that water-borne diseases has surged by about 25 per cent in a year

# 8,000 Amdavadis were diagnosed with diarrhoea in 2014, up by about 25 per cent over the 2013 figure.

# Jaundice and typhoid have also raised their heads as their cases soared by 26 per cent and 44 per cent respectively.

 Despite the shocking surge in the water-borne diseases in the city, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s water testing laboratories are not equipped to test advanced microbes and heavy metals and in drinking water as prescribed by World Health Organisation (WHO). This is not only contributing to rise in water-borne diseases but also damaging vital body organs like kidney, liver, bone and blood.

HOW JUVENILE

State registered a 51% increase in crimes against children in just a year, says NCRB. But who cares!

The district Child WorkingCommittees (CWC), the final authority to dispose of cases related to protectionand rehabilitation of children, are short of members

*Existing CWC members do not meet regularly

*Selection panel that chooses members of CWC has not been formed yet

Crimes against children in the state have surged by 51 per cent in just a year as per the 2013 data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau. These include child abuse, child labour and exploitation to name a few.In 2012, there were 1,327 such cases.However, in 2013, as many as 2,000 cases were registered across Gujarat. Several of these cases, which violate child rights and require victim's protection, go to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) formed in each district of the state.