‘HIV testing is primary, horoscope matching secondary’

Anita Mishra (name changed), a 27-year-old resident of Nagpur married a 30-year-old IT professional Ramesh Mishtra (name changed) last year and settled down in Thane. The couple had settled in perfectly until a blood test report changed their lives forever.

Patients feel the crunch in hospital-staff standoff

Patients at Prince Aly Khan Hospital have been getting their meals late for the past six months due to shortage of cooking staff members. Though the hospital has a sanctioned strength of eight employees for the kitchen department, only five are employed, forcing them to work 12-hour shifts, in violation of labour laws.

Fight to ban lewd videos continues

Based on a petition filed by a 24-year-old from Pune, YouTube was, on Thursday, forced to remove a child-abusing channel. The petitioner Tejeswani Naik has also written to other channels that are also broadcasting the offensive videos where students, in open schools, are forced to learn statements like “Your waifu is shit” and “Mani, is a lesbion fag”.

Hospital class 4 employee in suicide bid

A 32-year-old woman, a class 4 employee of Prince Aly Khan Hospital tried to commit suicide on Wednesday, because she was allegedly fired from work for withdrawing a sexual harassment case against a hospital union member.
There are reportedly two unions in the hospital that represent class 4 employees and technicians. However, since the formation of the second union, there had been a continuous clash to override each other.

Blue dot to help India’s diabetics

In a positive development for diabetics, menu cards at Indian restaurants and food packets might soon carry blue dots to represent diabetes-friendly food items.
Currently, only two dots are in use — red and green, signifying non-vegetarian and vegetarian food respectively. Blue has been selected as the colour to represent food that is favourable for consumption by diabetics as the World Health Organisation (WHO) uses a blue circle in the ‘World Diabetes Day’ emblem.

Blood communities thrive on social media

On November 4 ‘Blood For Needy’ tweeted about the urgent need of a donation of AB positive blood group for a kidney patient admitted to Breach Candy Hospital. She needed the blood for her kidney transplant that was due after two days. Soon, the tweet got several retweets and within a few hours, the requirement was fulfilled.

Drug-resistant bacteria worries doctors

Ankit Dholakiya, a 12-year-old boy from Nerul was suffering from a seasonal flu. Instead of taking him to a paediatrician, his parents gave him an over-the-counter drug from a medical shop. When his condition did not improve, they took him to a general physician who administered another dose of antibiotic medicine.

Post-Diwali, city air is still ‘poor’

Diwali may have ended, but its effects are still looming over the city. Though air quality has improved by few points, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), on Saturday Mumbai recorded a ‘poor’ air quality level with an air quality index (AQI) of around 240, which is categorised as ‘Increasing likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals especially children and the elderly.’

Vashi student turns saviour, helps 79 birds during Diwali

Even as his family and friends were busy celebrating Diwali, a 23-year-old Vashi resident was busy attending to his feathered friends. In the last three days, Nikhil Kolekar, an MBA student, has rescued 79 birds that were taken ill caused from pollution by firecrackers.
Mr Kolekar had started a bird rescue helpline in 2008 despite opposition from his family.
“I have rescued 79 birds this Diwali. Most of the injured birds were pigeons and woodpeckers. Unlike eagles or cows, these birds have weak hearts. So, the pollution created from fire crackers affects their breathing system and they fall down,” said Mr Kolekar.

Non-obese teens are falling prey to Type 2 diabetes

In the past five years, the number of teenagers falling prey to Type 2 diabetes has increased by 25 per cent due to changing lifestyle and environmental factors. Also, according to the doctors, non-obese children below the age of 15 have also been consulting them for treatment of diabetes.
Sonia Thakkar, a 14-year-old from Vashi, was leading a normal life until she met with an accident while playing at the school ground. Though not grievously wounded, despite immediate and continuous medication, her injury did not show much improvement. This made her parents doubtful and they took her to a hospital. It was only then they got to know that Sonia had Type 2 diabetes.
Previously, Type 2 was mainly diagnosed among patients above 50 years of age. But there has been a shift in the trend and more number of teenagers are getting diagnosed with the condition.

Maharashtra ignores WHO guideline

Despite World Health Organisation’s (WHO) new guideline to provide antiretroviral therapy for everyone diagnosed with HIV regardless of CD4 cell count, state ART centers are ignoring it, a move that can lead to more deaths.
Anita Mehta, 32-year-old, resident of Thane succumbed to HIV infection last month after struggling for a year. She would have survived for a few more years had she started the treatment at an earlier stage. Like her, hundreds of HIV-infected patients die due to delay in treatment. To address this issue, WHO had on October 1, released a new guideline calling for universal antiretroviral treatment to all patients irrespective of the CD4 counts.

City airport a hub for gold smuggling

The city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has recorded the highest number of gold smuggling cases in India with a record 1,150 cases in 2014. A Right to Information (RTI) query revealed that the anti-smuggling department at the city airport in the same period had seized around 1,000 kg of gold.
The RTI has revealed that gold smuggling in the city airport has increased drastically in the past three years. In Mumbai airport, a total of 534 cases were detected in 2012 and after dropping to 448 cases in 2013, it again surged to 1,150 cases in 2014 recording a 115 per cent rise in gold smuggling.
The Mumbai airport has recorded the highest number of gold smuggling cases in India followed by Chennai (970), New Delhi (401) and Kolkata (233) in 2014. The RTI application was filed by The Asian Age to the anti-smuggling unit, department of revenue, New Delhi.
The RTI reply also said there had been a change in the trend of crime with more number of insiders getting involved in the smuggling. However, as per the RTI, only six ground staff members, airline staffers have been arrested in connection with gold smuggling in the city airport in 2014. Whereas, no airport or airline staff members were arrested in 2013 and 2012.
Additional commissioner of Air Intelligence Unit Milind Lanjewar said, “It is mandatory for all the ground staff and cabin crew members to go through customs checking while arriving from an international route.”
Most of the yellow metals are smuggled from Saudi Arabia where the price of gold is lower than in India. After the recent series of gold seizures from the airline crews, the customs department has sent a notice to all the airlines asking them to ensure their crews do not evade customs clearing.
Mumbai also serves as a gateway for gold smuggling to neighbouring states such as Gujarat, where 40 per cent of the seized gold from the city get transported. On October 10, 3 kg of gold worth Rs 80 lakh was seized from a Mumbai resident from the Ahmedabad airport. The gold was concealed in an audio amplifier in his bag.
“Most of the smugglers carry the gold through international airlines and land at Mumbai. Then they smuggle the gold to Ahmedabad. Of late, smugglers are using newly-wed couples to get gold into the city,” said A.K. Sharma, director of the Ahmedabad airport.

Only 60 per cent kids got free glasses under scheme

The state health department has fallen short of its target to provide free spectacles to more than 84,000 schoolchildren under the National Blindness Control Programme (NBCP) with only 60 per cent of the estimated children getting the benefit so far.
Under National Blindness Control Programme (NBCP), the state health department was supposed to provide free spectacles to more than 84,000 school children, but the benefit has only been provided to 60 per cent of the targeted children. According to data procured by The Asian Age, only 51,736 school children studying in government schools have been provided with free spectacles while 32,544 children were left out.