‘Small nursing homes will vanish under Act’

The Medicos Legal ActionGroup has express discontent about the inter-ministerial committee decision onnot exempting small-sized nursing homes across the country from the ClinicalEstablishment Act (CEA). Thousands of small and medium healthcareestablishments (SMHCE) across India will vanish due to the Act in the comingyears due to the stringent rules, experts have claimed.

“All small-sized nursing homes dotting the country will get closed down in coming years under CEA. Small and medium healthcare establishments, irrespective of whether they are manned by a single doctor or multiple doctors and irrespective of being in rural or urban areas, nursing homes with up to 20 beds should be given relaxation in minimum standards as is given to small and medium scale industries under a separate Act,” said Dr Neeraj Nagpal, convenor, Medicos Legal Action Group, managing director MLAG Indemnity.

SMHCE mainly represents nursing homes with less than 20 beds. In a recent meeting held on December 8, the committee exempted only ‘single doctor establishments’ (SDE).

Patients feel the crunch in hospital-staff standoff

Every year, hundreds fallprey to HIV infection through blood transfusion, states the data given by National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco). However, medical experts said manyinfected patients do not reveal their medical condition while donating blood. Butgovernment bodies that monitor transfusion don’t have any regulations to curbsuch incidences.

As per a Right to Information application in possession with The Asian Age, the central government body, Naco along with Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society (MDACS) that function under it don’t have any penal provision under the blood policy. The person who filed the RTI application did not want to reveal his identity.

“We don’t have any penal provision to stop such activities. If a donor deliberately donates his infected blood, the medical expert on field won’t know about it. So, there is no way to control such activities,” said Dr Srikala Acharya, director of Mumbai State AIDS Control Society (Msacs).

“After blood test, if we find any donor positive, we dispose the blood and contact the donor for counseling. We advice such donors not to donate their blood again and take precautionary measures,” she added.

‘Rise in temperature will affect male fertility’

The rising temperatures in the city caused by climate change will have a majorimpact on men as with the increase in temperature, their fertility decreases,claimed medical experts.

“The temperature of Mumbai is comparatively better than other western regional states. But the fluctuation in temperature is a concern. If there is a long span of days when the temperature is above 27 degree Celsius, then it affects the fertility in men as the sperm count drops,” said Dr Suchitra Pandit, gynecologist and obstetrician, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Addressing the concern, Dr Hetal Parekh, consultant fertility physician, from Hiranandani Hospital said, “We have seen that in winter months, men are more fertile than in summer months due to the difference in temperature. So, if winters also become warmer, the fertility in men will be adversely affected thus resulting in low reproduction rate.”

In 10 years, only 3 doctos suspended

Over 746 cases of medical negligence recorded, but actiontaken against meagre number of doctors. In the past 10 years, over 746 cases of medical negligence have been recordedwith the Medical Council of India (MCI), Maharashtra, but so far, only threedoctors have been suspended in the state.

According to data gathered from MCI, complaints about medical negligence have seen a steady rise. In 2005, only 54 cases were registered which rose to 142 in 2014.

Also, the rate of disposal of cases has suffered a decline. In 2014, the council did not dispose of a single case whereas in 2013, out of a total of 107 cases registered, only 13 were decided upon.

Medical negligence cases gather dust at JJ Hospital

In 2013, Nandini Suchde, a resident of Colaba filed acomplaint at Azad Maidan police station against doctors from Bombay Hospitalalleging negligence that led to the death of her mother.

As per rules, police referred her case to a team of medical experts at Sir JJ Group of Hospitals for further investigation. The panel confirmed professional medical negligence and an FIR was registered against the doctors by the police station. However, a few months later, the same panel refuted the report and denied medical negligence in the case.

Centralised blood bank awaits funds

Even as medical experts insist that blood banks be made centralised, the Rs 340 crore central project, Centre of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine (COE) at Sion Hospital, has hit a roadblock. The project was proposed in 2009 and had been approved by the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) in 2011.

However, the proposed state-of-the-art Metro Blood Bank is in the lurch as National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) failed to provide money, a Right to Information query has revealed. Suresh Shetty, who had initiated the project during his tenure as health minister, said, “The project had hit roadblocks initially because of opposition by hospital staff over the approval of land but we resolved the issue and also got approval from the BMC.

34 per cent kids of HIV moms are not tested till 18 months

A National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) report has revealed that only 66 per cent of children of HIV positive mothers are tested till 18 months while 23 per cent of such vulnerable babies become untraceable and the remaining 11 per cent die before attaining 18 months of age. The report was published after Naco officials in Maharashtra studied around 11,000 HIV positive mothers along with their newborn babies.
As per Naco, it is mandatory to do all necessary tests till 18 months to find out if the baby of an HIV positive mother is HIV positive or not. According to experts, delay in providing treatment may lead to deterioration in health of the child which can lead to its death.

Childhood bullying can lead to depression in adults

Almost one in every 10 child faces bullying, but its impact can linger on into adulthood. According to doctors in the city, childhood bullying can lead to depression later on in life.
Sumir Khanna*, a 35-year-old businessman from Ghatkopar, was on the verge of depression, which was not only affecting his career but also his family life.
Helpless, Rita*, his wife — left with no option— took him to GT Hospital to see a psychiatrist. No one would have suspected that his depression was related to traumatic events that had happened 20 years earlier.

Boost for production of plasma drugs

The Union health ministry in a circular issued last week has permitted blood banks with component separation facility to exchange their surplus plasma with indigenous fractionators in return for plasma-derived products. Fractionation involves separation of blood into its components so that protein components in plasma can be turned into useful medicines.