Pregnancy drugs in short supply

Due to a disruption in manufacturing, several Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation hospitals are facing an acute shortage of essential medicines for pregnant women. Doctors are mainly blaming late submission of tenders for the dire situation, while patients have been left with no option but to buy medicines from private clinics at a higher price.
Sumir Khanna, an auto driver, had to run from pillar to post to find methyldopa, a drug that was given to his wife who is six months pregnant to control her high blood pressure. His wife was admitted to Sion Hospital for treatment related to high blood pressure. The doctor prescribed methyldopa, but as it was unavailable, he had to buy it from outside at a higher price.

Unclaimed bodies pile up at Sewri TB hospital

Every year, several tuberculosis (TB) patients who come to the city from across the country for treatment, succumb to the infection at the Sewri TB hospital. But many of the bodies remain unclaimed by their relatives due to stigma and fear attached to the infection. But this has become a concern among morgue workers as the hospital morgue is piled up with abandoned dead bodies. To add to their concerns, red tape further delays the process of cremation of the bodies by at least 30 days. But by that time, the body starts decomposing.
The Sewri TB Hospital, one of Asia’s largest TB hospitals, is suffering from an acute shortage of mortuary staffers. And the increasing number of unclaimed bodies in the morgue is worsening the situation.

Genital TB cases on the rise, result in female infertility

Hema Saha, a 31-year-old woman, suddenly started experiencing a mild pain in her abdomen and irregular periods. Her condition further aggravated when the pain gradually increased. Finally, when she consulted a doctor, to her shock, she was diagnosed with genital tuberculosis.
Despite repeated attempts, the couple had been unable to conceive. After the diagnosis, her reports showed that she was infertile and her condition had aggravated due to the delay in diagnosis.

Man cries negligence over stillborn baby

Sunil Keswani, a call centre employee from Thane, is incenced and indignant after his first child was stillborn due to alleged medical negligence. Mr Keswani was counting down the number of days to when his wife would deliver their first child, when things took an unfortunate turn and their nine-month-old child died in his mother’s womb. Mr Keswani filed a complaint against the doctors of a private hospital for medical negligence with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) on March 14.
“When I took my nine-month-pregnant wife to a private hospital, they did not take proper care of her. Though she was suffering from high blood pressure and the water level in her womb was low, they did not do proper diagnosis and discharged her from the hospital which later led to medical complications and killed our child,” said Mr Keswani. “They did not even check the movement of the baby and sadly, he died on March 12,” he added.

Drugs ban worries city diabetics

After the Union health ministry banned 344 fixed dose combination drugs recently, chemists are still unclear and in confusion over the identity of the banned combinations, which is creating trouble for diabetic patients in procuring their medicine.
On Saturday, Anita Aggawal, a diabetic patient, had to run from one medical store to another in search of her anti-diabetic combination drug of Pioglitazone 15 mg and Metformin 500 mg. But all chemists refused to give her one after the ban on the combination of Pioglitazone 7.5 mg and Metformin 500 mg. Though the banned combination is different from the one needed by Anita, she said chemists still refused to give her the drug.

Lack of anaesthetists hurts TB hospital

Sewri Hospital, one of the biggest TB hospitals in Asia with 1,000 beds, does not have a single anaesthetist in the hospital. For every major thoracic surgery, the hospital calls anaesthetists from KEM, Nair or Sion Hospital. Often, surgeries get delayed due to this process, putting patients’ lives at risk.
In 2015, 41 super major thoracic surgeries were performed in the hospital; and in all the surgeries, anaesthetists were called from other hospitals. Due to this nine surgeries got delayed as patients had to wait because of an anaesthetist.

Girl child preferred for adoption

Reams have been written about the inhuman treatment meted out to a majority of girl children in the country however when it comes to adoption, girl children happen to be the preferred choice. Nearly 76 per cent of those who apply for child adoption choose girls over boys. However, when it comes to abandoning children, 75 per cent of abandoned children happen to be girls.
Hema Kumar (name changed) was only three months old when her parents abandoned her near a temple in Kalyan. When the police could not find her parents despite investigation, the Maharashtra State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA) took her under their wing. As luck would have it, two years ago, an engineer couple adopted her without discriminating against her gender.

Teen beats TB, appears for board exams

When there is a will, there is a way. A 15-year-old Class 10 student has proved this by appearing for her board examinations despite undergoing a critical surgery to treat tuberculosis in her spine, neck and lower back.
Mahek Shah was preparing for her Class 10 examinations in mid-2015 when she suddenly started experiencing pain in her back, which gradually became severe. Mahek, who lives in Mumbai with her family, endured the pain for four months, which also affected her studies. Her family consulted many doctors and orthopaedics but their efforts were vain, with the teenager continuing to suffer from pain.

Government brings in biometric system for doctors, officers

Taking a stern step to discourage the absence of government doctors and medical officers from their work place, the state health ministry has decided to make biometric attendance compulsory. Their attendance will be linked with their Aadhaar card and their salary. So, if they fail to log in, they would suffer a cut in their salaries. Disciplinary action can also be taken against such doctors or officers.
This new initiative will be implemented at all primary health care centres, rural sub district hospitals, and district hospitals, along with State Employment Insurance Scheme, National Rural Health Mission, Maharashtra AIDS Control Society and State Transfusion Council. The officer in-charge shall be responsible to ensure that all employees are biometrically registered, the government resolution stated.

Still no CCTV at most hospitals

Despite repeated demands for installing CCTV cameras in maternity homes for better security for new born babies, so far only 37 per cent of the proposed CCTV cameras have been installed in 27 maternity homes and one maternity hospital.
Every year, around 80,000 babies are born in civic run maternity homes in the city. In the past, several newborn babies have been kidnapped from the hospitals due to lack of security.
In January of this year, a newborn child was kidnapped from the hospital.

Centres for rape victims face staff crunch

The Bombay high court directed the state government on March 22 to set up trauma centres across the state for rape victims, but medical experts have stated that one-point crisis centres are reeling under manpower crunch and poor infrastructure, which is affecting victims.
In Mumbai, there are three such centres, which function at KEM, Nair and Sion Hospitals. They were established to ensure that rape victims are provided with better treatment, counselling and rehabilitation immediately after registration of an FIR.

Mumbai fares worst in health insurance

Mumbai fares worst among metro cities in a comparison of the number of households covered by health insurance in India. Only 12.4 per cent of the total households in the city are covered by health insurance, according to the National Family Health Survey 4 recently released by the Union health ministry.
Mumbai consists of 6,74,339 households but only 80,920 households have health insurance, the survey said. Chennai has recorded the highest health coverage of households under health insurance with 54 per cent success rate.

‘KEM Hospital flouting norms’

A Right to Information (RTI) query by a doctor has revealed that KEM Hospital has been flouting norms while collecting blood during blood donation camps.
According to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, to collect blood from 50 to 70 donors in about three hours or from 100 to 120 donors in about five hours, it is compulsory to have one medical officer, two nurses or phlebotomists to manage six to eight donor tables, two medico-social workers,