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Mukhyamantri Digital Health Yojana (MDHY): Introduction of Mukhyamantri Digital Health Yojana (MDHY) in Bihar involves digitizing the state’s health system to improve healthcare services and ensure transparent governance. It will connect 13,000 public health facilities and 30,000 healthcare professionals, providing easy access to medical advice and services for citizens. The project utilizes the ‘BHAVYA’ Hospital Information Management System (HIMS) and centralizes healthcare data for enhanced transparency and efficiency. This initiative supports SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-being by digitizing the state’s health system, improving healthcare services, and providing easy access to medical advice and services for citizens. more at the source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/blackslate-corner/in-national-multidimensional-poverty-index-2023-bihar-recorded-the-steepest-decline-in-number-of-mpi-poor/
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In India, two simulation exercises were conducted in Uttar Pradesh to - identify bottlenecks
- address possible challenges
- ensure a smooth #COVID19 vaccine roll-out in the largest state of the country
Vaccinating a large group of people is not easy, but the largest state of the country – Uttar Pradesh – prepared well for this task. With more than 200 million people residing in it, having conducted numerous vaccination campaigns in the past, preparing the health system to vaccinate its people was not new to the state government. However, to ensure smooth running of the much anticipated COVID vaccination introduction involving adult populations when the disease is still spreading, two dry runs were conducted in all 75 districts: one on January 5, 2020 in 853 sites and the other on January 11, 2020 at 3081 sites. Among these sites, half were in urban and the other half in rural areas in first dry run. This is the kind of planning and execution strategy which is part of the success of India's COVID Vaccination program. Well done India Read the mid-planning phase post about this on the WHO Website https://www.who.int/india/news/feature-stories/detail/preparing-the-largest-state-health-system-for-covid-vaccine-introduction-an-update-from-uttar-pradesh
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Why every medical practitioner across the nation writes Illegible way on prescriptions?.
No government organisation had an answer for this and how it came in to practice, but finally the stage is set to curb the practice due to a sustained campaign of a Nalgonda based pharmacist as Medical Council of India General Body had resolved to issue guidelines asking the practitioners to use only capital letters on prescription.
The pharmacist, Chilukuri Paramathma, has said that he approached the High Court, Hyderabad, for banning the usage of present style of writing as it is leading to confusion in pharmacists. Unable to understand the prescriptions, he said that there are so many instances of pharmacists giving wrong medicine to patients that even led to disasters. He explained such an instance saying that a pharmacist working with a pharmacy chain store in Vidyanagar in Hyderabad had given ‘Tegrital’ Tablet instead of ‘Trental’ tablet to a pregnant woman as he misunderstood the prescription.
The ‘Trental’ tablet was intended for better blood circulation in pregnant woman, but Tegrital tablet is meant for abortion. As she got aborted after taking the tablet, that had turned into a big issue. Mr. Paramathma had gathered such 100 tablet names looks like homonyms in English which were presented before the High Court through a Public Interest Litigation.
A two-member Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Joythi Senguptha and Justice Sanjay Kumar had taken up the case for hearing on 24, February, 2014 and issued directions asking the Medical Council of India (MCI)and other stakeholders to take appropriate action.
The MCI had decided to issue guidelines asking the doctors to write the prescriptions only in capital letters in a general body meeting held on March 28. The decision of MCI along with a draft notification has been sent for Centre’s approval on June 9 this year. Once the Centre gives it’s nod, every medical practitioner in India will have to follow the guidelines to be issued by the Centre.
more at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/courts-prescription-for-doctors/article6268646.ece
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FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., contrasted the craftsmanship and beauty of India’s Taj Mahal with recent lapses in quality by “a handful” of the country’s drug manufacturers during a recent visit there. If the comparison was meant to flatter the domestic pharma executives and regulators with whom she met, they didn’t appear to think so.
Dr. Hamburg and officials from India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare pledged cooperation in data sharing and even “medical and cosmetic product and inspections conducted by the other Participant.” That’s no small promise since India is the world’s second largest exporter of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Yet their formal Statement of Intent conditioned such cooperation “as time and resources allow” and didn’t set specific terms.
In a conference call with reporters today, Dr. Hamburg said implementing the statement was a five-year commitment “already under way” as both countries “have already embarked upon some cross-training activities and started to identify some critical areas for future activities together, so I think progress will be made.”
Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy has come under repeated FDA scrutiny. It agreed last year to pay a $500 million fine for safety and record-keeping violations. More recently, it urged Dr. Hamburg to lift the FDA’s consent decree. Extended as of January, this decree effectively bans four of Ranbaxy’s Indian plants from exporting active pharmaceutical ingredients to the United States. Although Ranbaxy contended that it needed the export activity to fund FDA-sought quality improvements, Dr. Hamburg declined the company’s request.
Domestic Generics According to the All India Chemists and Druggists Association data reported by Indian newspaper The Economic Times, Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals impacted the Rs 3,000 crore ($483.7 million) Indian diabetes drug market long dominated by multinationals last year. Glenmark racked up Rs 16 crore ($2.58 million) in eight months for its Zitamed and Zita generic versions of sitagliptin
These generics sold 30% cheaper than the Januvia and Janumet branded drugs of market leader Merck & Co., which generated more than $5.8 billion in combined global 2013 sales for Merck and are the subject of a patent dispute between the companies.
Through court decisions and regulatory actions, Indian officials have pressed foreign-based multinationals for lower-cost drugs. These multinationals, however, have argued that Indian actions hinder their ability to do business selling innovative if costlier drugs. Patent Questions India’s Patent Office sent shivers through the biopharma industry in 2012 when it revoked the exclusive patent rights held by Bayer for cancer drug Nexavar, and awarded the nation’s first-ever compulsory license to a domestic maker of a much cheaper generic. Industry cringed again last year when India’s Supreme Court rejected patent protection for Novartis’ blockbuster cancer drug Glivec, as the drug faces a 2015 expiration of its first U.S. patent.
The patent decisions, Bagla explained, reflect Indian compliance with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization, of which India is a founding member.
“Western companies need to factor this situation among the risks of doing business in India,” Bagla emphasized. “Some of our clients are limiting their involvement in India due to this. Others are a taking a measured approach to what products and technologies they bring. Very few are walking away from India completely.”
Legal and Regulatory Moves Last year, the Indian Supreme Court ordered a nationwide halt to clinical trials for 157 new chemical entities, citing the need for stricter ethical standards after seven girls died in a Phase IV trial of an HPV vaccine carried out on children unaware they were under study. The court also shifted responsibility for trials from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization headed by Dr. Singh, ordering India’s Health Secretary personally responsible for new-drug clinical trials.
This is a summarized scoop of the original which contains a lot more details at http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligence/rougher-passage-to-india-s-drug-market/77900044/
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As part of its plans to propagate the benefits of traditional Indian form of medicine, leading Ayurvedic healthcare company Dabur India Ltd today launched 'Ayurveda Samvad', India's first Ayurvedic Medical Journal.
The quarterly journal was unveiled by Shailaja Chandra, General Secretary, AYUSH, Government of India.
The quarterly publication will cover detailed information on various clinical trials being conducted on Ayurvedic medicines.
Announcing the launch, Dabur India Ltd Ayurveda R&D Head Dr J L N Sastry said the journal would cover the holistic approach on Ayurveda. It would popularise Ayurveda and reach out to the doctor fraternity to propagate messages on the Ayurvedic way of life to manage health and diseases.
The journal will feature articles covering original scientific studies in the field of Ayurvedic medicines with direct clinical significance, addressing health care issues and public health policy.
more at http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/dabur-launches-india-s-first-ayurvedic-medical-journal-114022200250_1.html
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India, being a huge country, has always suffered from lack of universal access to quality healthcare. As a result, a huge chunk of healthcare needs end up being unmet. However, with the increased proliferation of information technology in the healthcare industry, access to healthcare has been positively influenced. Healthcare is now accessible at our fingertips in the form of online appointments, online consultations, online delivery of medicines, etc. However, this digital avenue also requires the government to lay down the appropriate legal framework to prevent misuse of technology and exploitation of the end customer/user. Even though there has been an honest attempt at regulating the online healthcare industry by the authorities, the current regulatory regime is a hit and miss. The regulatory clarity around the e-healthcare industry does not extend to the e-pharmacy industry, because of which the last mile connectivity of the e-healthcare industry is severely affected. E-pharmacies have been caught in a regulatory quagmire ever since they first started operating in the country. The need of the hour is to put in place a comprehensive framework for digital healthcare in India which takes into its fold all its key components. Online delivery of medicines cannot be divorced from online consultations and therefore, a standardised regulatory regime needs to be set up to provide clarity to all the stakeholders in this industry. The regulatory initiatives relating to online consultations such as the Telemedicine Guidelines, EHR Guidelines, etc. also need to be extended to online pharmacies to instil confidence in major market players. read the entire article at https://www.mondaq.com/india/healthcare/1063794/digital-healthcare-in-india-a-need-for-standardisation
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Two crore people in India develop knee problems that may require an implant. However, only around one lakh patients undergo implants while the rest cannot afford the expensive treatment. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked the sellers to upload the prices of the implants on their websites. NPPA has issued the order for ensuring that the sellers comply with the price fixation. The authority had also fixed the price of the implants on August 16. "All manufacturers, importers, distributors, stockists, hospitals, nursing homes and clinics must display on 'home page' of their website, the MRP or the price of the knee implant system at which they are charging or billing the patients, along with the brand name, specifications, and names of the manufacturing and marketing company, within three working days from issuing this office memorandum," stated Kalyan Nag, Adviser, NPPA in the order. more at http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-upload-knee-implant-prices-on-website-nppa-2541307
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Do you still have a family physician? - In the time of super-specialisation in medicine and healthcare, patients seem to bemoan the scarcity of the family doctor who cured their sniffles without making them undergo a battery of tests. Where is the general physician now?
Sorry situation
India produces nearly 42,000 MBBS doctors every year. But of these, only 8,000 to 10,000 take up general medical practice as a profession
India does not offer an MD in family medicine. Of close to 8,000 seats that are reserved for a 3-year PG course offered by the Diplomate of National Board, only 5–6% of seats are allotted to family medicine
Another reason general practice is on the decline is that fresh MBBS graduates avoid practicing family medicine as a career because it pays less
Read the whole story at http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-do-you-still-have-a-family-physician-1964306
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Millions of Indians suffering chronic pain will get better access to pain medicines following changes in India’s drug law, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 21, 2014, the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, approved amendments to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (the Drug Act) that the lower house had approved a day earlier.
The amendments eliminate archaic rules that obligated hospitals and pharmacies to obtain four or five licenses, each from a different government agency, every time they wanted to purchase strong pain medicines. As Human Rights Watch documented in a 2009 report, “Unbearable Pain: India's Obligation to Ensure Palliative Care,” this resulted in the virtual disappearance of morphine, an essential medicine for strong pain, from Indian hospitals, including from most specialized cancer centers.
“The revised Drug Act is very good news for people with pain in India,” said Diederik Lohman, senior health researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These changes will help spare millions of people the indignity of suffering needlessly from severe pain.”
Patients who experience severe pain without access to adequate treatment face enormous suffering. Like victims of torture, these patients have often told Human Rights Watch that the pain was intolerable and that they would do anything to make it stop. Many said that they saw death as the only way out and some said they had become suicidal.
The amendments to the Drug Act give the central government authority to regulate so-called “narcotic drugs,” require a single license to procure morphine and other strong opioid medications, and charge one government agency, the state drug controller, with enforcement. The government introduced the amendments to the Drug Act in 2012.
more at http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/21/india-major-breakthrough-pain-patients
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Hours after the US drug regulator banned imports from a fourth factory of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, the drug controller general of India G.N. Singh chose to back the Indian company, saying the current situation may not require withdrawal of its medicines from the local market.
On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) barred Ranbaxy, a subsidiary of Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, from producing or distributing drug ingredients manufactured at its Toansa facility in Punjab for the US market.
The FDA has already banned imports from Ranbaxy's plants in Mohali in Punjab, Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh. At the Toansa facility, the regulator found the company's staff found that workers retested drug products to produce acceptable findings after the items originally failed analytical testing. While the US has banned imports from these facilities, the Indian pharma market continues to use raw materials from these plants. Singh in an interview said, "Indian pharmaceutical companies cannot be judged by American standards." Edited excerpts:
Were the other three plants of the company found to be in violation of India's Drugs and Cosmetics Act?
We had approached them last year after US FDA flagged certain issues. Some of those were found to be true and my office had told Ranbaxy to take corrective measures. Similar procedures will be followed in this case as well. But I do not think this is a situation which will warrant withdrawal of drugs from the domestic market. Our biggest objective is to maintain good quality of medicines and we are doing that. There are no drugs in the Indian market that are not up to the standards stated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. We will shortly be in touch with Ranbaxy's management to find out what went wrong at the Toansa plant.
Will such decisions adversely affect India's image as a manufacturer of safe, affordable drugs?
As of today, India supplies low-cost drugs to over 200 countries. Our pharmaceutical sector is a huge success. We cannot be doing well if our drugs were of substandard quality. Many multinational pharmaceutical companies stand to gain if India loses its image as a supplier of quality drugs. However, we will take appropriate action. We are in the process of streamlining the drug regulation in India and fundamental changes will be taking place soon. I am not worried about issues of quality
Read more: http://medcitynews.com/2014/01/indian-pharma-firms-cant-judged-u-s-standards/#ixzz2rNuMeTBQ
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