Great story from an Obstetrician who was sued. How he came to terms with the verdict and the doubts it created in his mind. The true final verdict of my malpractice trial..
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You got to love Indian Judiciary
In our country we try to be very generous to people in need especially when someone else is paying. The fact that ultimately the taxpayers will have to bear the burden escapes attention. The Supreme Court has ruled that insurance companies cannot deny coverage for preexisting conditions. You cannot help but admire ! The audacity!! and the foolishness?
The Supreme Court has ruled that public sector insurance companies cannot refuse to provide medical cover policies to those suffering from pre-existing diseases and said such an action was arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional.
A bench of Justices S B Sinha and V S Sirpurkar also asked the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) to frame suitable guidelines to ensure that insurance companies, both from public sector and private sector, do not indulge in the unethical practice of denying medical insurance facility to the public.
Read the full article here
I hope there are caveats or it is the long march to bankruptcy for the insurers. Now there will be no need to unnecessarily insure when you are healthy; all you need to do is pay the first installment as soon as you find yourself sick.
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Inviting Medicos to India
Joking with fresh medical graduates in Delhi,our health minister informed that doctors from western countries were raring to come and fill the gap in medical personnel in India now that he has recognized their degrees.
Acknowledging the severe crunch India is facing in the number of doctors, nurses and paramedics, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Friday that since the government recognises the medical degrees issued by five English-speaking countries, including the US, Britain and Australia, it would help tide over the shortage.
He said the government was taking a number of steps to overcome the shortfall in order to ensure that people are able to get quality medical care.
“There is no stop-gap arrangement. Yes, we know there is a shortfall of medical human resources in the country. The need has also been felt because of the expanding population,” Ramadoss told reporters after awarding undergraduate degrees to students at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) at its 92nd convocation here.
you can read the full article here.
He was being more forthright when he said
The government is also upgrading the existing infrastructure and setting up new ones.
which is surely a long drawn out process.
I am sure he was joking about the rest. In present day situation fresh doctors prefer serving in the Australian or US outback rather than staying here. Almost all doctors stuck in NHS and UK ‘work permit’ have returned (quite a few of my colleagues as well) and just a handful are taking their chances. I wonder where the ministry gets such rosy numbers from.
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Shoaib: Rawalpindi Express running out of steam
Shoaib is one of the bad boys of cricket. His on field contribution is more or less over shadowed by his antics off the field. He was banned from playing cricket in Pakistan or representing the country for a period of five years for criticizing Pakistan Cricket Board. He is already serving a probationary period of two years for assaulting team mate in SA last year. This sentence will end his cricket career for all practical purposes. Also at stake is his contract for Kolkata in IPL.He is not serving his interest by ‘bragging’ that he turned down match fixing offers. In view of previous episodes and the support he has in former players and politicians his sentence might be reduced. Let us see how his appeal turns out and hope for the best from this colourful player.
Shoaib Akhtar Loses It Again, All – Forbes.com
(Pic from sportbox.tv)
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Educating doctors?
Recently there were two pieces of news regarding the relationship between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry. In one the convener of RANZ college of Psychiatrists(RANZCP) decided to resign when his attempts to end drug company sponsorship of CME and Conferences was vehemently opposed by fellow members.
Psychiatrists back sponsorship deals | The Australian
A SENIOR member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists resigned as convenor of its 2009 congress after his peers unanimously voted down a proposal to dump drug company sponsorship.
A similar story from Australian papers regarding sponsorship of a weekend seminar for Gastroenterologists is panned here.
“A drug giant spent more than $514,000 on a weekend seminar that included just six hours of “education content”.
The symposium by Australian-based AstraZeneca included gourmet meals, alcohol and two nights free accommodation.
A new report shows “Big Pharma” is prepared to spend millions showering doctors with hospitality in the hope they will prescribe their drugs.
It reveals drug companies spent $31 million on educational events in the second half of last year, including $16 million on meals, airfares and accommodation.
Drug companies funded 14,643 functions during the period, 52 of which are under investigation for possible breaches of new industry rules.
Read the full article here. How drug companies wine & dine doctors.
(from herald sun,au)In general doctors perceive that they can be dispassionate about their clinical decisions even after being sponsored by the drug companies. The situation in India is no different, if not more “inter wined”. As can be witnessed by the reluctance of Psychiatrists; it is not easy to let go of the easy money provided by the pharma companies.
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Compulsory Licensing for breast cancer drugs in India?
Stated briefly; in general the treatment of breast cancer in India at present is suboptimal. I was reading a book regarding evolution and changes in management of breast cancer and what struck me was that we are still stuck in last decade. Most of the patients present very late in disease process. Breast cancer screening is practically non existent. A number of tests which have become routine like ER and PR status are not available even in teaching government hospitals leave alone general hospitals. And not everyone can afford to get it done from private centers given the cost. This problem extends to post operative period as well with a number of patients unable to afford tamoxifen for the long duration prescribed. In this context it is apparent that majority of patients cannot afford more recent and advanced drugs available.
There is this article in today’s Economic Times.
NGO to seek compulsory licensing of cancer drugs.
At this time the prices of anti cancer drugs is out of reach of general Indian population with prices in excess of
Some of the drugs identified by CPPA for compulsory licensing include Genentech’s and Roche’s Herceptin (Rs 1.3 lakh i.e Rs 130,000 per injection, to be taken 10-15 times), Roche’s Mabthera (Rs 1 lakh per injection, to be taken 10-12 times) and Tarceva (Rs 48,000 for 30 tablets, dosage details not known), Novartis controversial drug Glivec (Rs 1 lakh for a month’s treatment), Astrazeneca’s breast cancer drug Arimidex (Rs 3429 for 14 tablets, to be taken for 1-2 years) and Zoladex (Rs 8,910, dosage details not known), GSK’s Hycamtin (price and dosage details not available).
Keeping in mind that per capita income in India is about 580 $ or Rs 23,000 and the fact that health insurance is an exception rather that a norm any disease (leave alone breast cancer) will leave the entire family in penury. Despite these facts a few patients would like to go for these drugs. What I do not understand is the reluctance of pharma majors to market these drugs and at a lower price. They will be making a profit even if 20% of the patients buy their products. Or are they afraid of these drugs undercutting their high value markets back home?
Do you think this move will be justified?
There is a similar news piece regarding HIV drugs and Cipla. From Pharmalot.
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I have got to tell you this!
Man bites snake to death in West Bengal. the story
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Rectal artemisin derivative for initial control of malaria
There is this interesting article in todays BMC Infectious disease which had my attention. the featured article says
Rectal artemisinins rapidly reduce malaria viral load
BMC Infectious Diseases 2008, 8:39Artemisinins administered as rectal suppositories, particularly artesunate as a single high dose, reduce malaria parasite load within 24 hours without serious adverse effects, offering an alternative to intravenous quinine therapy in remote areas where trained personnel are scarce.
Don’t laugh- but my first thoughts was HOW did they manage it technically!? on reading the whole article I realized they meant malarial parasite load in people not umm… mosquitoes.
you can read the full article here (open access abstract).From my earlier days i remember there was increasing resistance to artemisin derivatives and I suppose combination therapy is advised to reduce those chances.I wonder how this will have impact on drug resistance in future.
Note: It is not viral.
&ps- i will try to post regularly.
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Health ministry mulls approving foreign degrees.
AT the present moment medical degrees earned in foreign countries are not valid in India and vice versa. Doctors holding such degrees are not recognized as specialist here and as such cannot practice here. The government is considering a proposal to recognize specialist degrees earned abroad (‘developed countries’) for pracitsing in India in order to aid doctors wanting to come back. Read the news here from IBN live.
The government further hopes that such a move might induce them to “reciprocate.” Fat chance of that occurring when you consider the recent trends in NHS or elsewhere ! However it will be greatly beneficial to many MBBS students who left after internship and now may want to return as specialist.