Health

"In between the government health care sector which is availed by 70 per cent of the state's population, and the private sector, we are looking for public-private partnership in the critical areas to synergise the government's resources and the expertise of the private sector," Bhattacharjee said, inaugurating the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata (I-NK).

Describing the institute as a "new feather in the state's cap", Bhattacharjee said it will offer new facilities in various areas of neuro-sciences.

Inspired by Swami Lokeswarananda of the Ramakrishna Mission, the institute was set up as a non-profit by U K-based neurosurgeon R P Sengupta in collaboration with the state Health Department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

For this, the Centre has provided Rs 100 crore and the state government would sanction Rs 54 crore, Bhattacharjee told the 175th anniversary celebrations of the Medical College and Hospital, the country's oldest, here.

On the medical services in the state, the chief minister said 70 per cent of the people still received health services in state-run hospitals.

Bhattacharjee said the government was alive to the deficiencies of the sector and trying to improve services.

"Efforts would be made by the Railways to build the hospital with the collaboration of AIIMS and CMC, Vellore, so that the expertise in specialised treatment is available from these two renowned institutions," Banerjee told a function at Chanditala in Tollygunge area in the metropolis.

Stating that it would be named after late film director Tapan Sinha, Banerjee said though the hospital would provide treatment to railway employees and their families, 50 per cent of the 150-bed hospital would be reserved for the general public.

The Rural Health Regulatory Authority Bill 2009, passed on December 16, provides for the new diploma course, which will churn out health practitioners authorized to treat specified minor ailments, prescribe medicines and issue death certificates in villages. They cannot administer injections or perform surgery.

"The sole intention of the government behind framing the bill is to tide over the manpower crisis in the rural health care system. MBBS doctors often refuse to go to the villages and stay there. We want to send these diploma-holders to villages to treat people there," says state Health Minister Surjya Kanta Mishra, a prominent leader of LF major, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

But several partners in the state's ruling LF are peeved over what they call CPI-M's high-handedness and the first instance of a unanimous decision of the LF committee being disregarded by the government. LF allies Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) had expressed their reservations about the Bill in a closed-door meeting of the ruling combine.

"It was decided in the Left Front meeting that the Bill would be sent to the assembly's select committee for review as intensive discussions were needed on it. This Bill will create two grades of doctors - those fully qualified for the cities and those half-qualified forrural Bengal."

Source: indiaedunews.net Rural health legislation creates political divide

Mandatory registration of contract research organisations or clinical research organisations (CRO) should start in three months, said Surinder Singh, drugs controller general of India (DCGI).

"This is a very good move by the government," said Muralidharan Nair, partner, health sciences practice, at audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young. "In today's world, it (the existing system) gives a poor impression of India that anyone can have a CRO. The registry will allow people to know the strength of a CRO, the services it offers, its credentials and therapeutic segments it covers."

Such a registry, he said, was a basic requirement for the industry.

India is one of the fastestgrowing clinical research destinations with a growth rate that is two-and-a-half times that of the overall market growth, but human drug trials have so far not been monitored closely.

Source: Live Mint By Radhieka Pandeya TIGHTER REGULATIONS - Firms Have To Register With Govt For Clinical Trials On Humans

Dr Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, said the launch of the knee clinic is another milestone for the group. The clinic would function on a protocol-driven approach ensuring prevention, early diagnosis and effective treatment through a complete disease management programme.

The clinic has a dedicated operation theatre and physiotherapy department. Dr Rupali Basu, chief executive officer, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, said treatment options include knee replacement surgery and arthroscopic (key-hole) repairs.

Bed networking knowing how many beds are available in each hospital and referring patients accordingly will soon be a click away.

In a recent meeting with medical superintendents of private hospitals which had acquired land at concessional rates promising free treatment to BPL patients the state health officials instructed them to update the "bed vacancy" at the end of each working day on the website of Directorate of Health Services (DHS).

"The idea is to keep government hospitals informed about the bed vacancy in private hospitals," said JP Singh, Principal Secretary. "Most state-run hospitals are over-burdened as private players were not keeping up their end of the deal. We want government hospitals to start referring BPL patients to private hospitals as a routine," he said. The procedure of bed networking has already been worked out. As of now, private hospitals send a fax every morning with information about bed vacancy. This will be done online.

"With a click of mouse we will know which hospital is best suited for the patient, keeping in mind the location and the speciality required," said Dr Amit Banerjee, Medical Superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital. The hospital is already referring seven to eight patients a day to private hospitals.

If this works as planned, it will mean that patients will no longer have to share beds, limiting cases of infections.

"This is a step towards a future where a poor patient will confidently walk in to a private clinic and be treated with dignity without paying a single paisa," Banerjee added.

The state government recently appointed a nodal officer exclusively for Indraprastha Apollo hospitals which had gone to court against paying for consumable to treat poor patients.

A doctor has been posted there for three months to ensure that 200 beds are kept aside for BPL patients.

State health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra announced this in the Assembly yesterday and expressed hope that the proposed amendment would increase availability of organs for patients suffering from renal failure or some other terminal illnesses. A large number of such patients, Mishra pointed out, do not survive because there are inadequate donors. The minister also announced that the government would take steps to boost organ harvesting from the brain dead.

The Bengal government's response to the Centre's proposed amendment to the Human Organs Act, 1994, follows a letter from the Centre to all states seeking their views on the issue. The proposed amendments include a proposal allowing grandchildren and grandparents to donate organs as "near relatives".

Under the existing law, an organ can be donated by a "near relative" (parents, children, spouse, siblings) or by someone whose only motive is to save a life.

Source: The Telegraph Bengal nod for change in Centre's organ law

The government has mandated all human clinical trials being done in the country to be registered with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), thus bringing the $389-million industry under regulatory purview.

"We wanted to add legal teeth to the whole process, which was voluntary until now. This would make clinical trials more transparent and those conducting them more responsible and accountable," said a health ministry official who didn't want to be named.

According to existing norms, ICMR--India's apex body for biomedical research--had been overseeing clinical trials on humans in tandem with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on a voluntary basis.

With the new notification coming to effect on June 15, firms that have been okayed by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct human experiments for a particular medicine will have to provide a Clinical Trials Registry to ICMR. This will record important information related to the trial such as the nature of the experiment, the source of funding of the trials, details of patients enrolled for the trial and the ethics committee that is responsible to oversee the patients enrolled into it.

ET had reported earlier that the health ministry was planning to make ICMR registration mandatory for human clinical trials by mid 2009.

Source: Times Of India Curtains for off-the-record human clinical trials

The sops have made the civic coffers poorer by Rs 50 crore, said an official.

Over half a dozen major private hospitals are scheduled to come up off the EM Bypass by the year-end, including Tata Cancer Hospital, Desun, AMRI, Okhardt and Eastern India Health Foundation. An institute of neurosciences is coming up at Mullickbazar.

"The CMC has tried to generate interest about east Calcutta among private healthcare providers by giving them an alluring package of concessions and exemptions with respect to building sanction fees, property tax rate and other fees. The civic authorities will also take up the construction and maintenance of roads, street lights and water supply facilities around the upcoming units," said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

A poor patient, however, cannot just walk into a swanky hospital and get treated at a reduced cost; he will have to approach the civic body.

Source: The Telegraph Sops for hospitals to treat poor

Certain treatment facilities could not be accommodated in the hospital owing to space crunch, an hospital official said. Space crunch had prevented the authorities from setting up radiotherapy and nephrology departments.

This apart, the health department's plan to set up round-the-clock pathological laboratory in all medical colleges could not be implemented in CMCH because there was no space to house such a laboratory.

Looking for a solution to this problem, the hospital authorities had submitted a plan to construct a high-rise in the hospital premises where all important and modern treatment facilities would be installed.
According to the plan, a 10-storeyed building would be constructed in the hospital premises which would house all modern departments and a pathological lab.

A few years ago, the hospital did have a radiotherapy department. But as modern radiotherapy machines could not be installed, after the hospital failed to clear the mandatory norms for providing radiation-based treatment, the department's activities were restricted to detection of cancer only. For treatment, patients were referred to other medical colleges.

Later, the authorities were forced to shut down the department. Doctors of the department were sent to other colleges on deputation. Now, a full-fledged radiotherapy department would be set up in the hospital after the new building comes up. The new building would provide radiation-based treatment too. Like the radiotherapy department, the hospital would have a nephrology department for treatment of patients suffering from kidney disorders. The hospital authorities have plans to construct a new academic building as well.

The clinic's medical board will include doctors specializing in oncology, advanced cancer operations, radio therapists and chemotherapists.

"Most doctors are biased towards their area of specialisation. Therefore, if a patient consults an oncosurgeon, he might recommend surgery where chemotherapy or radiotherapy would have worked. At the Calcutta Cancer Clinic, due to a team of different specialists under one roof, the patient can rest assured that he be treated promptly and without any bias," said oncosurgeon Debashis Banerjee.

After a thorough consultation, patients will be given an informed counselling on the course of the treatment. They will also be given an option of getting treated in any hospital of their choice. For poor patients, the clinic has also pooled in doctors from less costly hospitals like Basarat Cancer Hospital and Apex Hospital. The clinic is open from 10 am till 5 pm.

Facilities like a 100-bed intensive care unit, a trauma care centre and 300-beds for super speciality and speciality disciplines are something unheard of in this part of the country. But the biggest advantages that patients are likely to enjoy are the cost factor and the quality assurance.

For example, bypass surgery at any of the private hospitals costs something between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh. At the AIIMS (ALL India Institute of Medical Sciences), the same surgery costs Rs 75,000-80,000.

Boost to healthcare

*What is it? 100-seat medical college and 960-bed hospital
*Where? Panishala, 10 km from Raiganj
*Time of completion: 3 years
*Land required: 100 acre
*Nature of land: Both government and private owned. The DM said acquisition won't be a problem
*Likely to benefit: North and South Dinajpur, Malda, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar
*Problem: Connectivity, as NH-34 is the only road link

Source: Times Of India Quality treatment at low cost

The RSBY was rolled out in four districts including Burdwan, Malda, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore last year, but the process of distributing cards has started only in the districts of Malda and Burdwan as of now.

"Nearly 4000 smart cards are being distributed by National Insurance Company(NIC) everyday.", informed Trilochan Singh, principal secretary, labour & employment, government of West Bengal.

NIC has been selected as the implementing agency for the RSBY in these four districts.

The company will recieve a premium of Rs 500 for medical insurance from the state and central government of which the Centre's share is around 75 per cent.

"Funds will be disbursed to the company as and when it submits data on distribution of smart cards. Cards in East Midnapore and North 24 Parganas would be distributed within the next two months.", Singh said. Nearly 12 lakh BPL families would be benefited in these districts.