By our correspondent, Valsad, 28 February 2013

In what can be described as a unique kind of occurrence, a 17-year-old student died due to Vasovagal attack after donating blood.

One Lakshmi Vidyapith run college in Sarigam in Umargam taluka of south Gujarat had organized blood donation camp on 15 October last year. The blood donation camp was organized jointly by Lakshmi Vidyapith, Valsad Raktadan Kendra and Selvas based Red cross center.

Nirbhay Rajubhai Patel(17) from Khanduji tekra, Valsad, first year student of Mechanical engineering came to the blood donation camp and donated blood for the first time in his life at 10.00 am.

Nirbhay was unwell soon after donating blood. He felt himself unbalanced. At around 1.00 pm he suffered pain in stomach. He boarded Valsad Raktadan Kendra’s vehicle to come back to his home in Valsad. Just near Valsad over bridge Nirbhay faced Epilepsy attack and he collapsed.

As Nirbhay’s death was not normal in nature, a panel of doctors including Forensic expert Dr. Vaghela and others carried out postmortem of his body in Valsad Civil hospital.

The report is out just recently and it provides startling facts. Nirbhay’s father Rajubhai Patel who is a local journalist held a press conference to share the details of postmortem report. As per Dr. Pruthviraj Vaghela who carried out postmortem, Nirbhay died due to vasovagal attack.

Doctor Vaghela said, when more than 400 ml blood is taken from donor’s body, it results into low blood-pressure effect which means lower supply of blood to brain. This triggers the situation of sudden non-functioning of heart. This is called Vasovagal attack.

As per the law the prescribed age of donating blood is 18+. It means a donor must complete 18 years before donating blood. But Nirbhay was not 18, and he was allowed to donate blood.

Rajubhai Patel showed the form filled up at the time of donating blood where Nirbhay’s birth year 1995 was erased and replaced with 1993. Not only this but his weight 65 kg was erased and replaced with 70 kg. Valsad Raktadan Kendra’s Honorary Secretary Dr. Yezdi Italia who was present in a press conference also admitted the mistake of his institution.

Dr. Yezdi said that whatever happened with Nirbhay was rarest of the rare incident. A conference to discuss post-blood donation crisis like Vasovagal attack and others has been held in Surat where all maximum number of blood banks are invited.

Valsad medical college dean Dr. RD Patel and Medicine department head Dr. Gheevala were of opinion that doctors who are familiar with occurrence of Vasavogal attack should be part of the blood donation camps.

Rajubhai Patel, father of Nirbhay said that he didn’t wish money or anything else, but in future no one else should die like Nirbhay. The organizers of blood donation camp should clearly announce that only 18+ are allowed to donate blood.

By our correspondent, Ahmedabad, 16 February 2013

In a small study from Gujarat had shown increasing incidence of Gestation Diabetes Mellitus (GDM), particularly in a woman who have family history of diabetes, overweight and having pregnancy after the age of 30.

Out of these 5, three are not diagnosed and leads to many minor and major complications to infant as well as mother both. As well as increasing the chances of other paripartam complications.

In India, Dr. V. Seshiah from Chennai; a world renowned diabetologist and an authority on this subject initiated a movement from Chennai and moved all across the country to increase the awareness for diabetes in pregnancy. Under his leadership he found Diabetes in Pregnancy Study group India (DIPSI).

The whole motto of DIPSI is to increase the awareness about GDM to physicians, diabetologist, obstetricians and family physicians.

Dr. Banshi Saboo, diabetes specialist from city of Ahmedabad, is associated with this group since long and doing regular CME and educational activities to colleagues physicians and obstetricians. This year Dr. Banshi Saboo as an organizing secretary; organizing 8th National Conference of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study group India at Ahmedabad from 16 – 17 February, 2013 (Saturday – Sunday).

Prof. Asha N. Shah who is organizing chairman for this meeting is also HOD: Medicine Dept., Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad.

To get scientific feast from who is who we had invited 7 international faculties from different parts of the world and 50 eminent diabetes specialist, endocrinologist, obstetricians and physicians from all across the country.

In this meeting of 2 days, we are going to discuss what is the status of awareness about GDM, latest treatment, newer methods of monitoring and insulin pump therapy.

Dr. A. K. Das, president of DIPSI, who is also director of JIPMER (Puducherry) and additional health director, Govt. of India; going to talk on “GDM – Public Health Issue”.

There will be 250 obstetricians, 100 physicians and 150 family physicians from all across the country are going to attend this scientific meet at Ahmedabad.

DIPSI is a major task force for developing guidelines for detection, screening and treatment for GDM in India.

New Delhi, 15 February 2013

Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate a ceremony of the Vivekananda NMCON 2013 and deliver an address there. The event has been organized by National Medicos Organization, Gujarat. NMO is an organization of qualified doctors and students of allopathic system of medicine, covering all the medical colleges and states in India. The event will be held at 6.00 pm and it will available live online on narendramodi.in/category/live-events/

by our correspondent, Surat, 30 January 2013

Groundbreaking was performed in Surat on Tuesday for construction of a seven-floor stem cell research center in new civil hospital campus. The first phase work that has been already kicked off with the ground breaking event involves budget of Rs 60 crore. The total sum of money granted by the department of health, Government of Gujarat for this project is over Rs 90 crore. The research center is likely to be operational within three years. Along with the research center there will be a 160-bed hospital.

San Diego, California-based Global Institute of Stem Cell Therapy and Research will train the staff of the new research center and hospital and provide assistance in research activity and technical set up. The center and the hospital will be important to address the problem of Sickle-cell anemia in tribal belt of south Gujarat. In fact this is the primary reason for which the stem cell research center and hospital facilities are planned in such a big way in Surat.

by our correspondent, Ahmedabad, 29 January 2013

As per the state government’s directions, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has started procedure of health check up of all Anganwadi, primary, secondary and higher secondary school children and also those children who are below 14 and don’t go to school.

This health check up drive has been going on through 57 urban health centres in AMC area. The drive was started on 31 December, and as many as 3,33,207 children are already checked.

Of them 5084 children were treated at the health check up camp venue itself, while 608 children were referred to further medical care. Of them 101 children are referred to medical facility for free treatment of heart related diseases, 46 for kidney treatment, 73 for cancer treatment, and 27 for thalassemia treatment.

In another development, the AMC has organized a multi specialty medical camp at Rukshmaniben government hospital, Khokhra on 30th January 2013 between 10.30 am and 2.00 pm through Narayana Hridayalaya hospital under Mukhyamantri Amrutam programme (MA).

The state government has implemented MA programme for medical care upto Rs 2.00 lakh for five members of below poverty line (BPL) citizens. The beneficiaries are given MA programme card to avail benefits of the scheme.

The medical camp of 30th January will not only host medical checkup for heart, kidney, urology and neurology related illness, but also take care for treatment. Also those BPL care owners who are yet not registered for the benefits of MA card will be registered during this medical camp. Disabled will be checked up and given disable certificate during this camp.

Have an introduction of state government’s school child health checkup programme, and Mukhyamantri Amrutam programme.

Ahmedabad, 29 December 2012

Apollo Hospitals, performed a successful operation on Shri. Madhavsinh Solanki(85 years), four times Chief Minister of the State and former external affairs minister of India, earlier this week on Sunday when, Dr. Parag Sheth, Sr. Consultant Heart Surgeon at Apollo, executed an extremely high risk life saving cardiac bypass procedure that lasted for close to six hours. In fact, the operation was a major success as Shri Solanki recuperated within three and half hours of being brought out of the theatre and was initiated on oral diet from the very same day. Shri Solanki was detected with multiple blockages in the heart during the initial check up and required urgent treatment and was brought to Apollo Hospitals on 22nd December 2012. Shri Bharatsinh Solanki, Union Minister and son of Shri Madhavsinh Solanki opted for treatment at Apollo Hospitals in his father’s case.

“When being admitted to Apollo Hospitals, Shri Solanki’s cardiac condition was even more critical due to his old age and existing health complications which included renal stones, gall bladder stones and an enlarged prostate gland. He was also suffering from multiple cerebral infractions which further complicated his condition. His heart condition was also worsening by the day as a result of the recurrent heart attacks and an extremely low pumping rate of 32%. The risk involved in the treatment was greater, given his history of forty years of diabetes and forty years of hypertension. There was also swelling over the heart causing it to become even more sluggish. In response to the criticality of the situation, we were quick to initiate the necessary course of treatment for him. Focusing on stabilizing the condition of the patient on the first day that is 22nd December, we operated on him the very next day” said Dr. Parag Sheth, Sr. Consultant Heart Surgeon at Apollo hospitals.

“Shri Madhav Sinh Solanki had already suffered two major heart attacks in less than five days and given his critical condition was in dire need of medical attention. I am extremely happy to see the way Shri Solanki is responding to our treatment. He had begun to resume normal routine from the evening of 23rd December within three and a half hours of him being brought out of the critical bypass procedure and this is indeed a positive sign. Currently his condition is stable and he has resumed a lot of his daily activities with a renewed zest for life. In fact, we will be discharging him by this weekend itself” further added Dr. Parag Sheth who has an experience of more than 13000 bypass and open heart procedures in his heart surgery career spanning over a period of 17 years.

In yet another complicated case, Dr. Parag Sheth, Sr. Consultant at Apollo Hospitals, recently performed an open (internal) cardiac massage followed by 28 hours continuous efforts which included two back to back cardiac surgeries on the patient who ultimately survived without any deficit and is now perfectly healthy.

Dr. Parag Sheth, currently with Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad has an extensive experience of working at high volume cardiac surgery centers across the globe. His past experiences include seven years at the Apollo Hospitals, Madras-one of India’s first hospitals to specialize in operating on patients with cardio vascular diseases. Dr. Parag Sheth has also been a part of the medical team at Liverpool, Australia-Southern Hemisphere’s largest and one of the most respected hospitals in the world.

Cardiac problems can become major health issues if not treated on time. However thanks to the technological advancements in the medical fraternity, doctors are now able to treat patients even during a heart attack just like in Shri Solanki’s case. Apollo has always been a patron of such innovations in the medical fraternity that have contributed in a major way towards the welfare of the patient community. Supported by its vision to provide superior quality health care facilities, Apollo will continue its efforts towards ensuring the best in terms of health care amenities to all its patients.

Ahmedabad, 15 June 2012

Shri Guruprasad Mohapatra, Municipal Commissioner of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation today briefed the media on preparations of Rath Yatra, actions against Malaria and forthcoming Garib Kalyan Mela. His full address to media is presented in the video above.

Ahmedabad, 10 May 2012

The magnitude of problem of malnutrition among children and anemia amongst women in India in general and the State of Gujarat is grave, if the data presented today in the rajya sabha by the ministry of women and child development is any indication. As per 3rd National Family Health Survey of 2005-06, as many as 40.4 per cent of children under three years of age were underweight and 55.3 per cent women in the age group of 15-49 years were anemic in the country. The figures for Gujarat also matched the national average. Prevalence of underweight children in Gujarat was 41.1 per cent and the anemia in women of 15-45 years of age was 55.3 per cent.

This was revealed in the statement issued by the union minister of state for women and child development Smt. Krishna Tirath in rajya sabha to-day in reply to the question from Mr.Parimal Nathwani.

The minister went on to say that the government has accorded priority to the issue of malnutrition and was implementing several schemes/programmes through state governments/union territories. During the 11th plan against the budget allocation of 43,186.70 crore, the expenditure incurred under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme was Rs 43,829.53 crore; she said and added that the government introduced two new schemes during 2010-11 namely (i) Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) known as SABLA and (ii) Indira Gandhi Matrutva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY).

She further said that the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was introduced during 11th Five Year Plan.

The minister also informed the Parliament that the Prime Minister’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges recently took decisions to (i) strengthen and restructure ICDS with special focus on pregnant and lactating mothers as well as children under three (ii) prepare a multi-sectoral programme in selected 200 high burden districts to address the maternal and child malnutrition (iii) launch a nation-wide campaign against malnutrition and (iv) bring strong nutrition focus in programmes related to health, drinking water supply, sanitation, school education, agriculture, food and public distribution.

Work on all these issues was in progress; the minister said and added that the proposed Food Security Bill contemplated provision of supplementary nutrition under the ICDS scheme and maternity benefits for pregnant and lactating mothers thereby contributing to food security.

The minister, however, made it clear that the responsibility of implementation of most of the government schemes lay with the state governments/union territories administration. The states have been advised from time to time to set up a State Nutrition Council and other mechanisms to address the issue of malnutrition, she said.

Ahmedabad, 3 May 2012

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated Narayana Hrudayalaya’s Ahmedabad facility in presence of Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon and Director, Narayana Hrudayalaya hospitals, Ahmedabad Mayor Shri Asit Vora, and Narayana Hrudayalaya founder Dr. Devi Shetty at Ex.Monogram mill compound near Rakhial cross roads.

Narayana Hrudayalaya is in the process of setting up a 5000-bed health city with a medical college and nursing and paramedical educational institution in the 37 acre campus situated at Rakhial, Ahmedabad. the upcoming establishment will create a large possibility of providing direct and indirect employment from time to time and also add value in the development of the entire neighborhood.

Under the phase 1 of the Health city project, a 300-bed healthcare facility has been set up, which has all facilities such as advanced cardiology unit, cardiac surgical unit for adults and children along with Orthopedic, Neuro- Sciences, Urology, Nephrology, Critical care and medicine, Pediatrics, Gynecology, Gastro Sciences, Advance diagnostics like 1.5 Tesla MRI and 64 Slice CT scan, Mammography and so on.

In last few years while the western part of Ahmedabad city witnessed opening of around half a dozen new super specialty private hospitals, this is for the first time that a hospital of national repute is opening in east Ahmedabad.

Narayana Hrudayalaya’s founder Dr Devi Prasad Shetty was conferred with Padma Bhushan for Medicine in 2012. He won the 2011 The Economist Innovation Awards for the Business process field. Dr Devi Shetty is a medico philanthropist and a cardiac surgeon who has performed over 15,000 heart operations. He was a part of the seven-member panel of Board of Governors which replaced the Medical Council of India (MCI) and served for a period of one year before it was further reconstituted. His brainchild ‘Yeshasvini’-the world’s cheapest comprehensive health insurance scheme, at Rs.5 per month, designed by Dr Shetty and Government of Karnataka for the poor farmers of the state, is a very well-utilized scheme in Karnataka with 25 lakhs people covered.

The Narayana Hrudayalaya group now has 14 hospitals having collective capacity of 6000 beds in 11 locations covering 7 states. the NH group is in the process of expanding its services to five more cities within the next six months. The cost of healthcare, especially tertiary healthcare is becoming unaffordable to the common man in India. The NH group’s desire is to reduce the cost of tertiary healthcare by building large scale health cities with 2000-5000 beds, sharing the infrastructure and expertise and thereby, through the economy of the scale, reduce the input costs. In the process, the group also delivers better outcomes because of great technical skills developed over a period of time. The NH group performs largest number of heart and other super-specialty surgeries in India attracting patients from 76 countries.

The NH group conceptualized the idea of micro health insurance called Yeshasvini, which was launched by the Karnataka State Cooperative Society eight year ago. The Yeshasvini proved to the world that with Rs. 5 per month premium, a viable health insurance programme can be scaled up to cover the tertiary healthcare coast of millions of people. The group has the desire to roll out similar schemes with the help from various state governments across the country. India needs 2.5 million heart surgeries a year. Unfortunately, all the heart hospitals in the country put together perform less than 1,00,000 heart operations a year. The NH group is in the process of building low cost heart hospitals across the country using prefabricated construction materials. The first such hospital is being built by L&T, India’s largest construction company in Mysore. This has proved that a 300-bed low cost heart hospital can be built in six months with an investment of about 6-7 million dollar all inclusive. NH believes that the entire delivery concept of healthcare wil undergo a dramatic change and India will become the first country in the world to dissociate healthcare from affluence.Ten years from now, India will still have large number of people living in the slums which lack basic amenities. However, when they are unwell, they wll have access to high-tech healthcare with dignity.

Inaugural function

Inaugurating the facility Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said that Gujarat Government has allotted Rs.200-crore in the budget for the timely treatment of serious diseases of poor patients Below Poverty Line (BPL) for assistance of Rs.2-lakh under the Chief Minister’s Amritam Yojna. He said that Gujarat is also ahead in preventive medicine.

Modi said the government has allotted 37 acres land for the hospital just one-and-half months back and the 300-bed hospital began functioning from today taking a fee of Rs.10 from the poor patients.

Expressing satisfaction at the modern facility for the poor, he said that the state government has taken many schemes for the well-being of children and expecting mothers. Delivery at institutional maternity has reached 97 per cent as 108 Emergency Service has reached far and wide.

Shri Modi wished the hospital expands to 5,000-bed capacity fast, start a medical college. The government has also started Chiranjeev Healthcare, CNG Transport for pollution free atmosphere, providing drinking water from the Narmada to the Sabarmati and nutritious food the needy to improve basic physical infrastructure.

Narayana Rudralaya Hospital Chairman Shri Devi Shetty welcomed the Gujarat Government’s policy of Public-Private Partnership providing healthcare at affordable cost. The hospital will start a medical school for poor children in two years.

Those present on the occasion included Ahmedabad Mayor Asit Vora, Principal Health Secretary Rajesh Kishore, Vice-Chairman Ashutosh Raghuvanshi and Smt Kiran Shetty.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw speaking at inaugural function of Ahmedabad facility of Narayan Hrudayalaya

Dr. Devi Shetty’s speech at inaugural function of Narayana Hrudayalaya Ahmedabad Health City

Insightful and interesting interaction with Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya(Video)

Presented above is the video of Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi opening a new hospital, research centre, medical college of Gujarat Cancer Society in Ahmedabad. The video contains Shri Modi’s complete speech. It contains supporting visuals and Gujarat Health Minister Shri Jaynarayan Vyas’s speech. Enjoy the video.