“This will be the world's largest government-funded healthcare programme," he told parliament in his Budget speech. "The government is steadily but surely progressing towards a goal of universal health coverage."
These were the very words of our Hon’ble finance minister of India, Shri Arun Jaitley who has been receiving mixed emotions from the citizens on proposal of the union budget 2018.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a thumping mandate in 2014 promising, among other things, a universal healthcare plan to protect India's poorest. This Budget is the Modi government's last before the country votes in May next year. Get a detailed insight on what the Pharma industry and hospital sector feel on the budget in our PSM India capsules.
While Kerela, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have been declared as best performers in the Healthy States Progressive India Report, we have allegations of corruption, slackness and negligence levelled by residents of three villages of Lucknow. Read more on this and other important news such as a website to act as a watchdog for private health sector, a centralised portal for regulating online pharmacies in our country and a WHO approved vaccine carrier to prevent in-transit vaccine freezing, under Drug laws and Policy Injections and National Injections section of this issue.
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Stay Healthy. Stay Protected.
Pooja Khaitan
Editor-in-Chief,
The Prescription
“We are slowly progressing towards universal health coverage as we introduce the world’s largest healthcare programme this year. The creation of health and wellness centres will ‘bring healthcare closer to home’. These centres, 1.5 lakh in number, will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.”
Shri Arun JaitleyFinance Minster
Pharma Industry And Hospital Sector Upbeat On Support Given By Union Govt In Budget 2018
Pharma and the hospital sectors have stated that healthcare seems to be biggest beneficiary in this Union budget. Announcing two major schemes for health, one being health and wellness centres with a ₹ 1200 crore allocation for these schemes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the 1.5 lakh health centres will bring healthcare to people’s homes for non communicable disease and women/child health.
Often patients take medicines by themselves for simple ailments such as fever, headache, cough, cold and backache. The symptom may be relieved but the underlying illness remains. Fever may be due to urinary infection, upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, typhoid, sinusitis, liver disease, dengue, leptospirosis or it might be a simple viral fever. The treatment of each condition is different. So it is better to get evaluated for the cause of the fever and then take medicine. Even high-end antibiotics are available over the counter (that is without doctor's prescription). This can lead to inappropriate use of the drug, inadequate or wrong treatment; and it can lead to drug resistance. Painkillers for headache and backache taken for long can cause serious kidney and liver damage. And the underlying cause of the pain still remains! The disease has to be treated; not just the symptom.
Drug Combinations Improve First-Stroke Risk Reduction
Los Angeles, 7 Feb 2018: Two or more drugs are better than one when it comes to reducing first-time strokes. That’s according to a presentation at the recent American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2018 in Los Angeles. Researchers report that a combination of an antihypertensive with a cholesterol-reducing agent reduced first-time strokes by 44%.
Naming Tool For Biologic Medicines Released; Ensures Compliance With FDA, WHO Standards
ARLINGTON, Va., 8 Feb 2018 /PRNewswire: The Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines (ASBM) announced today that it has developed a web-based tool for the naming of biologic medicines to quickly ensure compliance with naming standards set forth by the FDA and World Health Organization (WHO). The tool, called "SuffixAudit", will be made available to regulators and manufacturers.
US FDA Seeks Input On Product-Specific Guidances To Facilitate Generic Drug Development
Maryland, 9 Feb 2018: FDA has published 57 product-specific guidances, including 35 new guidances and 22 revised guidances, describing the Agency’s current thinking and expectations on how to develop generic drug products that are therapeutically equivalent to specific reference-listed drugs.
Edible QR Codes May Lead To Custom-Made Medicines
London, 5 Feb 2018: Scientists have developed a way to print edible QR codes using drugs, paving the way for medicines that are tailor-made for a patient’s needs. For the last 100 years, researchers have constantly pushed the boundaries for our knowledge about medicine and how different bodies can respond differently to it.
NABP Finds Fake Online Pharmacies Are Offering Fentanyl For Sale At An Alarming Rate
February 9, 2018: NABP Internet Drug Outlet Report_February 2018 The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has just released their Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress Report for February 2018. NABP has conducted an annual survey of Internet drug outlets for the last nine years, and this year it is finding that fake online pharmacies are rushing to get on the fentanyl bandwagon.
Former College Football Player Caught With 3 Liters Of Liquid Fentanyl
February 9, 2018: Kody Krusinski, a former football player at Adrian College in Michigan has been indicted on drug charges, after police found him in possession of liquid fentanyl and anabolic steroids while investigating a domestic violence incident, according to WLNS.
Frequently Asked Questions Q1. What is the Role of Micronutrients in Food Products?
Answer: Micronutrients are nutrients that are required in very small amounts in our diet on a daily basis in order to replenish any deficits that may occur in our body. The standard Indian diet is usually deficient in many of the micronutrients that are essential for the proper functioning of the body. There are over fifty chemical elements in our body, which are required for various physiological functions such as growth, repair, and regulation of vital body functions. Micronutrients fall into two categories: (i) inorganic or elemental and (ii) vitamins. The first category includes the following: iron, iodine, fluoride, zinc, copper, cobalt, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, nickel, tin, silicon and vanadium. Read More>>>
Is India Ready For The E-Pharma Revolution?
This article is contributed by our subscriber, Dr.Hembindu Pallavi, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Incase you too wish to share articles on healthcare, and see them published here, please mail them to our Editor-in-Chief, pooja@jagograhakjago.com
Digitisation is not just a corporate buzzword, but a way of life in a quaint country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe called Estonia. Promoted by the government as a cost-saving, efficient and equalising force, everything – from elections and banking to education and healthcare – in this innovative digital society, with a population of 1.3 million, works in a virtual, transparent and secure manner. A recent article in The New Yorker described how the automated system works so seamlessly that private enterprises are now building on the ubiquitous Estonian government platform named X-Road. Interestingly, the neighbouring Finland has also started using X-Road, paving the way for a “novel internationalism”.
Shri. Rakesh Mahajan, businessman“The Prescription” is providing us with much needed guidance to get rid of spurious medicines from India and we appreciate its hard work!
Deepak Goel, academician Grateful to PSM India for keeping us updated with various happenings on unsafe medicines and developments in the healthcare sector in our country!
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