Warm Greetings!!!

Welcome to yet another interesting and informative edition of our newsletter!

It has been my privilege to reach you on the 1st & 17th of every month for the last 13 years. Please feel free to share your comments on this edition to enable us to improve constantly. In case you have missed any of our previous issues, you can find them on our website www.jagograhakjago.com or in the News Archive section of every issue of The Prescription. You can also look us up on Facebook.

Stay Healthy. Stay Protected.
Pyush Misra
Editor-in-Chief

"Health services are undergoing vibrant changes with state of the art technology, infrastructure and medical institutions."

 
Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda
Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India

The government has approved health insurance coverage for all senior citizens aged 70 and over, regardless of income, under the flagship initiative Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). This was announced via a Press Information Bureau release on September 12, 2024. Read More...

The National Quality of Care Network (NQOCN) organized a two-day International Conference on Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety, hosted by Amrita Hospital, Faridabad. The event included workshops, presentations, and discussions aimed at fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement in healthcare delivery. Delegates from India and SAARC countries participated, according to the hospital.Read More...

New Delhi: The government has asked all medical devices associations to adopt a uniform code for marketing practices similar to the one for pharmaceuticals companies, prohibiting them from organising workshops abroad for healthcare professionals and offering them hotel stay, expensive cuisine or monetary grants. Read More...

To elevate India's position in the global pharmaceutical sector, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Ministry of External Affairs, hosted an international delegation of policymakers and drug regulators from 15 countries.Read More...

The high OOP expenditure in India leads to a situation where consumers, often less aware and not backed by government support, face rising medicine prices. This creates a perverse incentive structure in the market and thus despite being a major producer of generics, medicines in India are often sold under brand names, preventing consumers from benefiting from the lower costs of generics. Read More...

Referring to the memo, the minister said, "Levying GST on life insurance premiums amounts to levying tax on the uncertainties of life. The Union feels that the person who covers the risk of life's uncertainties to give protection to the family should not be levied tax on the premiums to purchase cover against this risk." Ban on irrational drug 

The BPaLM regimen, which consists of a four-drug combination—BedaquiIine, Pretomanid, Linezolid, and Moxifloxacin—has been proven to be safe, more effective, and a quicker treatment option than the previous MDR-TB treatment procedure. While traditional MDR-TB treatments can last up to 20 months with severe side effects, the BPaLM regimen can cure drug-resistant TB injust six months with a high treatment success rate. Read More...

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), has suspended ENTOD Pharmaceuticals Ltd's licence to manufacture and market Pilocarpine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution USP 1.25% w/v, branded as PresVu. This action follows allegations of misleading claims related to the treatment of presbyopia, an age-related vision condition.Read More...

The pharma major announced that its stepdown subsidiary, Eugia Steriles received its first product approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Lidocaine Hydrochloride injection. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic (numbing medication) that is used to numb an area of your body to help reduce pain or discomfort caused by invasive medical procedures such as surgery, needle punctures, or insertion of a catheter or breathing tube. Read More...

One of the viruses identified in the study was the "Pipistrellus bat HKU5-like virus," which had previously been found in bats but was now detected in the lungs of two farmed minks. This virus is closely related to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS), which can be deadly to humans. Read More...

 

Leading the Japanese delegation was Kiyokazu Nakajima, Professor in the Department of Next Generation Endoscopic Intervention at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine. The discussions revolved around the technical aspects and proposals for creating a state-of- the-art, publicly-funded research centre for medical device development, validation and skill training. Read More...

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has enforced stricter timelines for insurance companies to boost accountability and customer service. Changes include faster settlement of death claims, quicker processing of policy surrenders, and prompt handling of health insurance claims. Customers can approach the ombudsman if these deadlines are not met. Read More...

A simple regulatory remedy would be for the apex court to mandate state drug controllers to disclose all file- notings that form the basis of approval of “patent and proprietary” Ayush drugs. Read More...

Vaccines are very safe. Your child is far more likely to be hurt by a vaccine-preventable disease than by a vaccine. All vaccines go through rigorous safety testing, including clinical trials, before they are approved for the public. Countries will only register and distribute vaccines that meet rigorous quality and safety standards.

The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (Epic) said that meeting WHO guidelines of 5 micrograms per cubic metre (pg/m3) could increase the life expectancy of Delhi's 18.7 million residents by 7.8 years. Even if the air quality matches the national standards of 40 ug/m3, life expectancy could rise by 4.3 years, it added. Read More...

India's achievement of its long-term goal to become a developed economy also hinges on its population losing weight, the Economic Survey 2023-24 had indicated. As India is posed to capitalise on its demographic dividend—a large youth population—it is crucial that the population's health improves. Rising obesity rates and unhealthy lifestyles are threatening this potential. Read More...

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Disclaimer: Our newsletter endeavors to compile patient safety information from various sources. PSAIIF may not be held responsible for any article published in The Prescription.

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