Welcoming all my fervent readers to the current newsletter edition with varied news on medicine across India and the world!
Initiative taken by India in grandly celebrating and participating on International Yoga Day, 21st of June, 2015 has sent the message of Yoga across the world. Yoga helps in developing the body and mind, bringing in lots of health benefits. We should therefore not ignore it; imbibe its good qualities and make space for it in our day to day life for a healthy living.
Reading across the National Injections section in this issue bringsforth the declaration of India being declared free from maternal and neonatal tetanus, mislabelled tablet srtips raising fear among people, fake Ayurveda drugs being sold to senior citizens, launch of a mobile app for curbing misleading ads, presence of heavy metals in ayurvedic drugs and many other such interesing news flashes.
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Happy Reading !
Stay Safe. Stay Healthy !
Pooja Khaitan
Chief Editor ,
The PRESCRIPTION
Partnership for Safe Medicines India.
“The time frame for prescription validity should be 48 hours. This is because patients will purchase usually drugs immediately for any conditions covering from fever, cough, cold to hypertension, diabetes, cardiac among others. The adverse drug reactions will also manifest within 24 to 36 hours giving the patient time to get back and revise his prescription and return the purchased drugs,”
Dr. BR Jagashetty
Former National Advisor (Drugs control) to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and former Karnataka Drugs Controller
June 22, 2015: India along with whole world celebrated International Yoga Day on June 21st, 2015.
It set a record of great achievement due to the spirit and endeavour shown by more than 35,000 enthusiastic participants. The Rajpath event of International Yoga Day made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest yoga demonstration at a single venue with 35,985 people participating. Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘yu’j, Yoga means union of the individual consciousness or soul with the Universal Consciousness or Spirit. Yoga is a 5000 year old Indian body of knowledge. Though many of us consider that yoga is a physical exercise where people twist, turn, stretch, and breathe in the most complex ways, these are actually only the most superficial aspect of this profound science of unfolding the infinite potentials of the human mind and soul.
LAUNCHING FIRST TIME in INDIA : Universal Health Coverage for the Poor and Elderly
The proposed project in Varanasi will be managed under a public private partnership by engaging with various stakeholders already existing like the Banares Hindu University, Mata Anandmayee Hospital, Central & State Government and Private Sector Healthcare facilites along with National Level Organisations like the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) India Initiiative and Consumer Online Foundation.
To know more on the event and register for the same please visit our website jagograhakjago.com
Fake slimming pills, erectile dysfunction tablets, condoms and cancer drugs seized in £51.6 million global crackdown on counterfeit medicines • Global crackdown organised by INTERPOL saw 156 arrests worldwide
• £51.6 million of fake drugs seized across 115 different countries
• In the UK 6.2 million doses of counterfeit medicines seized worth £15.8m
• Operation saw closure of websites selling falsified and unlicensed drugs
Top 5 Pain Interventions to Avoid June, 2015: In response to a call from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation for recommendations on the most overused interventions, the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) has issued a list of top 5 tests and therapies that are of questionable usefulness in the field of pain medicine.
Are The Men In Your Life Safe From Counterfeit Drugs?
June 2015: On the eve of Father’s Day, PSM –International has advised to put a quick glance at the National Crime Prevention Association page on counterfeit drugs which highlights that medications for high cholesterol, hypertension, antibiotics, ED, cancer, and HIV/AIDS are the most commonly found to be counterfeited. These medications, along with treatments for hair loss, depression, obesity, & diabetes are also the medications men are most likely to be taking on a regular basis.
Frequently Asked Questions Q1. What is meant by sterilization?
Answer: Sterilization or sterilisation is a term referring to any process that eliminates (removes) or kills all forms of life, including transmissible agents (such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, spore forms, etc.) present in a specified region, such as a surface, a volume of fluid, medication, or in a compound such as biological culture media. Sterilization can be achieved with one or more of the following: heat, chemicals, irradiation, high pressure, and filtration. There are various types of sterilization like dry heat, moist heat, flaming, tyndallisation, membrane filtration, chemical and radiation sterilization. The aim of sterilization is the reduction of initially present microorganisms or other potential pathogens. The degree of sterilization is commonly expressed by multiples of the decimal reduction time, or D-value, denoting the time needed to reduce the initial number to one tenth ( ) of its original value.
Sterilizing medical equipment is of the utmost importance in the medical field to prevent growth and spread of diseases. Thousands of patients die every year or are infected with disease because medical equipment was not properly sterilized. Complications surface in many surgeries due to improper sterilization. Sterile Water for Injection is a sterile, nonpyrogenic preparation of water for injection which contains no bacteriostatic, antimicrobial agent or added buffer and is supplied only in single-dose containers to dilute or dissolve drugs for injection.
Q2. What is meant by pasteurization?
Answer: Pasteurization is a process invented by French scientist Louis Pasteur during the nineteenth century who discovered that heating beer and wine was enough to kill most of the bacteria that caused spoilage, preventing these beverages from turning sour. Today the process of pasteurization is used widely in the dairy and food industries for microbial control and preservation of the food consumed. Pasteurization is not intended to kill all micro-organisms in the food. Instead, it aims to reduce the number of viable pathogens so they are unlikely to cause disease (assuming the pasteurized product is stored as indicated and is consumed before its expiration date). Milk is an excellent medium for microbial growth and when stored at ambient temperature, bacteria and other pathogens soon proliferate. Pasteurization is the reason for milk's extended shelf life. High-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurized milk typically has a refrigerated shelf life of two to three weeks, whereas ultra-pasteurized milk can last much longer, sometimes two to three months. Diseases prevented by pasteurization can include tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever and also kills the harmful bacteria Salmonella, Listeria, Yersinia, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli .
As pasteurization is a very old and traditional way of preservation, it is well known and accepted by consumers. Nearly every label of milk products contains the word "pasteurization" and it is associated by consumers with good quality attributes and safety.
Dr. Varun Kumar Khanna , General Physician conveys PSM-India has gone a long way in helping people in becoming cautious of fake medicine. God Bless you all for doing such a great job !
Mrs. Akhansha Biswas, social activist quotes Its time to gear up with PSM India and become socially and morally upright and feel the consequences of consuming unsafe medicines and stop making such mistakes!
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Disclaimer : Our newsletter endeavors to compile patient safety information from various sources . PSM India may not be held responsible for any article published in The Prescription.