September 17, 2012 Clippings

Apollo Hospitals to train docs in Ghana

India’s Apollo Hospital Group will conduct a medical camp in Ghana to provide affordable treatment to people suffering from liver and heart diseases as part of a specialised training programme for doctors in the country. The two-day outreach camp will be held Sep 27-28 in Accra, said Ranjeet Jamdar, marketing manager of Unichem Ghana Limited, a pharmaceutical company coordinating the programme. ”The outreach is just to support Ghana’s medical fraternity by offering them specialised treatment,” Jamdar told IANS.

Aaron Offei, director of the health department in the Ashanti region, said there has been an upsurge in non-communicable diseases. Heart failure, chronic liver disease and diabetes mellitus are among the main causes of death in Ghana, he said.

Lydia Adjetey, a 45-year-old woman who was diagnosed with liver failure two years ago, said: “It has been a difficult situation for me because I have been in and out of hospital to seek treatment with a heavy cost to my family.” Jamdar said this would be the third time that the outreach programme will be held in Ghana. He said it would help provide essential treatment to many people who would otherwise not get the opportunity due to lack of facilities and access to medical care. George Owusu, medical consultant and sole agent of Unichem Limited, said the Indian doctors at the camp would charge under $40 for those treated for their liver conditions, which was far cheaper than anywhere else in the country.

Source: http://health.india.com

17.09.2012

New drug promises a drop in asthma attacks by a fifth

There is new hope for asthmatics. A new drug claims to reduce the number of asthma attacks by more than a fifth. This drug could offer hope to thousands of patients who suffer from this debilitating lung disease. Trials on nearly 1,000 people with uncontrolled asthma showed the drug tiotropium taken through a mist inhaler opened constricted airways and appeared to improve lung function. Even those with severe asthma saw the number of attacks cut by 21 per cent and the time between attacks extended by a third.

This drug, primarily used for patients suffering from COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) has been found to be affective in asthmatics as well. The government promises that the drug could be available at the NHS soon. A statistic shows that five million Britons suffer from asthma, with 250,000 diagnosed with a severe form. On average, three patients die each day during an attack. The disease is usually treated with a steroid inhaler or tablets, which can have serious side effects including skin thinning, weight gain and osteoporosis. Neil Churchill, of charity Asthma UK, said: ‘People with asthma are anxious about what steroids are doing to them, particularly if they have to take them long term. Having another tool will be useful.’And researcher Dr Richard Russell, a lung specialist at Wexham Park Hospital in Berkshire, said the drug could be a ‘new weapon in our armoury.’

Source: http://health.india.com

17.09.2012

Responsibility finds a way. Irresponsibility makes excuses

Gene Bedley