17 January, 2013

Docs refuse to let woman take her heart home!

A photo of a woman reportedly holding her own heart in her hands after she had a successful transplant has caught the internet by surprise. The woman, named as Penny by her friend Kelsey on photo sharing website Imgur, is seen wearing a medical mask as she holds what appears to be her old heart, the Telegraph reported.

Penny now has a new fully-functioning heart following the operation, her friend said. ‘(Penny) is holding her own heart. She has survived cancer and crippling heart failure and never lost hope,’ Kelsey wrote. She said doctors allowed Penny to take a photograph of her old heart before it was cremated. She had wanted to take her heart home but doctors refused.

‘She wanted to keep it but they wouldn’t let her! I said the same thing. It had to be cremated but she kept the ashes,’ Kelsey wrote. Around 3,500 heart transplant surgeries are performed across the world each year.

Source: http://health.india.com

17.01.2013

Healthy Hand Wash Programme: Dettol reaches out to 14 lakh students

As part of its Healthy Hand Wash Programme along with NGO School Health Annual Report Programme (SHARP), leading disinfectant brand Dettol has reached out to 14 lakh students in 3,114 schools in 65 cities across India, a company statement said on Wednesday.

‘The objective of the Healthy Hand Washing Programme is to create awareness among the young children about importance of hand washing and its benefits. The target audience for the program were children from the primary sections. The nationwide extensive educative programme engaging the students’ community is a part of Dettol’s continued endeavour to promote good hygiene practices among the people at large,’ the statement read.

UNICEF estimates that diarrhoea and pneumonia together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually which can be reduced by 50 percent through proper hand washing with soap SHARP director Maneka Sharma said.

Emphasizing the need for proper hand washing, Narendra Saini, India representative of the Global Hygiene Council said: ‘Germs can get transferred into our bodies by a simple touch and hands become the easiest touch-points for their transfer. If we remember to wash our hands at certain important times and after select activities during the day, we can substantially reduce our chances of becoming ill. Simple hand washing is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of germs.’ Chander Mohan Sethi, senior vice president (South East Asia), Reckitt Benckiser, said: ‘Children in this tender age are at a very impressionable age. They are vulnerable and susceptible to infections whether being in the class or outside or at home. We believe that this is the right age to inculcate health and hygiene habits in them.’

During the outreach, children were educated and shown the correct way of hand washing. The students took a pledge to always follow a proper hand wash regime. A ‘Dettol 100 percent attendance certificate’ was presented for students with regular attendance in school along with a first aid kit. Posters depicting proper hand wash techniques were presented to the principals of the participating schools.

Source: http://health.india.com                      17.01.2013

Anger may identify a problem, but it will never solve one