New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) In another bid to ensure healthcare for all, the government has unveiled three new initiatives which will play a major role in improving the quality of healthcare services in the country.

These initiatives include virtual National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) assessment for Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAM); a new dashboard which will help health institutions in quickly monitoring compliance with respect to Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS); and a spot food licence and registration initiative for food vendors.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, said the government has established over 1.73 lakh AAMs, doubled the number of medical colleges since 2014, increased the number of AIIMS from seven to 23 and more than doubled the number of PG and MBBS seats since 2014.

“The government is committed to strengthening the healthcare system with more skilled human resources and quality infrastructure that can tackle both present and future medical challenges”, the minister noted.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, said that the launch of the virtual NQAS assessment and dashboard “will lead to improvement in providing quality of healthcare in public health facilities while the launch of the spot food licence will enhance the Ease of Doing Business in India”.

NQAS for Integrated Public Health Laboratories (IPHL) will improve the quality and competence of management and testing systems, which will positively impact the reliability of test results.

The launch of the spot food licence initiative is a ground-breaking new functionality for the instant issuance of licences and registrations through the Food Safety and Compliance System (FoSCoS).

FoSCoS is a pan-India IT platform designed to address all food safety regulatory needs.

Minister Patel said the government is working hard on building a robust and quality healthcare infrastructure by 2047, in accordance with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s vision.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, June 28 (IANS) ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has developed Nutrition Atlas, an online virtual, interactive web application that helps access nutrition data from different national surveys from different time points and geographies on a single platform.

NIN Director Dr R. Hemalatha launched the application available at www.nutritionatlasindia.in or www.nurtritionatlasindia.com.

The interactive tool has brought together vast nutrition-related data from different authentic national surveys from the past and present in one place. This web application has been developed by a team led by Dr Subba Rao M. Gavaravarapu, head of the Nutrition Communication Division as a one-stop ready-reckoner that enables users to access nutrition data on one platform from different time points by age, gender, physiological groups, and geographies and visualise them in an easily understandable manner.

“Nutrition Atlas 2.0 is designed to be a state-of-the-art standard web-based dashboard application with an interactive user interface made using advanced technologies. It allows users to geo-visualise and compare a given nutrition indicator from multiple surveys and timepoints simultaneously. All data is accompanied by a succinct description of data sources, links, references, methods of data collection,” said Dr Hemalatha, who is also co-ordinator of the project.

“The Nutrition Atlas concept was initially launched as a very rudimentary web application in 2017, but now with all the new data available this stands as a platform that provides complex statistical data on the nutrition and health profile of the population of India from diverse sources on a single web application,” said Dr Vishnu Vardhana Rao, former director of ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), New Delhi who coordinated the project along with NIN team.

The data available on Nutrition Atlas 2.0 are sourced from various national-level databases like National Family Health Surveys, District Level Household and Facility Surveys, Annual Health Surveys, National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau Surveys, Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, and Longitudinal Aging Study in India.

“Time trends of nutrition status and diet-related NCDs are provided along with a comparison between different timepoints and databases. The charts, geo-maps, and tabular data visualised on the dashboard can be downloaded in multiple file formats like PDF, PNG, JPEG, SVG and PPTX for use in academics, research, media and education. The portal’s ‘nutri-education’ component serves as a nutrition education resource for visitors with ready-reckoner-like information on dietary recommendations, nutrient functions, sources, and values of important nutrients of raw foods,” said Dr Subba Rao.

–IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, June 28 (IANS) The Kerala Human Rights Commission, taking cognisance of media reports, asked those responsible for giving the sanction for shooting a film at the busy emergency department of the state-run hospital at Angamaly in Ernakulam, to furnish an explanation in seven days.

Shooting for the film “Payinkilli”, produced by popular actor Fahad Fazil, started at the hospital’s Emergency Department at around 9 p.m. on Thursday and continued till early morning on Friday.

This violation first came to the notice of the media and then the social media took the issue up. As the Commission came to know about it on Friday, it suo moto took up the issue and has asked those who gave the sanction for it to explain what happened.

As per a person, who reached the Emergency Department with a patient, the sight of a crowd led them to think that an accident might have taken place.

“When I came with a patient for an emergency, there were lots of people. Later I found out there was a film shooting going on. The film people had posted security staff who were shooing away patients and bystanders. It’s sad that permission is given to do this at a hospital where the poor and ordinary people come for their medical needs,” the angry attendant said.

There were around 50 people associated with the film crowding the Emergency Department even as the medical staff was busy with patients.

The displeasure of the patients or their attendants fell on deaf ears as the hospital authorities said that sanction for the shooting was given by the top health authorities.

After the Commission, Health Minister Veena George has also asked the Health Department to give a report on the incident.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) Latent tuberculosis, which occurs without any symptoms is the highest among agate stone workers — who make jewellery and decorative items, according to a study by researchers at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The workers are regularly exposed to silica dust as the jewellery and decorative items are made by polishing, chipping, and drilling agate stones, which contain more than 60 per cent free silica.

“Inhaling silica dust impairs the immune system and increases the risk of developing tuberculosis (TB),’ the researchers said on Friday.

The study by ICMR’s National Institute of Occupational Health in Ahmedabad is based on tests of 463 agate-stone workers in Khambhat, Gujarat.

The team used an Interferon Gamma Release Assay — a blood test that measures the immune response to TB bacteria.

The findings, published in Nature’s Scientific Reports journal, showed that the “burden of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in India’s agate stone workers is nearly double the national average (31 per cent)”.

About 58 per cent were found to have LTBI — higher than the 41 per cent reported for high-risk groups.

Moreover, those indulged in polishing and chipping stones, which generate more dust and finer particles, showed higher LTBI positivity compared with those drilling.

Workers’ low income, poor nutrition, and overcrowded living conditions increase their susceptibility to LTBI, the study showed.

“The community should be included as a high-risk group for LTBI testing in India’s national TB guidelines,” the researchers said.

The 2021 tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment guidelines in India included silicosis as a screening group, yet latent TB infection (LTBI) testing for silica-dust-exposed individuals is underemphasized.

The researchers called for more cost-effective testing methods like Cy-Tb and implementing shorter, more manageable TB preventive treatment plans. They also stressed the need to put “craftspeople who inhale silica dust for five years or more on preventive treatment without the need for LTBI testing”.

India, which is striving for TB elimination by 2025, grapples with an alarming 0.35-0.4 billion TB infections and 2.6 million annual TB cases. Studies indicate a 5-10 per cent progression from LTBI to active TB disease, typically within 2 years post-infection.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) Genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors are driving breast cancers even among women who seem healthy, said oncologists on Friday, even as television actress Hina Khan announced her diagnosis with stage three breast cancer.

Known to be a fitness enthusiast, the ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ actress in an Instagram post said: “I have been diagnosed with Stage Three Breast Cancer”.

Noting that she is “doing well”, the actress stated that her “treatment has already begun, and I am ready to do everything necessary to emerge from this even stronger”.

“Stage 3 breast cancer is when the breast cancer either involves the skin or the underlying structures which we call the chest wall or the tumour are very big more than 5 cm in size or there are lymph nodes which are even seen in the neck,” Dr. Rohan Khandelwal, lead consultant and Head of the Breast Centre at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, told IANS.

The doctor recommended women with Stage 3 breast cancer a whole body scan or a PET scan to see whether the disease has not spread to any other part of the body.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting women worldwide. Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) showed that breast cancer is the most common cancer in India. It accounts for 28.2 per cent of all female cancers, with an estimated 216,108 cases by 2022.

Globally, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 670,000 died in 2022, as per the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Breast cancer can develop even in people who appear healthy because of the intricate interaction between hereditary and environmental variables. These variables may occasionally result in epigenetic modifications or mutations in genes that raise the risk of cancer,” Dr. Rohan said.

He explained that cells in healthy persons are equipped with internal systems that guard against abnormal growth and repair damage to DNA. These can, however, occasionally fail allowing harmed cells to multiply and perhaps develop into malignant ones.

“In addition, healthy people can also be impacted by some risk factors, such as radiation, hormone exposure, and specific genetic abnormalities. For example, despite leading a healthy lifestyle, someone with a genetic mutation like BRCA1/2 or a family history of breast cancer may still acquire breast cancer,” the doctor said.

Dr. Pritam Kataria, Consultant, Medical Oncology, Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, told IANS that as breast cancer cases are increasing, the age group is not well defined, and the risk can range from the young to middle-aged and elderly.

The doctor noted that major non-modifiable risk factors include higher age and hereditary status, which means, you are predisposed to breast cancer if there is a family history with mutations present in your DNA, like the BRCA and BRCA2 mutations. Early menage and late menopause also pose a higher risk.

On the other hand, modifiable risk factors include obesity, having no children or advanced maternity, smoking, and alcohol, he added. The doctor also pointed out the role of increasing air pollution as a risk factor.

The experts called for early diagnosis via mammograms, which should be done every year beginning at age 40 or earlier for high-risk patients.

For those with a high risk, such as those with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations, breast MRI is recommended.

Women with thick breast tissue or abnormalities discovered on mammograms can both be investigated with ultrasound. Regular self-examinations and clinical breast exams by doctors help in the detection of unexpected changes.

A healthy lifestyle that includes eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, abstaining from alcohol, and quitting smoking can also help keep the risk at bay.

–IANS

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