Seoul, July 8 (IANS) The government is likely to halt the suspension of licences and other administrative steps against striking trainee doctors in an effort to seek a breakthrough in months-long medical service disruptions, officials said on Monday.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong was scheduled to hold a press briefing after a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, during which he was to announce measures that would help facilitate dialogue and resolve the ongoing standoff with the medical community over the medical school admission quota hike.

More than 12,000 trainee doctors, or more than 90 per cent of the total, have left their worksites since late February in protest of the government’s medical reform plan, and most of them have rejected calls for returning to work, reports Yonhap news agency.

As a latest, key appeasement measure, the government is expected to halt administrative steps even for those who opt not to return to hospitals.

“Some trainee doctors are reluctant to return to work out of concerns that the move would lead to punishment against their defiant colleagues,” a ministry official said.

“If we suspend administrative measures altogether, that would help induce more to go back to hospitals,” he said, adding that it would be a “last resort” for the government to address the situation.

Doctors have urged the government to cancel, rather than suspend, administrative steps against striking doctors, but it would not do that in consideration of those who already ended their strike and other legal issues, officials said.

Despite strong opposition from doctors, the government finalised an admissions quota hike of some 1,500 students for medical schools for next year in an effort to address problems stemming from the shortage of doctors.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 7 (IANS) Zoonoses are infectious diseases that can transfer between animals and humans, such as rabies, anthrax, influenza (H1N1 and H5N1), Nipah, Covid-19, brucellosis, and tuberculosis; however, not all diseases are ‘zoonotic’, said the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) on Sunday.

The department has organised an interactive session chaired by the Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (AHD) to observe the World Zoonoses Day

According to the Animal Husbandry Department, understanding which diseases are zoonotic is crucial for effective public health strategies and preventing unnecessary fear and stigmatisation of animals.

“Raising awareness aids in early detection, prevention, and control, ultimately protecting public health. Educating the public about the distinction between zoonotic and non-zoonotic diseases helps reduce unwarranted fear and promotes a more informed approach to animal health and safety,” said DAHD.

To mitigate the risk of zoonotic diseases, DAHD has launched a nationwide campaign for Brucella vaccination of bovine calves under the National Animal Disease Control Programme and undertaken rabies vaccination under Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases.

The department said that it is also implementing a comprehensive nationwide surveillance plan for economically important animal diseases.

Additionally, under the One Health approach, the National Joint Outbreak Response Team has been established, comprising experts from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR, DAHD, ICAR, and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

India has the largest livestock population, with 536 million livestock and 851 million poultry, which accounts for nearly 11 per cent and 18 per cent of the global livestock and poultry population, respectively.

India is the world’s largest producer of milk and the second-largest producer of eggs.

World Zoonoses Day is celebrated in honour of Louis Pasteur, who administered the first successful rabies vaccine, a zoonotic disease, on July 6, 1885.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 7 (IANS) Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has shared a video on the social media platform X, showing a new technology detecting veins using infrared light.

“Using infrared light to locate veins. Saving the pain from repeated attempts to find a vein when drawing blood,” he wrote.

Praising the technology, the Mahindra Group Chairman said that it’s often the smallest, least glamorous inventions which “significantly improve our medical experience and hence, the quality of our lives”.

Since being shared, the video has been viewed over 680K times. A lot of users also shared their thoughts in the comment section.

“This is brilliant and could prevent a lot of phobias. From personal experience, the practicality of this would have saved a number of traumas. Helps the professional and the patient,” a user wrote.

“We need this Tech at local blood test centres; last year, my yearly check-up nurse did four punctures in my hands,” another user said.

One more user mentioned, “This will be really helpful. My mom faces this challenge when we do blood tests for her and it requires an experienced person to identify the vein. This technology can enable a lot of people in the medical industry.”

–IANS

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Seoul, July 7 (IANS) The South Korean government is expected to announce measures to deal with trainee doctors who refuse to return to hospitals in protest of medical reform as early as this week, officials said on Sunday.

The government is set to announce its measures on the junior doctors, who have left their worksites since late February, as early as Monday, according to government officials.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong earlier pledged to introduce such measures in early July, as hospitals need to prepare for the recruitment of new junior doctors who will begin training in September, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The government has currently decided to halt the suspension of medical licences of those who return to work.

As of Thursday, 1,104 junior doctors, or 8 per cent of 13,756 trainee doctors, were on duty at the country’s 211 training hospitals, according to government data.

Trainee doctors have been on strike for nearly five months in protest against a hike in medical student admissions, the first such increase in 27 years, which was finalised in May.

The government initially instructed hospitals to not accept trainee doctors’ resignations to prevent them from seeking other jobs but reversed this order in late June to normalise operations.

As the protracted walkout by trainee doctors has shown little signs of ending, medical professors, who also serve as senior doctors at general hospitals, began staging walkouts and other forms of protest.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 6 (IANS) Early trend is hinting at the possibility of the spread of dengue during the monsoon season in West Bengal with the total number of affected people having already crossed the 2,000 mark at the end of the first week of July.

Sources in the Health Department said the number of affected people till July 4 has already touched 2,095, adding that the figures could be more since not all the cases have been reported, with Malda and Murshidabad districts leading the tally.

The number of cases in Durgapur, the industrial township in West Burdwan district, is also substantially high.

The sources added that Health Department officials are in constant touch with the different civic authorities to ensure that the situation does not get out of control.

The dengue menace took an alarming shape in 2023 when the state reported over 76,000 cases till November last year, which was around 10,000 more than the 2022 figures.

With the full-fledged monsoon yet to arrive in the state, the medical fraternity is not ruling out the probability of Bengal reporting a large number of dengue cases this year as well.

The medical fraternity is also emphasising that the Health Department should report all dengue cases to the National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC).

Last year, West Bengal was the only state that did not share any data on this count with the central monitoring agency.

–IANS

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