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Govt to pick up medical tab for poor

August 9, 2012
aiims

New Delhi, August 9: It's raining sops for the poor. The government is making treatment of people below the poverty line suffering from mental disorders and diabetes free at government or public super speciality hospitals like AIIMS.

In the maiden endorsement of India's swelling burden of patients suffering from mental disorders, the ministry has included it under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) — the scheme that till now provided financial assistance to only those BPL patients suffering from major life-threatening diseases like cancer.

All BPL patients suffering from mental disorders like depression, anxiety, adjustment and personality disorders will be given a free one-time grant of upto Rs 1 lakh for treatment.

In cases where the quantum of financial assistance is likely to exceed Rs 1.5 lakh, they will be referred to an expert committee headed by the DGHS for consideration.

The ministry has also included diabetes — an ail-ment that presently affects nearly 50 million Indians — under RAN.

A ministry note says, "7% of population suffers from mental disorders. Around 13 crore Indians are suffering from some form of mental illness like depression and anxiety syndromes to psychosomatic disorders and schizophrenia. Over 90% remain untreated. There is less than one psychiatrist available for every four lakh population. The psychiatrist/population ratio is one for every million."

For providing financial assistance to the needy patients, an advance of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh has been kept with medical superintendents of institutes like the AIIMS, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College (Delhi), PGIMER (Chandigarh), JIPMER (Puducherry), NIMHANS (Bangalore), CNCI (Kolkata), SGPGIMS (Lucknow), Gandhi Memorial and Associated Hospitals (Lucknow), RIMS (Imphal) and NEIGRIHMS (Shillong) to enable immediate sanction of an amount up to Rs 1 lakh in each deserving case.

Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says it is a matter of great concern that India has such a high burden of mental disorders, with such disorders still grossly overlooked in India. He said that about 20% of all patients seen by primary healthcare doctors have one or more mental disorders. One in four families is likely to have at least one member with a behavioural or mental disorder.

India currently has 23% of required psychiatrists, 25% of required psychiatric nurses and only 3% of the required clinical psychologists and psychiatric social workers. In absolute numbers, India has 3,500 psychiatrists, 500 clinical psychologists, 300 psychiatric social workers and about a 1,000 psychiatric nurses.


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News Network
June 5,2020

Jun 5: Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his wife Mahzabeen have tested positive for COVID-19, a top government source told CNN News 18. They were admitted to the Army Hospital in Karachi.

Some of Dawood's personal staff and guards have also been quarantined, the report said on Friday.

Dawood was the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts and is one of the most-wanted gangsters by India. He has allegedly been living in Pakistan but the neighbouring country has always refusing to accept it.

Earlier in the day, a senior diplomat of the American embassy in Pakistan has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a media report said.

In a statement, the embassy's spokesman said that while maintaining the privacy, the name of the citizen would not be disclosed.

The US State Department is responsible to protect its citizens, wherever they are, the spokesman added. In coordination with the Pakistani authorities, the consulate is working to enforce the coronavirus protocol in order to stem its spread. The spokesman added that isolation wards, contact tracing and quarantine facility are part of such protocols.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has 89,249 COVID-19 cases and the death toll is 1,838.

 

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 2: With the foundation laying ceremony of the grand Ram temple around the corner, the work at the stone-carving workshop of Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya has reached its final stage.

Speaking to news agency, caretaker of Ram temple stone workshop Hanuman Yadav said, "Stonework is ready for the construction work till the first floor of the temple. Cleaning work is almost done but some work is still left which will be done soon after the trust's meeting."

Talking about the characteristics of the sandstone chosen work the construction, he said, "It was chosen for the construction as it can withstand rigours for thousands of years. These designated stones are minutely carved according to the need of the temple."

The stone-carving workshop for the Ram temple construction was established in Ayodhya by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in 1990.

On August 5 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ayodhya for rituals that will mark the beginning of Ram temple construction, Hanumangarhi is the first stop he would be visiting.

The construction of Ram temple will begin in Ayodhya after the ceremony to lay the foundation stone in which various dignitaries from the political and religious fields are likely to participate apart from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. 

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Agencies
May 27,2020

Global health experts on Wednesday said novel coronavirus is here to stay for more than a year and called for aggressive testing to prevent its spread.

In an interaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, health experts Professor Ashish Jha and Professor Johan Giesecke talked about the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the series being aired on Congress social media channels.

While Jha exuded confidence that a vaccine will be available in a year's time, Prof Giesecke said India should practice a lockdown that is as 'soft' as possible, as a severe lockdown will ruin its economy very quickly.

"When the economy is opened up after lockdown, you have to create confidence among people," Harvard health expert Ashish Jha told Gandhi.

Jha is a professor of Global Health at TH Chan School of Public Health and Director, Harvard Global Health institute.

He said coronavirus is a '12-18 months' problem and the world is not going to be free of this till 2021.

The expert also called for the need for aggressive testing strategy for high-risk areas.

Gandhi, while interacting with the experts, said life is going to change post COVID-19.

"If 9/11 was a new chapter, this will be a new book," he remarked.

Professor Johan Giesecke, former chief scientist, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said India should have a 'soft lockdown'.

"The situation that India is in, I think, you should have a soft lockdown, as soft as possible," he said.

"I think for India, you will ruin your economy very quickly if you have a severe lockdown. It is better, skip the lockdown, take care of the old and the frail...," he noted.

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