bangalore health news

"I can do it with my eyes closed now. I can tell you what medicine is placed where, which doctor comes in when, and where my patients are at all times,” Leelamma says with a smile. Leelamma, the nurse staff-in charge at the St. John’s Medical College and Hospital in the Bengaluru hails from Kottayam. She has spent 22 years of her career here after stints in Assam and Saudi Arabia. Her faded, yet neatly pressed, white gown speaks of her longevity in service. This time around, she has a new challenge: handling panic. “Everyone with a fever is suddenly…

Vaishnavi V M, a South Bengaluru resident, recently recovered from a fever that lasted two full weeks. “I don’t know what it was. It must have been some viral fever that occurs around monsoon due to weather change.” Vaishnavi says that this is the first time she has had a fever lasting so long; usually she recovers in three-four days. Vaishnavi is among the thousands of Bengalureans suffering from fevers this year. As various fevers like dengue, chikungunya and laryngitis are going around, hospitals are filled with patients. Since all viral fevers have similar symptoms, they are difficult to distinguish…

Recently there has been quite a flurry of opinions, accusations and threats around the issue of regulation of private medical establishments in Karnataka. Although the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act has been around since 2007, concerns over the last few years, around patient rights, have brought in the need for Amendments to the Act. Following a prolonged period of discussion under the Justice Vikramjit Sen Committee, the health minister put forward the Amendments to the KPME in the Karnataka Assembly on 20th June 2017. The response to this has been contradictory and volatile. A majority of private hospital doctors…

File picture of a slum near HSR Layout. Pic: Akshatha M International Symposium on Health in Slums 2016 was held in Smrithi Auditorium, Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Hebbal on April 30, 2016. This was a first-of-its-kind event provided a platform for health researchers, BBMP Medical Officer and NGOs involved in various aspect of health in slums. The population for study involved migrant and non-migrant populations. This was an opportunity to connect the investigators, with questions pertaining to the health and wellbeing of the slum dwellers, with those willing to offer solutions in the form cost-effective options of fuel, energy, technology and…

Citizen Matters had earlier reported that dengue cases in Bengaluru are severely under-reported, that the official dengue figures are only a fraction of the actual numbers. But when it comes to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart diseases, respiratory diseases etc., the situation is worse - these diseases are not tracked at all in the city. NCDs are now emerging as the leading cause of deaths in India, since communicable diseases like malaria and TB are under better control. But in Bengaluru, like in the rest of the country, no one is tracking them. Without data on these diseases, policy-making…