Health

On 6th August, India gave Emergency Use Authorization for Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, expanding its vaccine basket, which now has five vaccines — Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V, Moderna’s, and Johnson & Johnson’s vectored vaccine (JNJ-78436735 or Ad26.COV2.S ). One of the many new vaccines that India is waiting to introduce in its mammoth vaccination drive, this particular one was developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Belgium-based division of the company, in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Boston. The vaccine can be stored at normal temperature for three months, which makes it easily transportable to rural and…

As one walks into the infinitesimal lanes in Daulat Nagar, Borivali, the houses, one over the other, start to narrate the story of their occupants. The slum is primarily  home to the transgender community in the locality. Renting a 30meter square house costs anywhere between  Rs 5000- Rs 6000 per month. This is one of the biggest expenses for the transgender community, who mainly earn by begging. A 32-year-old transwoman lives in the slum of Daulat Nagar. Since the lockdown, she and other community members are not earning much as they can’t go begging in trains or in streets or…

As the third COVID wave appears imminent in the country, robust communication strategies by government agencies become increasingly important. Public health messaging — in both form and content — is an extremely critical component of the response to a pandemic. Access to information about COVID guidelines, vaccination centres and helpline numbers posed a challenge during the first and second waves for a large section of the population, especially the digitally illiterate, marginalised and senior citizens. The avenues of information in the form of trusted media sources and bulletins from government websites seem to be unreachable for these categories. “Only a…

Vaccination for children below 18 years against COVID-19 has become a vexed issue in India after some experts expressed the fear that the third wave is likely to affect children more. Presently, the United States, Canada and the European Union, have begun vaccinating children, with priority for children with comorbidities.  However, most other countries, including India, continue to prioritise vaccinating the 45+ age group, particularly senior citizens, who are the most vulnerable to developing severe infection requiring hospitalization.  The result of the fourth round of national serosurvey that was conducted in 70 districts in June-July revealed that 67.6% people have…

Late in May one afternoon, R Ramkumar, a 63-year-old resident of Madipakkam, felt seriously indisposed when he started experiencing mild dizziness without any warning signs. Hospitals were teeming with COVID patients at this time, and the family did not want to expose the senior citizen to unnecessary risk. After brief deliberation on the matter, they decided to go for teleconsultation with a doctor and did so through Practo, a medical portal that connects patients with doctors for meeting various healthcare needs. Upon the doctor’s advice, the family did an instant blood glucose level test with the equipment available at home.…

According to experts, a mutant variant of SARS-Cov-2, B.1.617.2 — now named Delta variant — was a major reason that led to the devastating second wave across the country. First identified in October in India,  it is now the dominant variant in the country, responsible for 80% of new cases. “It travelled from south to north along the western states — from Kerala to Kashmir, before spreading to the central and eastern states,” says Dr N K Arora, chairman of the COVID working group under the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI). The Delta variant has mutations in its…

During the first week of June 2021, the daily bulletin from the Department of Health and Family Welfare(DHFW), Karnataka, was still reporting 300+ COVID deaths per day for Bengaluru Urban district. The corresponding daily positives was around 3500-4000. The general feeling was that the worst was over and things had eased up. But these numbers suggested otherwise, a fatality rate of close to 10%! A closer look at the "DOD" (Date of Death) column of Annexure-2 of the bulletins, however, showed that a lot of these 300+ COVID deaths were being back-counted from May, and some even from April. For…

The world is still grappling with the onslaught of COVID-19, its aftermath and its impact on global health and economy. Even after more than a year since it first surfaced, there are several things that we do not know about COVID-19 yet. While it has claimed many lives, it is also true that innumerable people have come out of COVID-19. But in some cases, post COVID complications have proven to be complex, lingering, even debilitating ─ impacting the daily life of recovered patients. In extreme cases, post COVID illness has proved to be fatal. Not only has this affliction altered…

“Healthcare in the city (BBMP) has been found wanting during the pandemic.” That was the first salvo fired by Deputy Chief Minister C.N Ashwath Narayan, who also heads the state’s COVID Task Force, to pin the entire blame for the failures in COVID management during the second wave on the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The second salvo was the proposal to divest the BBMP of all its public health responsibilities, including COVID management, and create a separate Bengaluru Health Directorate under the Department of Health and Family Welfare. This exposes the confused thinking of the state government. Such a…

“There is no blanket figure given as daily COVID testing target,” says Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner (Health) at BBMP. “Testing numbers are decided based on a formula given by the state TAC (Technical Advisory Committee) for COVID”. Even as the second wave hit its peak during April-May, Bengaluru urban clocked only around 30,000-40,000 tests per day, (it was 20,000-30,000 before the start of the second wave), despite experts recommending an increase in test numbers which perhaps could have identified and isolated asymptomatic persons quicker and reduced the spread. Cholan added that it was not a question of randomly testing one…