Health

Someone in your apartment complex has collapsed. You suspect it is a cardiac arrest and have called for an ambulance. However, you know that the ambulance is going to take a while to arrive, considering the traffic. You also know that the victim needs timely help. What can you do now? When an individual suffers a cardiac arrest, this is what happens within his body: His heart has unexpectedly and suddenly stopped functioning. This prevents the effective supply of blood, and therefore oxygen to his brain. This also causes him to lose consciousness and stop breathing. If untreated, the lack…

On the occasion of ‘World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse’, Inventure Academy cordially invites you to a unique event, ‘Our Safety, Our Voice’ - By The Children, For the Children, Of The Children.   Bengaluru is awash with policies and guidelines issued by different stakeholders on how schools can be made safe for children. However, students’ views have largely not been taken into consideration.  What makes this initiative a truly unique one is that the children, probably for the first time, are being given an opportunity to voice their feelings and concerns about this unnerving situation. Also, another very important differentiator is that this initiative has recognised the fact that…

14-year-old Ruth goes to a school in DJ Halli, Bengaluru, every day—not to study—but to work, unlike most children. She has been doing so since January 2014. She leaves home at 7 am and walks for about half an hour to get to school. At school, she looks after children younger than herself—giving them food and water, taking them to the bathroom, washing their feet. Once Ruth finishes her work at school, she once again walks and reaches home by 6.30 pm. At home too, she has several household chores to attend to. In any other family, these chores would…

After recent cases of Dengue in Bengaluru, many residents are looking for preventive measures. And many are discussing Ovitrap as an effective preventive measure that can trap mosquitoes that spread Dengue. How effective is Ovitrap in Bangalore? We have to understand what is Dengue and how does Ovitrap work. Dengue is a vector-borne disease, caused by mosquitoes that breed on water. A mosquito named Aedes Aegypti is the host of Dengue virus. Researchers say that most Aedes Aegypti do not fly beyond than 100 metres, and bite only during day time. What is a lethal Ovitrap? Lethal Ovitrap is a…

Residents at the Nightingales Centre for Ageing and Alzheimer's gather around on the lawn for a support session, in their Bangalore Centre. File pic. The first time Divya Sreedharan's father wandered off was when he and her mother were travelling on a train going back to Kerala from Bangalore. He simply got off the train unnoticed by his wife. The family already knew he had dementia-related symptoms at that time. The police were called, and Divya’s husband set off to search for him. "The worst thing was wondering if we would ever find him," Divya says. "The worry of never…

The first thing that hits you, when someone who comes out from airport happens to sneeze or feel feverish is this: Could this be Ebola? And one is careful with those who come from Ebola-affected countries, for they might even be Ebola-affected! However, what is the real situation about Ebola? Do we, the Bangaloreans, have a reason to worry? Citizen Matters explores. Ebola has no known remedy, still many cured Ebola virus (EBV) has no known cure, though some trial drugs appear to work. The mortality rate is 90% according to World Health Organisation. Death toll in the southern African…

Following the tragic but avoidable death of 6 year-old Meghala from D.J.Halli on July 17th 2013 due to malnutrition, the increased focus on the social indicators in D.J.Halli revealed a high incidence of disability in the area.  At the public hearing on 12th December 2013 at DJ Halli, several differently-abled persons shared the issues they faced with regard to access to disability pension and other schemes. The jury said that this was a human rights violation and the District disability welfare officer (DDWO) for Bangalore urban, Mr. G. Mohan promised to do a survey within the next two months to…

Chennai-based Dr Ruffles is extremely popular with children. His treatment has helped several non-verbal children with autism to speak up, aided those with attention deficit disorder and other learning disabilities to improve their performance in school, and even resolved complex behavioural issues in many of his little patients. Quite incredibly, though, the good doctor has accomplished all this without so much as uttering a single word or writing out a prescription. Indeed, he has become the hugely successful therapist he is by simply being himself – a non-judgmental, attentive and very affectionate dog! Ruffles is the resident ‘doctor’ at the…

Salt is the most underrated ingredient, but by far the most important when you think of food. Important enough to be worshipped by the Greeks, to have battles fought over it, to be used as currency and to make international headlines- thanks to Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Salt Satyagraha’! Used widely to give the ‘salty’ flavor to dishes, it is said that a pinch of salt added to sweet dishes tends to make the dish sweeter! Pic: http://bharatcs.blogspot.in It is one of the most precious natural compound and found naturally in saltwater and in the mineral halite. Salt or ‘table salt’ is…

Even after receiving funds amounting to Rs.126.79 crore, Super Speciality Hospital of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) does not have necessary equipment for its smooth functioning. What little equipment purchased has been gathering dust in stores, unused and useless. This was what the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) found out while auditing the books of BMRCI. Funds for the Super Speciality Hospital cum college were floated under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The CAG audit was conducted between March-May 2013. While scrutinising Medical Education Department records, CAG inspected the establishment of BMCRI which was supposed to…