Health

The police on May 8th 2015, filed a charge sheet against a former senior official of Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru and a government officer, with reference to a case of organ transplantation, where the patient died after the transplant. P K Davison, the Facility Director of Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru, and Dr V Raju, former deputy director (Medical) in the Office of Appropriate Authority for Organ Transplantation, Government of Karnataka are the accused in the case as per the charge sheet. The records reveal that the police have charged them with colluding and committing forgery on Fortis…

Public urination is common in Bengaluru. However, some people have no qualms about open defecation too. Pic: Ganga Madappa “What happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom” was the general consensus at my childhood household. Unless there was a health concern, no one discussed their bowel movements. Ever! It wasn’t until I moved away to college, at 18-years-old, and had to share three bathroom stalls with 40 other girls on my dorm floor that bathroom habits became public knowledge. And then I arrived in Bengaluru. I cannot remember the first time I encountered public urination in India. Perhaps I…

Onus of ensuring accuracy in test reports is on laboratories. File pic. When 31-year-old Shweta, who is expecting her first child in the month of June 2015, went on a routine visit to her doctor, she was asked to undergo the usual tests recommended during pregnancy. When the hemoglobin count in the Complete Blood Count (CBC) test turned out to be lower than normal, the doctor advised her to take the three other tests — B12 test, Ferritin test and hemoglobin electrophoresis test, in order to be able to pinpoint the exact cause for the low hemoglobin count. As suggested…

Swine Flu has resulted in the death of 11 persons in Bengaluru Urban district, as on February 23rd, 2015, according to State Health Department reports. The Department also puts the total number of disease-affected in the district at 207 and critically ill patients at 8. An CNN-IBN report stated that the total death toll in India has crossed 800 since mid-December 2014. In this backdrop, here are some commonly asked questions about Swine Flu and the answers. What are the common symptoms of H1N1? Clinical symptoms of swine influenza include fever and upper respiratory symptoms such as cough, running nose…

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…