Category: Health

Health

Amid pandemic horrified drug abuse goes unabated in Srinagar, Anantnag

Editor

A first of its kind study has found around 2 percent prevalence of substance abuse, majorly opioids, in two districts of Kashmir. The percentage translates into Rs 3.7 crore being spent every day on drugs of abuse by 17000 people in the two districts. Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) has carried out a pilot study to find the contours of substance abuse in Srinagar and Anantnag commissioned by World Vision India. The study is titled “Pattern and prevalence of substance use and dependence in Kashmir: Special focus on…

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Coronavirus: When to wear a mask and when you can skip it

Editor

The studies on masks aren’t perfectly definitive, but that’s typical of many issues involving health risks — from mercury contamination to cancer screenings. It’s still better to make decisions based on an incomplete body of evidence than to ignore evidence altogether. Science has a lot to say about the effectiveness of wearing a mask to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but the communication of that science has been corrupted by a combination of partisan divides, sensationalist media stories, distrust, false dichotomies, and letting the perfect be the enemy of…

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J&K witnessed 5 Deaths, 198 fresh Covid-19 cases within 24 hours

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Five persons died due to Covid-19 in the UT of J&K on Monday, among them a CRPF man. Meanwhile, 198 persons tested positive for the virus, taking the total caseload in J&K to 4,285. So far, 46 persons have died due to coronavirus, which include 41 in Kashmir and five in Jammu. “In the UT of J&K, 198 new positive cases have been reported since our last update yesterday, which include 33 from Jammu and 165 from Kashmir. Also, five Covid-19 deaths have been reported from Kashmir,” read the media…

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Regular Internet blackout thwart fight against coronavirus across Kashmir Valley

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For three days without internet or phone service this month, Rouf Ahmad found himself cut off from his family in Indian-administered Kashmir while his mother was receiving treatment for the coronavirus disease. The 23-year-old sociology student is under quarantine in a hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir’s main city, and could not contact the rest of his family to tell them about his mother’s condition as she was treated in the same hospital. “I used to update my sisters and father many times a day about my mother’s status,” he told the…

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#Covid19: Understanding Coronavirus

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Coronavirus first originated in China in December last year but has spread to more than 100 countries and infected over one lakh people. It has also led to the death of more than 3,000 people. Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, is known to kill between 3-4 percent of those it infects. “Covid-19 is not very fatal, but it is very infectious. Since it infects more people, a large number die. In terms of infectivity, it is almost up there with the most infectious measles and chickenpox… We don’t really…

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Antibiotics showing resistance against bugs: Doctors Association Kashmir

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Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) has claimed that hospitals have turned into breeding grounds for resistant microbes endangering the safety of patients In a statement, DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan claimed that SMHS hospital is harboring bugs like Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Klebseilla and Escherichia coli which are resistant to all antibiotics. “Even last-resort antibiotics like carbapenems and colistin do not work against these deadly microbes,” he said in the statement. Giving details based on 2017-18 Antibiogram of SKIMS hospital, he claimed that more than 80% of bacteria isolated from intensive care…

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Internet may alter brain functions: Study

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The Internet can alter specific brain regions and affect our attention capacity, memory processes and social interaction, a study has found. The research, published in the journal World Psychiatry, showed that the Internet can produce both acute and sustained alterations in specific areas of cognition. The researchers, including those from Oxford University in the UK and Harvard University in the US investigated leading hypotheses on how the Internet may alter cognitive processes. It further examined the extent to which these hypotheses were supported by recent findings from psychological, psychiatric and…

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How conflict and stigma are creating mental health crisis in Kashmir

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The embattled district of Shopian in the south of Kashmir is at breaking point. An unknown gunman has shot and injured a local politician in the village of Chitragam. He is the third politician shot this week in Shopian district alone. Earlier that day, streets across the region were filled with thousands of protesters demanding the death penalty for the man who raped a three-year-old girl. And the past week has also seen the return of shelling between Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir, with civilians reportedly injured. Such violence…

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At SKIMS, five lives lost in a month to ‘Transfusion Reaction’

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In a shocking revelation, five patients have died of blood transfusion reaction at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura while the sixth one is battling for life in the intensive care unit (ICU). A senior doctor at SKIMS told The Kashmir Post that five patients have died due to blood transfusion in the past one month suspecting use of substandard equipment in the blood bank and during transfusion process.“Two patients died in a surgical intensive care unit, one in gastroenterology, on in general surgery and the fifth one in…

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Deadly XDR tuberculosis spreads tentacles in state

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Detection of 12 patients with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has increased the worries of health officials in the state. It may pose a challenge to the target for the complete eradication of the disease by 2025. Officials associated with the control programme at the Directorate of Health Services said the number could be on the higher side as they had been able to identify a new strain in patients who visited hospitals for routine respiratory ailments. XDR is rare and much deadlier than multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis bacteria. Both…

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