Category: Health

Health

Heavy school bags burden Kashmir children: Survey

Editor

83% Children Carry Bags Heavier Than Permitted Weight, Face Grave Health Risks Children from schools across Kashmir are carrying school bags heavier than the recommended weight, a recent survey has revealed. In absence of any regulation, the heavy bags are posing serious health risks and developmental issues to the growing children. In Kashmir schools, 83.7 percent of children carry bags heavier than 10 percent of body weight, a survey by Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar has revealed. The survey, carried out across government…

Read More

Influenza ‘Circulating’ in Kashmir, 26% samples test positive: DG ICMR

Editor

After hospitals in Kashmir witnessed a huge rush of patients with “flu-like sickness” last month, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed that influenza is “circulating” in the Valley. It has said that over 26 percent samples have tested positive for various strains of influenza. In response to queries e-mailed by Kashmir Post, the Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Soumya Swaminathan responded that “influenza season has commenced” in Kashmir and that “Influenza- B has predominated the positivity.” Dr Swaminathan said that…

Read More

Viral infection across Kashmir not swine flu: National Centre for Disease Control

Editor

With the viral infection among thousands of children continuing in Kashmir, samples of infected children examined by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, have been found negative for swine flu, giving a big relief to doctors and people at large. The six samples taken by the epidemiology division of the Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir, (DHSK) on March 16 were sent to the NCDC for identification of the virus, which had infected over 68 children at Pethkot village of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The samples were taken…

Read More

Lone remedy for maternity patients in Anantnag hospitals, Refer to Srinagar

Editor

Doctors at lone maternity and childcare hospital (MCH) in this southern district mostly refer patients to Srinagar hospitals due to acute shortage of space. At least 185 maternity patients from here are—on an average—referred to Lal Ded Maternity Hospital in Srinagar every month due to paucity of beds, according to official sources. “In 2016, at least 2,213 maternity patients were shifted to LD Hospital mainly because there were no beds available to perform caesarians,” sources told Kashmir Post. The “unnecessary” referrals lead to overburdening of Srinagar hospitals. “Had the MCH…

Read More

Health dept collects samples: Viral infection

Editor

Amid panic among people, the J&K Government has taken samples from different hospitals to identify the virus, which has infected thousands of children across Kashmir. After the outbreak of the viral infection among schoolchildren in the first week of March in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, the Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir (DHSK), immediately sent a team of doctors to prevent the viral infection from spreading further. The viral infection had engulfed almost all the children of the Pethkot hamlet of Bandipora. Besides, a 5-year-old boy, Nazim Khan, who was also…

Read More

Unhygienic dressed chicken openly sold in markets

Editor

In absence of monitoring by authorities, sale of unhygienic dressed chicken is going on unabated in various markets of summer capital. The chicken stocks, brought from outside the state in large thermocol boxes, in the guise of fish is being openly sold in the city markets. Despite Drug and Food Control Organisation (DFCO) destroying three quintals of unhygienic imported dressed chicken in various parts of Shaher-e-Khaas and its adjoining areas on Wednesday, several such shops are still openly selling these items. Interestingly, a shop right outside the Directorate of Food…

Read More

As cardiac stents go cheaper, Kashmir hospitals overcharge: DAK

Editor

Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today welcomed slashing of prices of cardiac stents saying it would bring relief to patients burdened by spiralling costs of stents. Terming the decision extremely significant, President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said that more people will now be able to afford this life-saving device. “The move would put an end to the corrupt practices associated with marketing of stents. National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) – the drug pricing watchdog – on February 13 has reduced prices of coronary stents by up to…

Read More

Soft Drinks, Pizza’s put children at liver disease risk

Editor

Parents, take note! Kids who regularly consume foods with high fructose such as pizzas, sodas, sweetened beverages and biscuits may be at the risk of liver disease, a new study has warned. Dietary fructose intake may increase serum uric acid concentrations, researchers said. Both uric acid concentration and fructose consumption may be increased in individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Researchers found that both dietary fructose consumption and serum uric acid concentrations are independently associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NAFLD, the accumulation of extra fat in liver cells in…

Read More

Handful of walnuts daily to fight Alzheimer’s

Editor

Eating a handful of walnuts per day may help reduce the risk, delay the onset, slow the progression of, or prevent Alzheimer’s disease due to the anti inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties of the dry fruit, a study led by an Indian-American scientist has claimed. These yet to be published findings are very promising and help lay the groundwork for future human studies on walnuts and Alzheimer’s – a disease for which there is no known cure, researchers said. “One in 10 people over the age of 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s.…

Read More

Patients suffering due to defunct machines at SMHS Hospital: DAK

Editor

An association of doctors today claimed that cancer patients were suffering due to defunct radiotherapy treatment machine, which was damaged in the floods of 2014, at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital here. The Doctors’ Association Kashmir (DAK) in a statement said the radiotherapy treatment machine at SMHS Hospital, which was damaged during September 2014 floods, had not been replaced yet. The association said cancer patients were suffering “immensely due to lack of radiotherapy facility”. “The radiation oncology unit of SMHS Hospital that was hit by floods has not been…

Read More