Cancer institute faces bed crunch, seeks RUHS help to treat patients
2
Jaipur: Unavailability of hospital beds at Jaipur-based State Cancer Institute (SCI) has resulted in an endless wait for patients needing urgent medical attention. The crisis had led SCI to request RUHS Hospital to accommodate and treat cancer patients at its facilities as an interim measure.
Currently equipped with 170 beds, SCI plans to expand capacity to 500 beds. Until the completion of construction work, however, the regional cancer centre — one of three institutes located in Jaipur, Jhalawar, and Bikaner — continues to struggle with an acute space crunch.
SCI is a newly established tertiary care hospital in Jaipur that was commissioned in Feb 2020 with the aim of providing comprehensive cancer care under one roof.
While medical oncology was the first service offered, SCI has since emerged as a one-stop hospital treating all types of cancers.
Superintendent of SCI, Dr Sandeep Jasuja told TOI that since RUHS building is adjacent to SCI, and the former is not running at full capacity, it can help cancer patients in treatment. "We have no beds available to accommodate more patients. For the benefit of patients, we have requested govt to provide beds in RUHS hospital until our building is completed," Jasuja told TOI.
SCI provides free-of-cost cancer medicines to eligible patients. "We have added new medicines to the list of medication provided free of cost. As a result, we get patients not only from Rajasthan, but also from across the country," Jasuja added.
Meanwhile, Dr Deepak Maheshwari, principal and controller of SMS Medical College, to which SCI is affiliated, said additional space will be available once the construction work is complete. "We are providing latest equipment and machines to SCI for the benefit of patients," Maheshwari said, including MRI services, which are currently not available at SCI.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
Packaged food alert: Why India needs warning labels, not health star ratings
The Supreme Court, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) recently, set a three-month timeframe for the Centre to implement food safety norms in the country. The PIL, filed by the Pune-based non-profit 3S and Our Health, had raised concerns about food safety and the need for package labelling norms, especially around nutrients of concern—salt, sugar and fat—so that consumers could make informed government, in its reply, informed that the country's highest food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), had received over 14,000 public comments from various stakeholders on the proposed labelling norms, and had started the amendment September 2022, FSSAI introduced draft Front-of-Package Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) guidelines and proposed an Indian Nutrition Rating or Health Star Rating model. This is supposed to be an FOPNL system that rates the overall nutritional profile of food, from a star to 5 stars. The more the stars, the healthier the this model work? George Cheriyan, working president of the Consumer Protection Association, thinks otherwise. He argues that companies can add protein or some vitamins to offset the negative impact of sugar or salt content in their food products and still manage a decent rating. For instance, if a bar of chocolate contains some nuts, it may get a healthy score without accounting for the presence of excessive fat and sugar. 'The entire purpose of warning about the presence of harmful ingredients gets ignored in this,' says Cheriyan. Cheriyan suggests India needs warning labels such as those used in Chile, where excess calories, sugar and fat are displayed in large black octagons on food packages, since literacy levels are low in the country and language barriers abound. Thus, warning labels should be in the form of symbols or emojis—just like the red dot currently indicating non-vegetarian food and a green dot indicates a vegetarian are enough studies to underscore the positive impact of food warning labels on public health. Data suggests that 18 months after Chile implemented FOPNL norms, including restricting advertisements for unhealthy products between 6 am and 10 pm, warning labels on packaged food, and a ban on selling junk food in schools, the consumption of sweet beverages reduced by 25 per cent. The study, published in medical journal PLOS Medicine, had tracked 2,000 Arun Gupta, convenor of the National Advocacy in Public Interest, a think-tank on nutrition, says interpretative labels don't work. 'Consumers take 6-8 seconds to choose the brand, and the star rating system doesn't empower them to make decisions according to their personal choices and health and lifestyle preferences,' he states it is time consumers be made king in the real sense. 'It is time to go back to that ethos,' he says. That mission can only be accomplished through a food labelling system that empowers consumers to make choices and take health into their own hands, he Sanyal, chief operating officer and secretary at VOICE (Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education), describes FOPNL as one of the most critical ways to curtail the rising consumption of ultra-processed foods in India. He says there is enough data to show how ultra-processed foods are impacting health and becoming was part of the FSSAI discussions on draft FOPL guidelines. He highlights that a more democratic dialogue is required to determine the right norms for the country. During the last discussion on the draft in 2021, he said, the participation in the meeting was heavily skewed in favour of the industry, with 25 representatives from industry associations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), but only five from the other side—three from consumer organisations and one each from civil society and farmer producer says most of the regulations are limited to packaged food while there is also a responsibility to ensure food safety for unbranded products in the informal sector, which accounts for a much larger market than the formal sector in India. He shares how unbranded products or counterfeit brands are freely available in small confectionery shops along the highway or in rural areas. 'FSSAI needs to develop the intelligence-gathering mechanism to ensure that all regulations are implemented on the ground for all food products,' he to India Today Magazine- Ends
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Bengaluru-based NGO's hemoglobinopathy prevention programme has averted 201 affected births across five States
In the absence of regular screening for pregnant women to check inherited blood disorders in the country, a Bengaluru-based NGO's hemoglobinopathy prevention programme has helped avert 201 affected births across five States. Inherited blood disorders such as thalassemia and sickle cell disease (also known as hemoglobinopathies) inflict lifelong suffering, including repeated transfusions, painful complications, disability, and early death. 1.9 lakh screened In the last four years, the NGO, Sankalp India Foundation, screened over 1.9 lakh women in 81 districts across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It was possible to prevent 201 births with severe hemoglobinopathies. These included 91 sickle cell disease, 76 thalassemia major, 27 sickle-beta thalassemia, and seven other hemoglobinopathies. Proactive measures, including genetic counseling and prenatal screening, enabled families to make informed decisions about continuing or terminating pregnancies based on fetal test results. 28 from Karnataka The 201 births include 28 from Karnataka, 123 from Maharashtra, 12 from Andhra Pradesh, 13 from Gujarat, and 25 from Madhya Pradesh. 'The number of affected births that have been prevented corresponds to the carrier (of mutated genes that cause the hemoglobinopathies but do not have the disease themselves) rates in these States,' Rajat Kumar Agarwal, president of Sankalp India Foundation, told The Hindu on Saturday. Pointing out that the programme is a scalable model of national importance, Mr. Agarwal said, 'As India commits to eliminating sickle cell disease by 2047, this programme offers a working blueprint of how to make that vision a reality.' This impact was only possible because of strong partnerships with National Health Missions in the five States, district health authorities, local health workers, donor institutions, and other stakeholders. It reflects a model of public-private collaboration rooted in equity, trust, and local leadership, he said. As many as 87 centre coordinators and six regional coordinators trained and embedded in the Obstetrics/ Gynaecology departments in district hospitals were at the frontline. 'They counselled parents-to-be, mobilised timely testing, supported prenatal diagnosis, and offered continuity of care with unwavering compassion and clarity,' he added. Hardest decision Couples, who were counselled and tested, said they had no idea they were both carriers. 'Following the genetic testing, terminating the pregnancy was the hardest decision of our lives. But, we were not prepared to see our child suffer lifelong,' said Jayshree and M. Ravi, who were counselled and tested through the NGO at Tumkuru district hospital. 'The programme gave us knowledge and choices to ensure a healthy future for our child,' said Seema and Mahesh from Alirajpur in Madhya Pradesh. Sundar Periyavan, lab director of Sankalp Labs and former Head of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine at NIMHANS, said accurate and timely diagnostics are the lifeline of this programme. Quick and precise 'Every hour counts, and our labs ensure fast, accurate, and actionable results through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The families receive clear answers when it matters most,' the doctor said. The clinical framework and quality systems of this programme were conceptualised by Lawrence Faulkner, medical director of Sankalp and founder of Cure2Children, Italy, an international haematologist. 'Sankalp's antenatal screening model, grounded in precision diagnostics and community engagement, has transformed the way we approach hemoglobinopathy prevention,' said Dr. Faulkner. (Names of the couples have been changed).
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
‘Black Death' strain back? Arizona reports first death since 2007
'Black Death' in Arizona: A resident of north Arizona died from pneumonic plague, marking the first death in the region in 18 years. The last death was reported in 2007, when an individual had contact with a dead animal infected with the disease, health officials said on Friday. Plague, once known as the 'Black Death' that nearly wiped out half of Europe's population, is now rare in humans and treatable with antibiotics. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis – with two main clinical forms of plague infection — bubonic and pneumonic. The patient from Coconino County visited Arizona's Flagstaff Medical Center Emergency Department and died there the same day, NBC News reported, citing a statement by Northern Arizona Healthcare. Rapid tests of the Arizona patient suggested that the person was infected with the same bacteria Yersinia pestis. Despite 'appropriate initial management,' and 'attempts to provide life-saving resuscitation,' the patient did not recover, reported NBC News. Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium. Pneumonic plague, which spreads to the lungs from other untreated forms of plague, is the most serious and is usually rare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pneumonic plague 'develops when bacteria spread to the lungs of a patient with untreated bubonic or septicemic plague, or when a person inhales infectious droplets coughed out by another person or animal with pneumonic plague.' The UK government has said that plague no longer exists in the nation, and the chances of it occurring in a country is 'very low,' reported BBC. The causative bacterium of pneumonic plague — Yersinia pestis — also causes bubonic plague. Apart from pneumonic plague, there are different forms of plague, which includes the bubonic plague. It is the most common form of plague, and spreads through the bite of an infected flea. Symptoms of the bubonic plague in humans typically appear within two to eight days after exposure and may include fever, chills, headache, weakness, and swollen lymph nodes. Prevention measures include using a DEET-based insect repellent to protect against flea bites, avoiding contact with dead animals, infected tissues or materials, and avoiding close contact with patients who have the symptoms, and crowded areas where recent cases have been reported.
