Superbug scare meant to hit Indian medical tourism

The scare abroad over the superbug or NDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo beta lactamase) last year was deliberately created to tarnish India's image as a medical tourism destination, says VM Katoch, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

"A hype to create some kind of a scare about superbug theory obviously helps some countries," Katoch, who is also secretary in the department of health research, told IANS.

He said there was nothing unusual. "The superbug has been known for years. The scare obviously suited some interest groups abroad. We have always stressed greater precautions and care in levels of hygiene and sanitary conditions in our hospitals."

Katoch was in Agra to attend a conference on advances in molecular techniques and their application in health and diseases.

The conference was jointly organised by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and nature, life sciences department of Agra College and the National JALMA Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra.

Katoch did not see any new threat or condition to raise an alarm on the superbug issue.

"Health facilities and treatment in India are fairly good and affordable and there has been a discernible interest in citizens of several countries to take advantage of available medical advances in our country," he added.

The director general of ICMR informed the conference that work on the malaria vaccine was in an advanced stage of trial.

In October, Delhi Health Minister A.K. Walia downplayed the threat of the superbug in the capital and said the prevalence of the infection was "very low" and could not be termed "alarming".

"There is a very low prevalence of NDM-1 infection which exists as confirmed in tests conducted in the ICUs of a number of hospitals. It is between the range of 0.04 percent to 0.08 percent which cannot be stated as alarming," Walia said.

Reports from a British Medical journal had earlier alleged the presence of a bacteria with multi-drug resistant gene NDM-1 that was resistant to almost all antibiotics.

The journal later reported in a study that the NDM-1 was found in Delhi's sewage and drinking water. Scientists feared the spread of the enzyme worldwide due to its high antibiotic resistance, to fight which nothing has been developed so far.

While the health ministry has not admitted on the impact of the NDM-1 on public health, it has been mulling over an antibiotic policy that will also address the issue of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in the country.

Officials from the health ministry had said the naming of the enzyme after 'New Delhi' was an attempt to malign India as the superbug was found in many countries, not just India.

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Bahrain jails 20 doctors after democracy protests

Bahrain jailed 20 doctors on Thursday for between five and 15 years on theft and other charges, the state news agency said, in what critics claimed was reprisal for treating protesters during unrest in the Gulf kingdom this year.A security court also sentenced a man to death for killing a policeman by driving his car over him several times and joining illegal gatherings for "terrorist goals," the BNA news agency said. Another man was handed a life term for his involvement. The doctors, who denied the charges, were among dozens of medical staff arrested during protests led by the island's Shi'ite majority demanding an end to sectarian discrimination and a greater say in government.Bahrain's Sunni Muslim rulers quashed the protests in March, with the help of troops from fellow Sunni neighbours Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At least 30 people were killed, hundreds wounded and more than 1,000 detained -- mostly Shi'ites -- in the crackdown.The doctors were charged with stealing medicine, stockpiling weapons and occupying a hospital during the unrest and in addition were jailed for forcibly occupying a hospital, spreading lies and false news, withholding treatment, inciting hatred of Bahrain's rulers and calling for their overthrow."We were shocked by the verdicts because we were expecting the doctors would be proved innocent of the crime of occupying the Salmaniya medical complex," defence lawyer Mohsen al-Alawi said, adding the hearing had lasted no more than 10 minutes.The doctors say the charges against them were invented by the authorities to punish medical staff for treating people who took part in anti-government protests."Those doctors who have been found guilty were charged with abusing the hospital for political purposes. Nobody is above the law," a spokesman for the government's Information Affairs Authority (IAA) said.Ten of the doctors, including senior physician Ali Al-Ekri, were given 15-year terms, two were sentenced to 10 years in prison and the rest to five."After today's verdict and those issued yesterday we feel pessimism," Alawi said, adding they would appeal against the decision.On Wednesday a military court upheld life sentences against Shi'ite opposition leaders for organising protests in a trial described as a "sham" by Amnesty International, which also called the latest proceedings a "travesty of justice."In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the United States was "deeply disturbed" by the sentencing of the doctors."We continue to urge the Bahraini government to abide by its commitment to transparent judicial proceedings, including a fair trial, access to attorneys and verdicts based on credible evidence," spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.The British government voiced concern over the sentences."These sentences appear disproportionate to the charges brought," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Thursday."These are worrying developments that could undermine the Bahraini government's moves towards dialogue and the reform needed for long-term stability in Bahrain."OPEN FOR DISCUSSIONA senior Bahraini official said the government was still prepared to hold more talks with all opposition parties on political reforms to try to end protests that threaten to hold up the economy and scratch its business-friendly image.Sheikh Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa, a senior adviser at the IAA, also said Bahrain had begun receiving some of the $10 billion in economic aid promised by fellow Gulf Arab nations."Everything is open for discussion except regime change. That doesn't mean it has to be discussed today (but) the king said reforms are not going to stop," he said. "Other issues can be brought to the table -- when and how, I'm not sure."Bahrain says it will expand parliament's powers of monitoring government ministers, recommendations that came from a national dialogue held after the U.S. ally crushed pro-democracy protests earlier this year.But Shi'ite opposition groups, headed by the Wefaq party, want the elected chamber to have real legislative power as well as a new prime minister. The current incumbent, an uncle of the king, has occupied the post since 1971.The conflict dragged in regional powers; Bahrain accused the opposition of pursuing a sectarian agenda backed by non-Arab Shi'ite giant Iran, just across Gulf waters. The United States, whose Fifth Fleet is stationed in Manama, says the government should talk to Wefaq.Link: Original Article

Australian Doctors Happy With Their Jobs

Most doctors in Australia are moderately or very satisfied with their jobs, according to an NHMRC-funded study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Catherine Joyce, Senior Lecturer for the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine at Monash University, Melbourne, and co-authors from Monash and the University of Melbourne investigated whether levels of job satisfaction and determinants of satisfaction differ between Australian GPs, specialists, specialists-in-training and hospital non-specialists.

Dr Joyce said that most doctors were moderately or very satisfied with their jobs and there was no significant difference in job satisfaction between GPs, specialists and specialists-intraining. However, hospital non-specialists appeared to be less satisfied than GPs.

Specialists were most likely to be very satisfied (37.5 per cent), followed by GPs (32.7 per cent), specialists-in-training (21.4 per cent) and hospital non-specialists (16.9 per cent). Fewer than two per cent of doctors in each group were very dissatisfied, but 12 per cent of hospital non-specialists were moderately dissatisfied compared with 7-8 per cent for other doctors.

Doing on-call work and the number of hours worked per week were not statistically significant and did not differ across doctor types, although specialists doing on-call work were less likely to be satisfied than GPs doing on-call work.

Dr Joyce said that having a professional support network was strongly associated with job satisfaction, consistent with research showing that it was a key factor in retention for rural areas, and that graduates’ perceptions of professional support influenced their career choice.

“Questions about whether job satisfaction influences doctors’ decisions about working hours, retention and mobility are central to examining patterns of access to health care, and require further research,” Dr Joyce said.

Source-The Medical Journal of Australia, a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

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Rampant sexual harassment of female doctors in Karachi by male staffers

Female doctors in Karachi have revealed that male paramedical staffers at Civil Hospital Karachi are harassing them, and it is causing serious mental stress among them.

The harassment is not limited to only female doctors but also female paramedical staff.

Newly appointed female doctors feel insecure while performing long hours duties in different wards, Outdoor Patient Departments, Intensive Care Unit and the operation theatres of the CHK.

"We are already working under poor and unhealthy living conditions at Civil Hospital," the Nation quoted a new doctor, who is completing her house job training at the General Patient Ward of Civil Hospital, as saying.

"The Staff Rooms available for the junior doctors lack basic facilities of safe drinking water, proper seating arrangement and clean washrooms.

"Nevertheless, the offensive behaviour of the paramedical workers cannot be tolerated by all means.

"We have brought this issue into the notice of hospital administration many times by informing that the male nurses and ward boys do not give proper respect to us.

"They annoy and threaten us verbally, psychologically and sometimes sexually without having any fear and accountability of the hospital management," she added.

Another trainee doctor revealed the junior doctors sometime face sexual harassment by the paramedical staffers.

Dr Samrina Hashmi, a former General Secretary Pakistan Medical Association Karachi Chapter, said there is a high-level of political interference in the public sector hospitals.

"The only way to get rid of this problem is to depoliticise public hospitals," she said.

"In order to improve the performance of the teaching hospitals, the Government should ban political activities in the premises of public hospitals.

"The healthcare institutions should be free from the interference of the political parties," she added.

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