RxPG News : Professionals

25000 NRI Doctors Could Return to India from UK

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:15:08 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Nearly 25,000 British doctors of Indian origin are set to return to India within two to four years and some of them are 'most likely to join the seven AIIMS-like institutions' proposed to be set up by the central government.

'There are around 15,000 young Indian-origin doctors undergoing training in different parts of Britain who will return to India,' Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, told IANS.

'Also, at least 10,000 senior doctors of Indian origin who are retiring from their jobs in the UK, are set to return to India,' said the doctor, currently on an Indian tour.

He said they have already talked to the Indian health ministry and have got a favourable response. 'The government has allowed us to come back and practise.'

He said the ministry told the association that there will be a problem in finding quality doctors to man the seven new medical colleges modelled after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences -.

'We believe that these young doctors who are undergoing training in the UK currently, can be of great help in the new AIIMS-like institutes,' he said.

The central government has given a go ahead to seven AIIMS-type medical institutions in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Each of these institutes will come up with a cost of Rs.300 crore.

Each new institution would have an 850-bed hospital, including superspecialty facilities and 39 departments covering all major disciplines of medicine. The medical colleges will also have the provision to take in 100 undergraduate students each per year as well as facilities for imparting Post Graduate and doctoral courses in various disciplines.

Mehta also said the Indian government's plan to start a three-and-a-half-year rural medical course can benefit from these British doctors. 'We are ready to play a part in training doctors whom government will post in rural areas.'

The health ministry and the Medical Council of India have proposed to start a rural medical course called Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery - in district hospitals. This will help doctors to get posted in rural areas and improve the healthcare delivery system at village level.

Stricter resident doctor duty hour required to prevent medical errors

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:59:12 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) At the request of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as part of an investigation into preventable medical errors, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report recommending further restrictions regarding duty hours for resident physicians and other actions to reduce resident fatigue and ensure patient safety, according to an article published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR).

In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) set duty hour limits across all medical specialties nationally in order to promote safe patient care and resident well-being. The increasing acuity and intensity of medical care in teaching institutions and the scientific evidence of the negative effect of sleep deprivation on performance were cited as reasons for the new duty hour requirements.

"Compliance with the current Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education duty hour requirements is assessed by an anonymous annual resident survey in addition to periodic site visits," said Martha B. Mainiero, MD, lead author of the article. "When a survey indicates that a significant number of residents work beyond duty hour limits, the ACGME will perform an immediate site visit of the program as well as a focused review of the institution," said Mainiero. Data from resident surveys since the institution of the common duty hour requirements show that each year there are fewer residents who report working beyond duty hour limits.

The new IOM recommendations focus more on reducing fatigue related errors by assuring that residents get regular opportunities for sleep each day than by reducing the maximum weekly work hours. The current ACGME duty hour requirements state that residents must not work more than 80 hours per week averaged over 4 weeks, and must be provided 1 day in 7 free from all educational and clinical responsibilities, averaged over 4 weeks.

"The radiology community supports the current ACGME requirements but recognizes that there has been inadequate study of the outcomes of the current duty hour regulations and that there continues to be issues with compliance with those regulations. Therefore, we feel these issues should be addressed with more rigorous monitoring of duty hours before implementing new duty hour requirements," said Mainiero.

"The ACGME is currently reviewing the IOM's recommendations but will have little choice but to take further action in this area," said Mainiero.

Court asks AIIMS to admit OBC candidate to course of choice

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:51:04 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Dec 13 - The Delhi High Court has asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences - to allocate a seat, in the course of his choice, to an aspirant who sought to appear in counselling both under the general and quota seats but was not allowed.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S.Muralidhar, in a order passed earlier this week, asked the AIIMS to admit Manish Patnecha, a candidate from the other backward class -, who was denied an opportunity to sit for second counselling against the OBC quota this year after he opted for a seat against the general category.

During the second counselling, he sought to appear against the OBC quota so that he could get admission in a subject of his choice but AIIMS debarred him, saying that would block two seats.

Patnecha then approached the court, contending a higher ranked candidate belonging to reserved category should not be deprived of the choice of either a seat or an institution vis-a-vis a candidate of the same social class figuring lower in the merit list, while applying the principle of reservation.

Finding the AIIMS decision unjustified, the court directed the institute to offer Patnecha the seat in the course of his choice.

Earlier this year, a single judge bench had declined any relief to Patnecha, ruling that the AIIMS could not be directed to have second counselling again and allot him the seat in a course of his choice, cancelling the allocation of the seat to another candidate.

Court told how savagely India-born doctor was attacked

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:52:54 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Melbourne, Nov 9 - India-born doctor Mukesh Haikerwal was so savagely attacked here with a baseball bat a year ago that shocked witnesses heard his skull crack, an Australian court heard.

The former head of the Australian Medical Association - was struck on the head four or five times with the bat in a park at Williamstown on Sep 7, 2008, the Victorian County Court heard.

The court was informed that after cracking his skull, the attackers also kicked him, reports the Australian Associated Press -.

Alfer Azzopardi, 20, Michael Baltatzis, 20, and Sean Gabriel, 20, have pleaded guilty to attacking him. Azzopardi and a 16-year-old boy used the bat to hit the much respected doctor.

The group went on an one-hour rampage, attacking four other people in a five-kilometre radius that night.

Haikerwal required emergency surgery and was placed in an induced coma for 24 hours. He remained in hospital for two months.

Most of the other targets were of Indian or Asian origin.

A champion of public health, Haikerwal is a member of the Australian government's National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and chair of the World Medical Association Finance and Planning Committee.

Haikerwal was born in Lucknow, but grew up in Britain. In 1990, he moved to Australia and set up a medical general practice in Melbourne's western suburbs.

Hyderabad woman to head American College of Chest Physicians

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:02:30 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, Oct 27 - The American College of Chest Physicians has elected Dr Kalpalatha K Guntupalli, the only woman president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin, as its first Asian American woman president.

Hyderabad-born Guntupalli is currently tenured full professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, considered one of the top 10 medical schools in the US, and also chief of pulmonary/critical care and sleep division at BCM.

She will be inaugurated as the new president of the 75-year-old ACCP Nov 1 in San Diego.

With 2010 declared 'Year of Lung' by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, Guntupalli hopes the AACP will take on a leadership role in 'contributing to celebrate lung health around the globe'.

At home, her priorities are to make the ACCP the 'one-stop shop' 'for education, practice, management, performance improvement and monitoring and the advocacy needs of our membership.'

Guntupalli did her MD from the Institute of Medical Sciences, Osmania Medical College, Hydrabad, before migrating to the US in 1974 to specialise in internal medicine.

She has received numerous awards including the prestigious 'Parker J Palmer Courage to Teach' award for 2007 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, making her one of just 10 program directors to receive the honour.

She has also been honoured with the World Lung Health award by the American Thoracic Society.

Her particular passion is in the field of tobacco control programmes, and over the years she has developed anti-tobacco material in seven languages besides anti-tobacco cartoons for children, inspiring more than 2,00,000 children in India to spread the message about the acute dangers of smoking and tobacco chewing.

An educational CD titled 'Evils of Tobacco', developed specifically for South Asia and containing a 12-minute video documentary and 186-video augmented power-point slides for medical professionals, has been translated into Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu and Gujarati and is in use in dental schools, elementary and high schools all over India and the US.

Guntupalli was also the founding director of SHARE-USA, a non-profit that undertakes several projects in India including outreach, preventive and interventional care in rural areas. She has served on the board of Pratham-USA, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on literacy projects in India for over six years

Indian American doctor couple charged with $31 mn fraud

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:30:40 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, July 18 - An Indian-American doctor couple in Houston has been charged with illegally distributing 1.3 million tablets of a drug and defrauding several public and private health insurance companies of $31 million by filing false claims.

According to the indictment returned by a federal grand jury Thursday, Dr. Arun Sharma and his wife, Dr. Kiran Sharma, both 54, operated the Allergy, Asthma, Arthritis and Pain Centers located on Cole Street in Webster, Texas, and another on Garth Road in Baytown, Texas.

The indictment alleges that Dr. Arun Sharma routinely saw in excess of 70 patients per day and that he routinely wrote prescriptions for hydrocodone that were not for a legitimate medical purpose in exchange for cash payments, the Federal Bureau fo Investigation said in a press release.

Dr. Sharma allegedly received the cash payments for his hydrocodone prescriptions directly from the patient and he instructed his patients to take the prescriptions to certain pharmacies to be filled.

Arun and Kiran Sharma, according to the indictment, stored large amounts of cash received from the sale of hydrocodone prescriptions at their home. Kiran Sharma allegedly transported large amounts of cash received from the sale of the hydrocodone prescriptions to two safe deposit boxes - one each at Bank of America and Prosperity Bank.

The doctors also were charged with specific counts of illegal drug distribution for hydrocodone prescriptions written to specific patients.

Both doctors are also accused of conspiring to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and private healthcare insurers including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Aetna, Cigna and United Healthcare of more than $31 million for facet joint injections and other medical procedures that were allegedly never performed.

The court has ordered summons to be issued directing the Sharmas to appear in federal court for arraignment on August 3, 2009.

Upon conviction, each of the 17 health care fraud counts and the healthcare conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in a federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The drug conspiracy and each of the 10 drug distribution counts carries a penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Parole has been abolished in the federal prison system.

Indian neurosurgeon gets top Canadian award

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:06:11 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Toronto, July 2 - An internationally recognised Indian Canadian neurosurgeon is among 60 people honoured with the Order of Canada this year.

The top civilian awards were announced Wednesday to mark Canada Day, which celebrates the birth of the country as a confederation in 1867.

Regina-based neurosurgeon Krishna Kumar, who is internationally known for his research in treating chronic pain, was given the honour for his pioneering work in medical sciences.

A statement from Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean said Kumar is being honoured 'for his contributions as a clinical professor and researcher in neurosurgery, and for the development of innovative brain and spinal implants used for the treatment of chronic pain'.

Based in Saskatchewan province of Canada, 78-year-old Kumar has practised neurosurgery in Canada for almost five decades.

Apart from receiving almost two dozen national and international awards, he has also been honoured with two lecturerships named after him.

Last year, he was named the provincial Saskatchewan Physician of the Year for his medical services.

Bestowing the honour on Kumar, Milo Fink, president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association, had summed up his contribution, saying, 'He - has been a pioneer in the management of pain with neurosurgical procedures and the bulk of his international reputation is based upon such procedures as spinal stimulation and deep brain implants.'

The Indian neurosurgeon is famous for treating chronic pain with spinal implant therapy rather than conventional therapies.

To avoid the need for pain medication, he has also developed a programmable and implantable pump for patients.

Further, he has also pioneered a deep brain stimulation technique in which an electrode delivers low-voltage stimulation to the brain to reduce the feeling of chronic pain.

Kumar's pioneering work has been featured in a documentary called 'Living with Pain'.

Started in 1967 during Canada's 100th anniversary, the Order of Canada recognises Canadians for their accomplishments in various walks of life. Many Indian Canadians have received this award which is presented at a grand ceremony in the nation's capital Ottawa.

Indian American helps design vaginal ring to prevent HIV transmission

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:27:35 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) An Indian American endocrinologist has helped develop a vaginal ring that would prevent conception and transmission of HIV infection, by releasing multiple types of non-hormonal agents and microbicides.

Worldwide, there are about five million new infections and three million deaths every year caused by HIV/AIDS alone.

If proven successful in future clinical trials, the vaginal ring could empower women to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The ring may also someday represent a novel method to prevent STDs for those with aversion to currently available methods, with hormonally derived active agents, or with allergies to latex condoms.

'This device is a new approach to birth control, because it avoids the long-term use of hormonal methods that have been associated with increased risk of certain cancers,' said Brij Saxena, study co-author and professor of reproductive biology and endocrinology at Weill Cornell Medical College -.

'At the same time, this is the first device to simultaneously offer the possibility to prevent unintended pregnancy and HIV transmission,' said Saxena, who did his B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D from Lucknow University - in 1949, 1951 and 1954, respectively.

'No one has ever conquered a viral epidemic with treatment, so prevention is the most effective option. Ideally, an HIV vaccine is the most desirable method, but that is not foreseeable in the near future,' explained Jeffrey Laurence, study co-author and physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/WCMC.

'The next best thing would be something that would prevent infection and put the power in the susceptible female partner's control. That's the potential a device such as this can offer.'

The vaginally inserted ring is incorporated with multiple antiviral drugs that prevent HIV infection and are time-released over a period up to 28 days, said a WCMC release.

'The compounds in the device are natural materials that are already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in humans,' explained Saxena.

The results were published recently in AIDS.

Perseverance made me a topper - Dr Rahul Hegde, Rank 22, AIPGE 2009

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:34:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Dr Rahul G Hegde secured a MD Radiodiagnosis course in Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai after securing 22nd rank in All India Post Graduate Examination (AIPGE) 2009 exam. He did his MBBS from Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College (GSMC) and the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, Parel Mumbai. Previously he had secured 6th rank in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS) November 2008 exam, 11th rank in Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh (PGI) December 2008, 56th rank in AIIMS May 2008 , 24th rank in PGI June 2008 and 1126th rank in AIPGE 2008. Our moderator and interviews co-ordinator G A Vairamuthu contacted him and conducted this interview.

RxPG: Congratulations on securing a top rank in AIPGE 2009. What is the secret of your success in this exam?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Persistent efforts and studying smartly.

RxPG: How did your parents, family and friends contribute to your success?

Dr Rahul Hegde: My family was supportive of my decision to take a gap year to just study for the PG entrance exams. They had faith in my ability to eventually succeed in the entrance exams and hence I felt no pressure from them to make compromises on the branch of my choice which is Radiology.

RxPG: Had you not been successful in AIPGE 2009, what would have been your reaction? Did you have a backup plan?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I obviously would have been disappointed, especially after having done so well in the AIIMS November 2008 entrance exam and having studied for Medical Post-Graduate (PG) entrance exams exclusively for more than a year. But I have been in sticky situations before and every time I believe I’ve come out stronger after facing failures in previous exams. They have been a learning experience. As for AIPGE 2009, I didn’t have any specific backup plan.

RxPG: Who influenced you to take up Medicine?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Having both my parents as doctors played a major role in influencing me to take up medicine. I watched the profession from close quarters and found it challenging and interesting enough to pursue it. But I admit that I didn’t take enough interest during schooling and junior college to do research about other professions. The Indian education system seems very rigid to me and students are forced to select their careers very early on in their lives. Fortunately, today’s generation lives in this information age where they have the resources to make better, more informed decisions than people during my time. The journey of becoming a doctor is long and arduous and one needs a lot of patience and dedication to succeed. Six years after entering the profession, I have realized a few harsh realities about the medical profession that I wasn’t fully aware of at the time of joining the MBBS course but I don’t repent the decision to join medicine one bit in spite of a few hurdles in the way that might dissuade a few people from joining this wonderful, rewarding profession.

RxPG: We appreciate the fact that preparing for an extremely competitive exam must be really challenging. During your preparation, did you ever doubt your ability to succeed in it?

Dr Rahul Hegde: It is extremely rare to find people completely confident that they will surely succeed in topping a highly competitive entrance test like the AIPGE 2009. It is worthless to ponder whether one will succeed or not, I think it’s important to just work hard and hope to have a little bit of luck on your side as well!

RxPG: How much time do you think one requires for serious preparation for this examination?

Dr Rahul Hegde: If you have been an average to good student during your MBBS, one year of focussed preparation during internship is, I believe, sufficient to prepare well enough to succeed in such exams and there are quite a few examples of students succeeding at their first attempt itself. But a large majority fail owing to several reasons, the main one being that the exam is highly competitive as a disproportionately high number of candidates are appearing for very few PG seats. In my case, I failed to do well enough in my first attempt owing to lack of knowledge of the exam pattern, faulty methods of study, inadequate study time as I didn’t have enough interest and motivation to study during a year of hectic internship .Looking back, I feel with appropriate time management and a lot more motivation and interest!, I could have prepared adequately during the internship year itself!

RxPG: When did you seriously start preparing for this exam?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I started seriously studying only after completing internship. I had lot of free time then which helped me to plan and study adequately and appropriately.

RxPG: Which books did you read for the theory part?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I referred/read standard textbooks like Ganong (Physiology), Harper (Biochemistry), Jawetz, Robbins (Pathology), Sabiston, Schwartz, Harrison’s etc. I read them mainly retrograde reading topics which were frequently repeated in PG entrance exams. I also read Kaplan’s USMLE step 1 notes and found them to be quite useful in solving MCQs of the preclinical subjects.

RxPG: Which books did you read for MCQ revision? Which revision books were the most productive and which were least?

Dr Rahul Hegde: The most important aspect of PG entrance preparation is solving previous exam papers. I don’t think anybody would disagree with that! Hence the most important MCQ books are the ones based on previous years question papers. I used the books by Mudit Khanna for All India papers, Amit/Ashish for AIIMS papers and Chaudhary for PGI papers. Apart from these there are quite a few subject wise MCQ books available these days. I used the books based on subjects like SARP (Skin, Anaesthesia, Radiology, Psychiatry) and BAP (Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology) by Saumya Shukla since these subjects are small and extensively studying them helps in improving your scores. It must me clearly noted that these MCQ books are merely “guides”, they guide you in studying the commonly repeated topics. The knowledge obtained from them must be supplemented with reading important topics from standard textbooks thoroughly. Considering the paper pattern of AIPGE 2009 which had very few repeats it is important not to over-rely on these guides.

RxPG: How important you think is internet in preparation?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Lots of information is available on the internet that helps supplement knowledge especially dealing with topics like recent advances and new drug development. However finding completely credible information on the internet is also a difficult task! More importantly, internet was useful to me as it landed me on this wonderful site called RxPG!

RxPG: What do you think is the better way of preparation between selective, intensive study and wide, extensive study? What did you choose as your style of studying?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Selective intensive study of commonly repeated topics is a prerequisite. If you can satisfactorily accomplish this, then reading a few off-beat topics superficially can be of some use too.

RxPG: Cramming for Indian PG entrances is often taxing for the brain and many people struggle with retention of facts. Did you face this problem as well? If so, how did you deal with it?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Unfortunately, Indian PG entrances do tend to lay more importance on factual knowledge rather than conceptual knowledge. AIPGE 2009 was also a good example of this. It had very few clinical scenario based questions and most questions were one-liners testing for knowledge of specific details. The only fruitful thing for students to do is to learn to adapt to the exam system rather than complain too much about it. Revising again and again is scientifically proven method to retain facts better! Other than that making notes, creating good quality mnemonics, giving mock exams frequently all help in improving your performance in entrances.

RxPG: Indian PG entrances are highly competitive so to compete them students end up in appearing in multiple PG exams , kindly extend your views on this and also their pros and cons of appearing in multiple PG entrances .

Dr Rahul Hegde: As I mentioned earlier all the exams that I’ve appeared have been a learning experience and with each exam I realised what was lacking in my preparation and subjects/topics that I needed to concentrate more on. Since the same body sets papers for AIIMS and AIPGE 2009 entrances it makes sense to appear for both of them. The cons are that sometimes students tend to get demoralized when they fail in multiple exams owing to lack of adequate preparation. I think students should have realistic expectations based on their preparation level and instead of getting frustrated, make use of failures by analyzing them as to what went wrong and steps they can take to improve their preparation.

RxPG: How many exams have you appeared and which one attracted you the most?

Dr Rahul Hegde: As of now, I’ve appeared for 10 MCQ based PG entrance exams! I enjoyed the PGI pattern of exam the most. The questions are framed in such a manner that chance of the luck factor is minimized because it requires a thorough knowledge of the topic to answer such multiple-correct response questions.

RxPG: Did you attend any coaching? Were they useful?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I joined a full-class coaching program during internship in 2007 and ended up missing half the lectures!. After completing internship, I joined a test and discussion program in 2008 and found it to be of some use. Whether to join a coaching course is a common question and a big dilemma in the minds of PG aspirants especially during internship. If you are able to do proper time-management and don’t have a hectic internship then you can consider joining a full-class program, otherwise it will be a waste of time as it was in my case. I think it is important for me to state this clearly that in my opinion joining coaching classes is not a prerequisite to success in entrance exams. However just like MCQ guide books they help you to study in the right direction. Mock exams conducted by coaching classes also help in practising, finding out your weaknesses and also gauging the level of the competition!

RxPG: What was your daily timetable during the preparation? Why did you decide on such a timetable? Were you able to stick to the timetable strictly?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I didn’t have any fixed timetable most of the time. When the exams were not near I used to study subject-wise and when the exams neared I switched to paper-wise study. In my opinion, the last month before the exam one should not try to read too many new things. The last month should be reserved for paper-wise study exclusively and revising things already studied. Only new things to be studied are the topics that were asked in the most recent exams.

RxPG: Which subjects did you focus on?

Dr Rahul Hegde: It’s important to study all the subjects! But obviously doing the short subjects well (SARP and BAP) is most fruitful. If you’ve done well in your final MBBS ,the clinical subjects shouldn’t feel too difficult.

RxPG: What was your strategy for the revision? How many revisions did you do?

Dr Rahul Hegde: As I mentioned earlier, I kept the last month before any exam for paper-wise revision. It’s good to plan to revise as much as possible. I was able to revise all the papers twice-once thoroughly and once rapidly a week before the exam.

RxPG: What was your strategy for the exam day? How many questions did you attempt and why?

Dr Rahul Hegde: AIPGE 2009 was a shocker to most! All the best laid plans would have been waste! People tend to advice a good night’s sleep and to be relaxed and rested before the exam. I can’t manage these things! I hardly slept for two hours and was sweating nervously before the exam! Since the paper was “off-pattern” I took around 3hrs to answer 250 questions about which I had a fair idea. Then I started attempting the rest. I couldn’t keep count but I attempted 290+ questions. Considering the fact that the penalty for wrong answers is only one-fourth it is wise to attempt on the higher side and one should surely attempt questions where two options can be ruled out. It would be foolish not to!

RxPG: What is your impression of the AIPGE exam? Is it a fair exam?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I suppose it is relatively fair. Luck does play a significant role. However I don’t believe there are any significant malpractices in the exam. Rumours of papers leaking and malpractices were floating around before the AIPGE 2009 exam as well but they turned out to be false.

RxPG: Is the pattern of the examination appropriate? Would you recommend any improvement?

Dr Rahul Hegde: It would be better if there was less importance on factual questions and more concept based questions and clinical scenario based questions. Also, I fail to understand why a few questions tend to be asked on diseases unheard of by most MBBS graduates!

RxPG: What do you want to specialize in, why and where?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I want to specialize in radiology only! That’s why I skipped all the other branches that were available to me in AIIMS and PGIMER, Chandigarh counselling. Finally after AIPGE 2009, I have secured a MD Radiodiagnosis seat in LTMMC, Mumbai.

RxPG: How were you attracted to this speciality you’ve chosen & how you see your future in this specialization ?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I always had a keen interest in the diagnostic branches like radiology and pathology. I was never comfortable with empirical therapies and abstract concepts of clinical medicine! Imaging plays such a crucial role in patient management today. May I dare to say, on occasions it plays a more important role than the therapy itself! And with number of minimally invasive procedures being performed in interventional radiology, the importance of this branch of medicine will only increase in the years to come.

RxPG: How did RxPG help you in your preparation?

Dr Rahul Hegde: RxPG kept me in touch with a large community of PG aspirants and helped me learn from them. It was useful in keeping my motivation levels high, discussing difficult MCQs and remaining well informed of exam notifications and results!

RxPG: As we see on RxPG website, most of the doctors and medical students Are somewhat disillusioned by medicine as a career and some seriously Think about a career change. What would you like to say to them?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Unfortunately many of the students are not fully aware of the consequences of their decision to join medicine. Some may not have aptitude for the profession or may not have a passion for or interest in medicine. If after doing MBBS, there are certain other avenues that some find interesting and have a liking for then it’s surely better to follow that path.

RxPG: How should a medical student, in his early years proceed if he wanted to take up such highly competitive exams?

Dr Rahul Hegde: If possible it is better to study MCQs of clinical subjects while reading the theory during final MBBS. I didn’t do this though and only saying it now due to benefit of hindsight!

RxPG: Whom do you attribute your success to?

Dr Rahul Hegde: I would attribute my success mainly to myself, even at the risk of sounding a little selfish! But my parents, PG entrance coaching classes , friends and RxPG also had a significant role in my success.

RxPG: What is your advice to the future aspirants?

Dr Rahul Hegde: Study hard and don’t worry about the magnitude of the competition!

NHS Doctor Saved From Forced Marriage in Bangladesh

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:07:34 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A London-based doctor, who was held captive by her parents in Bangladesh to force her into a marriage of their choice, has been freed and is returning to Britain.

A court in Bangladesh Sunday ordered Dr. Humayrah Abedin's parents to return her passport and ticket to her.

The case sets a precedent in Bangladesh and it is also one of the first cases in Britain where action was taken under the Forced Marriages Act, which became law last month.

Humayrah, who came to the UK as a student six years ago and is shortly to be registered as a general practitioner in London, was lured to Bangladesh three months ago on the pretext that her mother was ill.

Upon her return, her parents reportedly held her captive, intending to marry her off to a person of their choice. They were not happy with her relationship with a Hindu Bangladeshi, who works as an engineer in London.

Humayrah somehow managed to email her friends in London about her plight. The London police started a search for her and later, the British Foreign Office issued a notice under the new Forced Marriages Act.

Acting on the notice, a Bangladesh court asked her parents to appear before it. They ignored three court orders before finally appearing Sunday.

The judge also confirmed no action would be taken against her parents, partly in respect of their daughter's wishes.

'But I am saying what you have done to her is not acceptable,' he told them. 'If there are further problems, you will be in big trouble.'

The Independent has reported that Humayrah's boyfriend claimed his family had received death threats and her parents told her 'they would prefer her to die than return to London'.

But now Humayrah's lawyer has said she is free and will return to London shortly.

Colonel arrested for misbehaving with army doctor

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:47:47 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) An Indian Army colonel was arrested by the Delhi police after a lady officer complained that he misbehaved with her, the police said Saturday.

'The incident took place Thursday night. Colonel Sunder Yadav, 52, was with the lady officer, a captain, who is a doctor at the base hospital. They both were in a car,' a police official said.

'The victim told us that when the car was at S.P. Marg near Chanakya Puri, Yadav started misbehaving with her. But she somehow managed to get out of the car,' the police official added.

The lady officer then called a police control room van and complained of the harassment.

'The duo also had a physical altercation. Yadav was arrested for misbehaving with the victim but later released on bail. The army will now conduct its own investigation,' the police official said.

Yadav is a registrar at the Army College of Medical Sciences in Delhi Cantonment.

Economic crisis hits upcoming convention of Indian doctors in US

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:54:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Orlando -, Nov 24 - The affluent community of Indian American doctors too has started feeling the pinch of the current economic meltdown the US is facing.

The financial crisis has thrown a big challenge to the leadership of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin - to raise funds for their prestigious annual convention, slated to be held in Orlando, Florida next June.

With a membership of over 46,000 doctors and 15,000 medical students, AAPI is the apex body of Indian American physicians in the US. Raising funds, in excess of a million dollars, from sponsors for its annual convention has never worried the AAPI leaderships.

But it is not the case this time for the 27th Annual Convention of AAPI beginning June 10 at the prestigious Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando. Unlike in the past, sponsors and big corporates this time are not willing to make the same level of commitment for making funds available for the convention, organisers say.

This has forced AAPI leadership to change its strategy to raise funds and also seriously have a relook at its expenses, including the possibilities of cost cutting.

'There is no question, the economic question is grim in some ways,' Ravi Jahagirdar, chair of AAPI 2009 Convention, told IANS. 'We have changed our strategy. We have started to approach more - at the retail level and get as many people broad based involved. Hopefully that is going to work,' he said.

Jahagirdar said the organisers have started 'looking sharply' at the expenses of the convention and assessing if costs could be curtailed in any segment of the five-day mega meet in June. Entertainment, one of the key features of AAPI meet, is one sector that could be hit if the funds cannot be raised as budgeted.

However, Jahagirdar hoped that with better management practices and planning the convention would be at par, if not better, with the previous ones.

'It's a tough call,' he conceded, adding: 'We are taking steps like broadening our base from revenue standpoint.'

Besides enabling AAPI members to update their medical knowledge, with focus on recent advances, for improved healthcare delivery, Jahagirdar said one of the missions of the 27th edition of the convention is to allow representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, medical equipment and medical services Companies, and insurance/financial/electronic services to showcase their products directly to members.

The convention, as usual, would honour its eminent members and recognise community-based initiatives in the US and India. It will also provide a forum to interact with other medical organisations, and with legislative representatives, in the context of healthcare, he said.

One of the largest congregations of Indian American doctors in the US, the 27th annual convention of AAPI is expected to attract more than 2,000 participants for the meet. On an average 120 to 160 exhibits/companies attend the convention.

In view of the financial crisis, how many of them will participate would be known only at the time of the convention.

Indo-Canadian scientist awarded by American Heart Association

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:14:49 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York, Nov 13 - The American Heart Association has awarded eminent Indo-Canadian scientist Salim Yusuf with its Clinical Research Prize for 2008 in recognition of his work in the field of cardiovascular disease.

A professor of medicine and director of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Yusuf received the award from the American Heart Association president, Timothy J. Gardner, over the weekend during its annual convention in New Orleans.

'A cardiologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Yusuf has carried out a highly regarded international research programme utilising large scale clinical trials, meta-analyses and epidemiologic studies using innovative designs to definitively address, and provide reliable answers to, questions of great consequence to the health of populations around the world,' Gardner said in his speech.

A graduate of Saint John's Medical College in Bangalore, Yusuf coordinated the first International Study of Infarct Survival, which demonstrated the benefits of beta-blocker drugs in treating acute heart attacks, Gardner said.

At the National Institutes of Health, Yusuf led the studies of Left Ventricular Dysfunction and the Digitalis Investigations Group study.

'These seminal studies revolutionised the management of patients with heart failure and have set the approach for much clinical research in the field,' Gardner said.

With a PhD from the Oxford University, Yusuf is known for establishing the world's first study examining the impact of societal changes on health behaviours, risk factors and disease in more than 400 communities in 18 countries.

India-born doctor's teenage attackers charged in Australia

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:06:56 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, Oct 25 - Three teenagers have been charged with the savage bashing of India-born doctor and former head of the Australian Medical Association - Mukesh Haikerwal and a spate of attacks on four other people in Melbourne's Williamstown suburb last month.

The much respected doctor was said to have been attacked by a gang of people aged between 17 and 21, of medium-build and Caucasian-looking, who went on an one-hour rampage, attacking four other people in a five-km radius on the night of Sep 27.

The 47-year-old doctor was hit on the head with a baseball bat and then repeatedly kicked as he lay on the ground near his home at the Dennis Reserve.

Two 19-year-olds, Michael Baltatzis and Sean Gabriel, and a 16-year-old boy faced an out of sessions court at Broadmeadows Saturday morning in relation to the attacks, reports the Australian Associated Press -.

Baltatzis is facing 10 charges of armed robbery and intentionally causing serious injury, and Gabriel and the 16-year-old are facing six charges of armed robbery and intentionally causing serious injury, reports AAP.

The three were remanded in custody and will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court and a Childrens' Court Monday.

Meanwhile, Haikerwal has almost made full recovery after being placed in an induced coma and undergoing emergency surgery to remove life-threatening blood clots from around his brain.

A champion of public health, Haikerwal is a member of the Australian government's National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and chair of the World Medical Association Finance and Planning Committee.

Haikerwal was born in Lucknow, but grew up in Britain. In 1990, he moved to Australia and set up a medical general practice in Melbourne's western suburbs, where he still works.

Cuba breaks national record with 200,000 medical students

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:07:41 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Havana, Oct 9 - Cuba broke its record for domestic and foreign students studying medical sciences in the communist island country, with a total of 200,000 this year, the Communist Party daily Granma reported citing public health ministry sources.

Close to 23,000 of the students are foreigners, most of them coming from developing countries, Granma said, claiming that this is a result of the Cuban government's 'traditional policy of internationalistic solidarity.'

Cuba holds its free health system as a flagship government programme. At Cuban universities medical sciences include medicine, stomatology -, nursing, health technology and health psychology.

Cuba has four medical science institutes, 24 schools of medicine, four of stomatology and four devoted to nursing and technology, Granma said. More than 26,000 people teach medical science courses on the island.

Doctors also at risk during surgery

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:29:10 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, Aug 30 - Patients are not the only ones at risk during cardiac procedures; doctors also face health risks, especially radiation risk to their eyes.

The International Atomic Energy Agency - is helping to raise awareness of threats, through training in radiation protection related to medical uses of X-ray imaging systems.

The issue of protection from radiation for doctors is particularly acute in the case of lengthy angioplasty and other cardiac interventions performed under X-ray fluoroscopic guidance.

Fluoroscopy provides X-ray images of a patient that physicians can view on a display screen or monitor in real time.

The procedure can cause extensive radiation exposure to cardiologists, possibly leading to cataract, alongside other longer term health risks.

The IAEA is helping the medical community address this problem through a major international initiative aimed at training cardiologists and other medical professionals in radiation protection.

The study is being led by a team of experts, including Eliseo Vano, radiology department of the Complutense University of Madrid; Norman Kleiman, Columbia University, New York; local ophthalmologists from Bogota and Raul Ramirez of the IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation.

The initiative is part of an international action plan on the radiological protection of patients spearheaded by the IAEA.

'In the meeting of Latin American cardiologists, we will offer participants the possibility to have their eyes tested for early changes of radiation effect that may lead to cataract in future years,' said Eliseo Vano.

'This will allow us to assess retrospectively what radiation dose these cardiologists received, and then correlate the data with changes in their lens,' Vano added.

IAEA's Madan Rehani, a radiation safety specialist, said 'we started training courses for cardiologists in 2004 and so far cardiologists from more than 50 countries have been trained in radiation protection'.

This September, the IAEA is organising a study to test the eyes of interventional cardiologists participating in a regional medical conference, organised by the Latin American Society of Interventional Cardiologists - in Bogota, Colombia.

Post-graduate diploma for doctors in eastern India

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:23:34 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Kolkata, April 19 - The Christian Medical College, Vellore, will start a distance education programme here offering post-graduate diploma in family medicine for general practitioners of West Bengal and other eastern states from June.

'Our research showed 250,000 GPs in India neither have a post-graduate diploma nor are they aware of modern methodologies in the medical field. As a result excessive referral cases are making treatment expensive for even common diseases.

'To bridge this gap we have started this two-year distance education programme with a motto - 'refer less, revolve more',' CMC associate director Atanu Jana told IANS on the sidelines of a press meet here Saturday on the launch of the course.

The course has already started in Delhi, Bangalore, Oddanchatram and Vellore in 2007.

'Kolkata is our fifth centre that will represent the entire eastern India. Twenty-five participants randomly selected are from Kolkata, Nadia, Assansol, Jharkhand, Mizoram and Nagaland,' said Jana.

CMC will start five more centres in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Tejpur this year.

The course has been divided into 75 modules focussing on 80 diseases.

'Most of the diseases are common ones like shoulder pain, blood vomiting and pregnancy-related problems. Even for these diseases doctors refer patients to Vellore. Our team of 10-12 resource persons will supervise the course from time to time,' Jana added.

Classical medical terminology can endanger patients

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The limited and recycled vocabulary of dead languages used in medical terminology is confusing and has the potential to cause serious consequences for patients. Dr Melinda Lyons, University of Cambridge, UK, discusses the issues in a Comment in this week's edition of The Lancet.

While the aviation industry has adopted terminology specifically to avoid confusion (eg, sierra and foxtrot sound very different to s and f), Dr Lyons says: The medical education system suffers enormous pressure to deliver increasingly more in less time with no obvious reduction in medical jargon.

She adds: Knowing what the problematic terms are, who uses them, and when, how, and why is necessary to identify solutions. The risk for adverse consequences of sound-alike terms is greatest if they are used in time-pressured situations in which there is unfamiliarity with the terms, there is little opportunity to clarify them, and there are high levels of noise and distraction. Unfamiliarity with accents or linguistic idiosyncrasies is another problem especially pertinent to multicultural, mobile workforces.

The prefixes hypo- and hyper- are an example of both look-alike and sound-alike terms which have opposite meaning and are connected with terms (hypoglycaemia, hypertension) commonly used is emergency situations. Dr Lyons says: Confusion could have serious consequences for patients. A number of other examples are discussed in the Comment, such as intra- versus inter-, and anti- versus ante-.

Dr Lyons concludes: Although the global, decentralised structure of healthcare coupled with reinforced professional culture hamper the development of unambiguous terminology, the whole system rather than just isolated terminology must be rethought. The health-care profession has previously poured scorn on a move away from complex classical terminology as 'dumbing down'; however, common sense should prevail. There is no justification for the continued use of vocabulary that adds ambiguous jargon to the training and day-to-day work of health professionals. For the sake of clinicians and patients alike, removal of archaic, risk-prone terms to simplify the language of medicine is a necessary step.

Indian doctor sentenced for Glasgow airport bombing bid

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:58:41 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, April 11 - Indian doctor Sabeel Ahmed was Friday sentenced to 18 months in jail by a court in London in connection with the failed car bombing of Glasgow airport in Scotland last June.

The 26-year-old doctor, who hails from Bangalore, had earlier admitted at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London that he withheld information relating to the attack.

His brother Kafeel Ahmed, who drove a blazing jeep at the main entrance of Glasgow airport June 30, 2007, later died of his injuries.

However, taking into account the time Sabeel Ahmed had already served in pre-trial detention, he would be voluntarily repatriated to India, the court ruling said.

The court heard that Sabeel received a telephone text message alerting him to an e-mail from his brother in which a reference was made to the impending attack.

But Sabeel, who was working as a doctor in Liverpool at the time, only opened his e-mail account after the attack. He did not contact the police.

A court commentator said the relative shortness of the sentence, and Sabeel's immediate release Friday to enable him to return to India, showed that the judges were convinced that the accused did not know about the terror plan in advance.

A day before the Glasgow attack, police in London were able to prevent the car bombing of a packed nightclub that has been linked by prosecutors to the attempted airport bombing.

Kafeel died Aug 2 of the severe burns he received during the failed airport attack.

Two of his accomplices, Bilal Abdullah, and Mohammed Asha, also doctors, face trial later this year.

Indian-origin doctor gets Ontario's highest civilian award

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:29:07 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Toronto, April 11 - Sheela Basrur, the Indian-origin doctor who led the fight against the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome - outbreak here, was Thursday given the Order of Ontario, the highest civilian award in Canada's most important province.

Basrur was earlier the chief medical officer of health of Ontario and assistant deputy minister for health.

Ontario Lt. Governor David Onley conferred the award on Basrur at the Grand River Hospital in the nearby city of Kitchener where she is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Praising Basrur for her services to keep Ontarians healthy, the Lt. Governor said, she had 'provided inspiring leadership in the face of heavy responsibilities and daunting expectations. She has compiled a truly remarkable record as a talented health professional, and as a committed public servant'.

Thanking the people and government of Ontario for the award, Basrur said: 'It's an incredible honour to receive the Order of Ontario.

'Like many others in the field of public health, I get tremendous fulfilment working to safeguard the health of the people in this province. I'm humbled at being recognised for doing work that I enjoy.'

She served as Ontario's chief medical officer of health from 2004 to 2006. She quit after being diagnosed with cancer - a rare type of vascular tumour.

After the SARS outbreak, Basrur developed and implemented Operation Health Protection, a three-year action plan to protect and promote health.

She helped create the province's new ministry of health promotion and spearheaded its key initiatives, including the Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy and the provincial Action Plan for Healthy Eating and Active Living to address rising obesity among Ontarians.

In six years as medical officer of health for the newly amalgamated City of Toronto, Basrur oversaw the merging of six public health units into one with 1,800 staff and an annual operating budget of $160 million - the largest in Canada.

Among her innovations is the DineSafe programme to inform Torontonians of the food safety rating of restaurants and other eateries.

She also paved the way for a ban on non-essential use of pesticides and for measuring the impact of air pollution on the health of Toronto residents.

Toronto-born Basrur is also credited with creating in Ontario tobacco control strategies that are considered the best in Canada and the US.

It was the SARS scare in 2003 that thrust her into the international limelight.

With Toronto as its epicentre, the SARS epidemic had scared the global community.

Before joining the public health department, she practised medicine in the city of Guelph near Toronto.

NRI doctor guilty of unethical tests on British patients

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:04:18 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, March 29 - An NRI psychiatrist from Assam faces the sack after being found guilty of conducting unethical drug tests on mentally ill patients, according to reports Saturday.

The General Medical Council has found Tonmoy Sharma, a former lecturer at the prestigious Institute of Psychiatry in London, guilty of recruiting patients suffering from schizophrenia and Alzheimer's in unsolicited telephone calls, conducting unauthorised tests and misleading drug companies about his methods, a newspaper reported.

The verdict could not be independently verified but a spokeswoman for the GMC, a regulatory body, told IANS Saturday that newspaper reporting on the case has been 'accurate'.

A GMC panel on 'Fitness to Practice' has been hearing Sharma's case this week, she confirmed.

The Times said the GMC, which examined Sharma's research over 10 years, could force the pharmaceutical industry to re-examine the way in which research on psychiatric drugs is commissioned and conducted.

It quoted the GMC panel as concluding: 'The findings of the panel indicate serious failings of personal integrity and honesty, of good clinical research practice, as regards to potential welfare of patients and participants in ethical research ... which risks bringing the reputation of the medical profession into disrepute.

'The panel has found that the facts proved against you would not be insufficient to support a finding of serious professional misconduct.'

According to the GMC website, Sharma gained his MBBS from Dibrugarh University, Assam, in June 1987 and has been on Britain's register of general psychiatry since May 1996.

Sharma is a Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, University of London, and a Principal Investigator undertaking research studies, the GMC said.

'The panel is satisfied that in acting the way you did, your intention was to conceal from each sponsor the fact that you were using the identical group of patients for their studies,' the panel report says.

'As a consequence, the patients were subjected to tests beyond those approved... The panel is satisfied that your conduct towards them - was dishonest. It was also unprofessional and not in the best interests of the patients.'

Post Graduate Medical Degrees from UK, US and Canada Recognised in India

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:21:11 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Union Health Minister of India Anbumani Ramadoss has said that Union Government of India has taken a unilateral decision to recognise postgraduate degrees in medicine obtained from foreign institutes in UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand. This would mean that Indian doctors who have obtained their postgraduate qualifications from these countries would be able to practice in India as a specialist in their areas of post graduate qualification.

This is a welcome move from Indian government as the demand for the recognition of such qualifications has been a long standing demand of Indian medical diaspora.

The Health Minister clarified that this decision doesn't come under the purview of Indian Medical Council (IMC). However he indicated that the decision would be informed to IMC.

"In fact this unilateral decision of the union government to recognize foreign degrees in medicine would help thousand of Indian doctors in UK who are out of job because of recent changes in the recruitment of foreign doctors," Ramdoss said. Anbumani Ramadoss is the Cabinet Minister in India in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He was elected to the Parliament as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2004.

Indian doctors among many attacked on duty in Britain

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:34:57 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Jan 10 - Indian and Indian-origin doctors working in the National Health Service - are among thousands of doctors in Britain who were physically or verbally attacked by patients last year but most choose not to report the abuse, according to a report.

Research by the British Medical Association - published Thursday shows that one in three doctors in Britain has been victim of such attacks in clinics. Thousands of Indian doctors and other health professionals work in the NHS, and thousands more apply for jobs in the medical sector here every year.

In the last six months alone, the BMA research reported that there were two horrific cases of violence towards doctors in the Glasgow area. In November, a patient in his consulting room beat up a general practitioner and, in August, another general practitioner was stabbed by a patient in her practice.

In December, Arun Rai, 49, who graduated from Ranchi University, was hospitalised after being assaulted by a patient during an examination in his clinic in Glasgow, prompting other medical staff to carry personal alarm systems at all times.

Rai has been working at the practice owned by Dr Singh and Partners in the Clydebank Medical Centre, Glasgow, for the last three years. He was assaulted while examining a patient in his chamber. He suffered severe bruising and cuts after being pushed to the ground and repeatedly battered on the head and face.

A female colleague heard his screams and rounded up several members of staff who rushed into the room to help.

After the attack on Rai, Alan McDevitt, secretary of the Glasgow Local Medical Committee, said: 'The room was fitted with an emergency security button but Rai did not have a chance to use it. He is a pretty big guy so the attacker must have used a lot of force.

'Arun - is obviously very shaken and staff at the centre are also very upset. They are in tears just thinking about it. It's totally unacceptable that anyone should be subjected to such an unprovoked attack, let alone a GP doing his job in the middle of the afternoon.

'It will take Arun a while to get back to work. The fact that this happened in broad day light with a lot of people around obviously makes doctors feel more vulnerable.'

Around 600 doctors from across Great Britain responded to the BMA survey on their experiences of violence in the workplace in the past year. A third had experienced some form of violence - including threats and verbal abuse - and one in ten had been physically attacked, including being stabbed, kicked, punched, bitten and spat at.

Of these, one in three received minor injuries, and one in 20 was seriously injured. More than half - of doctors who suffered violence did not report the incident.

The most frequently stated reason for workplace violence was dissatisfaction with the service, including frustration with waiting times and refusal to prescribe medication. This has doubled as a cause of violence since 2003, when the BMA last conducted the survey.

Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA, said: 'These are worrying figures - both in terms of the potential numbers involved and the fact that so few doctors tend to report violence. We hope that this is not because they feel the problem is not being taken seriously.

'Ministers have repeatedly stated that there should be zero tolerance to violence of any sort in the NHS. We heartily agree. The mechanisms must be there to minimise the likelihood of attacks, to support staff who experience them, and to ensure that anyone who commits an act of violence is dealt with appropriately.'

Other findings from the research include:

-Half of doctors say that violence in the workplace is a problem.

-More than half had witnessed violence against other staff, such as nurses and receptionists.

-Female doctors are more likely to experience violence in the workplace than males -.

-Junior doctors are the most likely to experience violence, followed by GPs.

-Almost two thirds of psychiatrists report that violence in their workplace is a problem, compared with a fifth of surgeons.

-Most doctors have not received any training in dealing with violent patients.

-One in ten doctors has access to a secure facility in which to treat violent patients.

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, currently progressing through the parliament, contains proposals to tackle nuisance behaviour on NHS hospital premises. The BMA is seeking an amendment to the bill so that general practitioner premises are also covered.

New British rules favour non-EU workers for high-end jobs

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:28:49 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Jan 2 - British employers may no longer have to advertise highly paid jobs locally before hiring overseas as new rules from July open up opportunities for Indian and other non-European white-collar workers.

From July, employers will no longer have to advertise British jobs offering salaries of over Pound 40,000 a year in Britain before they make the posts available to workers outside the European Union, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Wednesday.

The proposed removal of the so-called Resident Labour Market Test for high-end jobs has prompted fears that it could trigger an influx of white-collar immigrants coming to work in Britain, undercutting British graduates, the paper said.

The salary threshold is likely to be decided over the next three months, but a working figure is said to be Pound 40,000 - a year.

The opposition Conservative Party said the changes to the rules were at odds with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's slogan of 'British jobs for British workers'.

'This plan allows employers to bypass British workers. The question the government must answer is, how does this help British workers to get British jobs?' said James Clappison, the Conservative MP who uncovered the plans.

The report comes after Indian doctors won a court ruling in their favour in late 2007, saying British hospitals would no longer have to look for European Union - citizens for employment before hiring Indians.

Indian doctors working in Britain had challenged the practice as discriminatory.

Under the Resident Labour Market Test, companies currently have to advertise all of their jobs within the EU for a set period of weeks before offering them to people from outside the region.

But the government plans to introduce new rules in July as a result of a shake-up of its immigration policy, which would mean the requirement would not apply to well-paid jobs, the Daily Telegraph said.

According to a Whitehall paper, officials want to limit the scope of the test to lower-paid jobs 'since it is here that there is most public concern about the impact of migrant labour on the domestic labour market'.

The newspaper said the new rules could encourage British companies to ditch their training schemes and hire cheap, highly-qualified IT technicians, lawyers or accountants from developing countries at the expense of British workers.

Father of dead student demands Rs.5 mn from AIIMS

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 13:09:59 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Dec 30 - The father of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences - student, who died of dengue last year, has asked the institute to pay him Rs.5 million as compensation, saying a government enquiry had put the blame on negligence by doctors.

K. Vijaya Kumar, the father of Kamalla Raj Kiran, a seventh semester student who died of dengue Sep 30, 2006, has also threatened to take legal action against the prestigious institute if he fails to hear from it on the matter soon.

'For the past one year, I have sent several letters to then AIIMS director -. But not once I heard from him - either orally or a written answer,' Kumar, who belongs to an impoverished scheduled caste family, told IANS on phone from Hyderabad.

He said when he recently came to know that a committee set up by the health minister confirmed that his son died due to AIIMS doctors' negligence, he sent another letter to Venugopal Oct 30 this year.

'In this letter I have asked for a compensation of Rs.5 million on the basis of the enquiry committee's findings,' he said.

But what came as a shock for many in AIIMS was that Venugopal forwarded the Oct 30 letter of Kumar to the academic section instead to the administration for its views only hours before the Supreme Court Dec 3 refused to restore his services.

Venugopal, who had been involved in a fierce tug-of-war with Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, was ousted from the institute following the Indian parliament passing a legislation that shortened his tenure.

Reliable sources said after the letter was received, officials discussed the issue with the acting director T.D. Dogra. 'He has formed a committee to look into the matter,' the source said.

The anguished father is hoping that the acting director will take the matter seriously. 'I will wait for a few weeks more and if I don't hear from the institute I will file a case against the institute for negligence.'

Kumar, who had raised the matter for compensation on humanitarian grounds last year also, said Venugopal had formed a committee of three doctors, including the present acting director, to talk to him.

'Dogra knows about my case. A committee member told me at that time there was no rule under which I could get compensation, so I returned to Hyderabad. But when I came to know about the committee report, I wrote again to the director asking for compensation,' said the homeopathic doctor, who works at a state-run dispensary.

In his letter, Kumar said that the 'report of the enquiry commission' into the death of his son has proved that Raj Kiran 'died due to negligence of the doctors on duty, and overall delay in giving treatment at the right time'.

A three-member enquiry committee was set up by Health Minister Ramadoss, who is also AIIMS president, in October 2006 to probe the circumstances that led to the death of the student.

In the report, the members said 'there was delay in providing treatment to Raj Kiran at the AIIMS casualty.'

Raj Kiran visited the AIIMS casualty as a patient Sep 27 and was sent back to the hostel after 'symptomatic treatment though his hematocrit was 50 percent, the platelet count was 105,000 and he had coffee coloured vomiting, indicating gastrointestinal bleeding'.

The next day he was advised hospitalisation, but was provided a bed only late in the night and was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit Sep 29 and was operated upon. He died Sep 30.

In his letter, Kumar said: 'We were informed by his friends only when he was in coma. Neither the hostel in-charge, nor the hospital personnel or the college, informed us. By the time we reached Delhi, his condition was very critical and he passed away Sep 30.

'We cannot get back our son, we feel that our claim for ex-gratia is justified. As we belong to a poor family and we had so many hopes and aspirations from our son, who was a brilliant and very intelligent boy, we have appealed for some ex-gratia and have been pleading for that for the last one year,' said the father of the 2003-batch student in his letter.

He said he had pinned all his hopes on Raj Kiran, his eldest son. 'I have another four years before I retire. I have a daughter and a son. I have to pay for their education and for their marriage. How would I be able to do it alone?'

Australian court clears Haneef, family unlikely to sue

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:37:59 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Bangalore/Sydney, Dec 21 - A court in Australia Friday cleared the way for Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef to return to his job as registrar in a Gold Coast hospital, leading to double Eid festivities at his home in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

In a major reprieve, the Australian Federal Court upheld a Brisbane court's order restoring Haneef's work visa.

Haneef - who was incarcerated in Australia, returned to Bangalore in July after charges of terrorism against him were dropped and his visa cancelled - is in Saudi Arabia with his wife and son for the Haj pilgrimage.

His family in Bangalore said they were overjoyed but were unlikely to engage in a legal battle for compensation from the Australian government.

'They plan to come back on Jan 1. I do not know if they will change the plan now. We are all very, very happy,' Haneef's sister-in-law Bisma told IANS.

'It's double Eid for us,' his father-in-law Ashfaq Ahmed told reporters.

'It is left to Haneef and Firdous to decide whether they want go back to Australia,' he added.

The Australian government itself is looking into the issue, it is sensitive and responsive, said Imran Siddique, a cousin of Haneef's wife Firdous Arshiya, when asked whether the family planned to claim damages for wrongly accusing Haneef of terror links, cancelling his work visa and detaining him for 25 days in Brisbane in July.

'Hence, we will wait for the decision of the Australian government, we are not that inclined -,' Siddique told IANS from Mysore, 130 km from Bangalore.

Siddique had gone to Brisbane to help Haneef and returned with him to Bangalore along with Peter Russo, Haneef's Australian lawyer end July.

He said the family was yet to discuss the matter of Haneef's plans and whether he would resume working at the Gold Coast Hospital. 'Also the Australian government will have to come out clearly on whether his job is still on, whether they want him back and related matters.'

DPA adds from Sydney: Haneef's lawyers were delighted that the Federal Court had thrown out the appeal against the reinstatement of his work visa.

Peter Russo said Haneef was not intent on returning but was keen to clear his name by reapplying for a visa.

Russo told ABC Radio 'as time goes by I don't know whether that wish - is as strong as it was when we started'.

He said no decision had been made about whether Haneef would seek compensation.

Australian police had arrested Haneef at Brisbane airport on July 2 as he was boarding a flight to India just days after failed terrorist attacks in Britain.

The charge was dropped after it was decided there was no prospect of securing a conviction against the 27-year-old. Because his visa had been cancelled on character grounds, Haneef gave up his job at the Gold Coast Hospital and returned to India.

Medical Association spokesperson Philip Morris said Haneef would be welcomed back to Queensland to take up his old post at the Gold Coast Hospital.

'When he was here before there was no question about his medical competence or his commitment to care for patients,' Morris said.

The Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had drawn considerable flak for the embarrassing faux pas in the failed case of the former Gold Coast registrar who had been jailed for three weeks after being charged with supporting a terrorist organisation by 'recklessly' giving his mobile phone SIM card to people planning the London and Glasgow bomb.

Australian court clears Haneef, family says its Eid gift

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:44:52 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Bangalore/Sydney, Dec 21 - An Australian court Friday cleared the way for Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef to return to his job in a Gold Coast hospital, leading to double Eid festivities at his home in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

In a major reprieve, the Australian Federal Court upheld a Brisbane court's order restoring Haneef's work visa.

Haneef - who was incarcerated in Australia returned to Bangalore after charges of terrorism against him were dropped and his visa cancelled - is in Saudi Arabia with his wife and son for the Haj pilgrimage.

But his family in Bangalore said they were overjoyed.

'They plan to come back on Jan 1. I do not if they will change the plan now. We are all very, very happy,' Haneef's sister-in-law Bisma told IANS.

'It's double Eid for us,' his father-in-law Ashfaq Ahmed told reporters.

'It is left to Haneef and Firdous to decide whether they want go back to Australia,' he added.

DPA adds from Sydney: Haneef's lawyers were delighted that the Federal Court had thrown out the appeal against the reinstatement of his work visa.

Peter Russo said Haneef was not intent on returning but was keen to clear his name by reapplying for a visa.

Russo told ABC Radio 'as time goes by I don't know whether that wish - is as strong as it was when we started'.

He said no decision had been made about whether Haneef would seek compensation.

Australian police had arrested Haneef at Brisbane airport on July 2 as he was boarding a flight to India just days after failed terrorist attacks in Britain.

The charge was dropped after it was decided there was no prospect of securing a conviction against the 27-year-old. Because his visa had been cancelled on character grounds, Haneef gave up his job at the Gold Coast Hospital and returned to India.

Medical Association spokesperson Philip Morris said Haneef would be welcomed back to Queensland to take up his old post at the Gold Coast Hospital.

'When he was here before there was no question about his medical competence or his commitment to care for patients,' Morris said.

The Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had drawn considerable flak for the embarrassing faux pas in the failed case of the former Gold Coast registrar who had been jailed for three weeks after being charged with supporting a terrorist organisation by 'recklessly' giving his mobile phone SIM card to people planning the London and Glasgow bomb.

New steps to curb overseas doctors in Britain

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:46:19 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Oct 9 - Indian doctors should think several times before coming to Britain for jobs - the employment situation has been difficult for non-European Union doctors, and new proposals have been drawn to guarantee jobs to doctors trained in Britain.

An increase in fresh graduates turned out by British medical schools and the availability of a large number of doctors from an expanded European Union have made it difficult for non-EU doctors to gain employment in the National Health Service -.

The health minister, Ben Bradshaw, has drawn up proposals to slash the number of junior doctors from overseas coming to Britain to train. The idea behind the proposals is to preserve jobs for the rising number of British medical graduates.

During the recent round of recruitment in the Medical Training Application Service -, non-EU doctors could not be excluded from consideration under court orders. During the MTAS rounds earlier this year, several hundred Indian doctors gained employment in the NHS.

However, the situation is likely to change if the new proposals are implemented. A court hearing is due later this month on the case brought by the British Association of Physicians of Indian origin -, which challenged changes to immigration rules for non-EU doctors who had entered Britain under the highly skilled migrants permit.

Putting forth his new proposals, Bradshaw said that if overseas applicants were preventing those educated here from getting specialist training places, 'then it is only right that we should consider what needs to be done'.

The government is proposing that doctors from countries outside the EU should not be considered for a job unless there are no qualified applicants from Britain or from elsewhere in Europe. This is an unlikely scenario given the popularity of medical training in Britain and the EU.

According to Bradshaw, Britain now has 6,451 medical school places, compared with 3,749 in 1997, and each student can cost up to 250,000 pounds to train. During the MTAS rounds, several British doctors who could not find employment left the country as the issue snowballed into a major public controversy through demonstrations and petitions.

There is also a proposal that fresh British medical graduates would automatically get a first-year hospital training place on graduation, which would give them a head start over even other European candidates.

Meanwhile, representatives of BAPIO met officials of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans - after a BAPIO study raised concerns that non-white British graduates as well as those who had received their primary qualification overseas were more likely - to be found to be not making adequate progress with their training and referred for remedial training.

BAPIO sources told IANS that during the meeting, both groups affirmed their strong commitment to equality of opportunity within medical education. The discussions included plans to monitor educational outcomes and address areas of concern where these were identified.

Ramesh Mehta, president of BAPIO, said: 'We are pleased to note that COPMeD chairman Elisabeth Paice was very receptive of our concerns. We look forward to the approval of the draft plan by the CoPMeD.'

Elizabeth Paice said: 'It was very useful to exchange viewpoints with Mehta, and to discuss how we could move from concern and evidence to appropriate action.'

Over 600 post-graduates to wait one more month for degrees

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:20:54 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 25 - Over 600 post-graduates of the premier All India Institute of Medical Science - will have to wait one more month to get their degree certificates.

The convocation, which was supposed to be held Sep 25, has been postponed till Oct 23 due to busy schedule of Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who is the president of AIIMS.

'The minister in a fax sent to the institute had said that he is too occupied to attend the function and suggested Oct 23 as the day to hold the convocation,' said Kumar Harsh, president of resident doctors association AIIMS.

'After the court intervention the minister had signed 56 degree certificates of the 70 students waiting to get their degrees. This is not expected from the health minister of the country and it seems he is playing with our career,' Harsh told IANS.

All the post-graduate students, who have passed out of AIIMS since June 2005 are awaiting their degrees.

AIIMS, which was at the centre of anti-quota movement last year, has witnessed conflicts between its director P. Venugopal and Ramadoss.

Medical seats in JIPMER increased to 100

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:26:41 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 21 - It's good news for medical college aspirants. The central government Friday increased the number of MBBS seats from 75 to 100 at the Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research -, Pondicherry.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the decision was conveyed to the college authorities on Sep 20. The decision will have to be implemented from the current academic session.

'The MBBS seats at Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research for the academic year 2007-08 would be filled in from the waitlisted candidates,' the ministry said in a statement.

Of the 25 seats increased, 19 will be for general category, four for scheduled caste candidates and two for scheduled tribe aspirants.

JIPMER traces its origin to 1823 when a medical school called 'Ecole de Medicine de Pondichery' was established by the then French government.

In November 1956 the Government of India took over the medical college in the wake of the 'de facto' transfer of Pondicherry. The college was upgraded to a regional centre and named JIPMER on July 13, 1964.

The premier medial college is under the direct administrative control of Directorate General of Health Services -, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

NRI docs' healing touch for Bengal's poor

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:59:54 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Kolkata, Sep 13 - Thanks to the initiative of around 20 NRI doctors, mostly from Britain and the US, a hospital is being set up here with the aim of providing quality healthcare at a low cost to the poor.

Sanjiban, which will be located on the outskirts of Howrah, 30 km from here, will offer specialised services in fields like paediatrics, cardiology and ENT and will be operational by April next year.

'Sanjiban was an idea that we had conceptualised during our college days in the early 1980s. Now it will turn into reality,' Subhashis Mitra, a Britain-based medical professional, told IANS.

Mitra, who got his MBBS degree in West Bengal and has been in Britain for nearly 13 years, is all set to give up his job as a senior surgeon in Glasgow and come back to India to head Sanjiban.

'We have always thought that healthcare is not a business, but a service. We honestly believe that the concept of private healthcare should be changed so that even poor people can get access to this facility in West Bengal,' he said.

Mitra is also president of the Chikitsa Broti Udyog, the trust behind the Sanjiban initiative. Social activist Prafulla Chakraborty is general secretary of the trust.

'Since we are targeting a particular section of society, we are trying to help them with medical insurance. Talks are on with the National Insurance Company Ltd for a medical insurance tie-up,' Mitra said.

He said the hospital had joined hands with a low-priced generic drug manufacturing company, Locost, and taken the help of a Vadodara-based consultancy firm, MSP Consultant, to bring down the cost of its services.

'Inflated medical bills are a nightmare for patients in India. If we can bring down the cost, it will be a great help to poor people,' Locost managing trustee S. Srinivasan told IANS.

The hospital will have a captive power plant and a green house energy reservoir.

Mitra said the hospital would be able to reduce the operational cost by about 40 percent by using renewable energy.

The hospital will initially have 130 beds, but the capacity will be increased to 300 beds in the near future.

'We are planning to develop this hospital as a premier healthcare centre in the entire Southeast Asia.' Mitra said.

India to recognise foreign medical degrees

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:09:15 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Chennai, Aug 26 - India will provide 'unilateral recognition' to post-graduate medical degrees of foreign universities, union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said here Sunday.

Speaking at the inauguration of A. Ramachandran's diabetes hospitals and India Diabetes Research Foundation here, Ramadoss said post-graduate medical courses from the US, Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore universities will be recognised.

Over 200 AIIMS post-graduates yet to get degrees - over a signature

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:32:59 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 18 - Over 200 post-graduates of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences - here are yet to receive their degree certificates, making it difficult for them to apply for jobs. They have been told that Health Minister A. Ramadoss is yet to put his signatures on them.

Some of the students have been waiting for almost two years for the certificate.

Aman Dua, a postgraduate from AIIMS, told IANS: 'I passed out in July 2005 but I am yet to receive my certificate. They told us that they would give us the certificates, but have not done so.

'I am working as a resident doctor at AIIMS, but will not be able to apply anywhere else. I had applied for a higher degree in Australia but I don't know what will happen now without the certificate. The Australian authorities have asked for the original document but I have sent them only a provisional one,' said Dua, an orthopaedic.

Kumar Harsh, a resident doctor who had passed out in December 2005, has not got his certificate. He said like him over 200 postgraduate students were yet to receive their degrees.

Harsh, a resident doctor at AIIMS, said that four people - the director, dean, registrar and the president of AIIMS - - sign a certificate. While the others have signed, Ramadoss has not yet done so.

'I don't know why the minister is not signing the certificates. But one thing is for sure - he is playing with the career of students,' Harsh, a radiation oncologist, told IANS.

'The degrees are ready for the last six months and waiting to be signed by the health minister,' he added.

Some students alleged that the health minister had not signed the certificates despite repeated requests.

'If they don't give the certificate on time, then we end up losing one year of our career,' Harsh said.

Nitin Kukkar, an orthopaedic resident doctor who has also not got his certificate, said: 'Generally certificates are distributed on convocation day, but they have not held convocations for the last two years.

'We came to know that the health minister has not signed the certificates. Earlier, the authorities promised us that we would get the certificates before June, but nothing has moved so far.'

When contacted, AIIMS authorities declined to give an answer but said the 'anti-quota movement in AIIMS was the main culprit'.

The medical college was the epicentre of an anti-reservation stir last year, with most resident doctors at its forefront. The protests had affected health care at the hospital and at other hospitals in the capital and elsewhere for almost a fortnight.

The medics were opposing the government's 27 percent reservation for other backward classes - in institutes of higher learning. The quota law is currently under suspension after the Supreme Court put a temporary stay on its implementation.

Another Indian doctor to head home from Australia

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:40:46 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Canberra, Aug 16 - Indian doctor Mohammed Asif Ali, who is being investigated after admitting to lying on his resume, will fly out of Australia Thursday night.

The Australian Federal Police - had earlier handed him back his passport, Ali's lawyer Simone Healy told reporters in Brisbane Thursday.

Ali had been working in the Gold Coast Hospital in Australia's state of Queensland since he was recruited from Britain. Last month, he was questioned by the AFP over his links with Mohammed Haneef, an Indian colleague at the hospital, who was suspected to have been involved in failed terror attacks in Britain.

Haneef flew back to India late last month after Australian prosecutors dropped the terrorism charge against him.

Simone Healy said Ali wanted to return to India to see his family in Bangalore, but did not want to lose his job at the Gold Coast Hospital.

He is currently suspended from working at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Australian Associated Press quoted acting director-general of Queensland Health Andrew Wilson as saying that Ali's investigation would continue.

India far from being a knowledge power: Arjun Singh

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:09:14 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 11 - Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh Saturday expressed scepticism over India's knowledge power status and said the country needed more funds and dedication for improvement in the education sector.

'We cannot become a knowledge power with only 10 percent of our students enrolled in higher education,' Singh said.

The minister was speaking at the first anniversary celebration of the National University of Educational Planning and Administration - here.

'Always there is problem of fund and we are yet to spend six percent of our GDP on education. But we are trying to increase the higher education enrolment,' the minister added.

He further said that the country should not forget about elementary education.

'The quality of primary education is a matter of concern. Some of our schemes are really doing well but we all should focus on retention of students in schools. We have to improve our skill and competence to achieve it,' he said.

Delivering the first foundation day lecture, renowned economist Prabhat Patnaik said that the government had not given enough attention to education so far.

'It's shocking that 40 percent of our children of school-going age are away from it. We have starved our educational system,' Patnaik said, adding that there was a 'lack of political will'.

NUEPA, which was established as a national university on Aug 11, 2006, is the first university in India engaged in research and capacity building on education planning and management.

Now probe into competence of Indian doctors in Britain

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:28:51 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Aug 10 - Indian doctors are among several overseas doctors whose competence to practice in Britain's National Health Service - is being investigated following an increasing number of complaints registered with the General Medical Council -.

The major GMC inquiry comes at a time when overseas doctors are subject to further checks in the wake of the recent attempted car bombs in London and Glasgow. Three overseas-trained doctors, including Sabeel Ahmed from India, were arrested in connection with the blasts.

GMC sources told IANS that in the latest round of fitness-to-practise hearings, the following Indian doctors are being investigated:

* Tonmoy Sharma, who graduated from Dibrugarh, Assam, in 1987, is being investigated for allegations that as a Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, University of London and a Principal Investigator undertaking research studies, he was, at various times, misleading, dishonest, unethical and unprofessional. It is also alleged that Sharma misrepresented himself as having qualified as a PhD and as holding the tile of 'Professor'.

* Vijay Dwivedi, who graduated from Lucknow in 1967, is being investigated for allegations that as a General Practitioner in Wirral, his examination of two patients was performed in a manner that was indecent and inappropriate.

* Satyavada Venkata Vidya Bhushan, who graduated from Osmania in 1967, is being investigated for allegations that during treatment of seven patients, his conduct was inappropriate, inadequate, not in the best interests of the patient, below the standards to be expected of a registered medical practitioner and in respect of three patients it was also irresponsible.

* Nanalal Ratilal Shah, who graduated from Nagpur in 1967, is being investigated for allegations that as an Essex-based Medical Practitioner, he did not take overall responsibility for the care of patients at the various locum posts he held during the period of July 2002 and April 2005. It is also alleged that he acted in a manner to his patients that was unprofessional, rude, intended to mislead, inconsiderate and careless and disregarded his professional responsibilities.

GMC sources, however, added that the contribution of Indian doctors to the NHS over the years was highly valued, and that the competence of an overwhelming majority of them was not in question.

The new probe will look at the competence of all overseas trained doctors, including from within Europe. There have been several cases of lack of communication skills in English language of doctors trained in Europe leading to serious situations in the NHS.

Doctors from Europe can register and treat patients in Britain but are not tested for clinical competence and do not have to prove they can speak English, unlike those from India, Australia or elsewhere.

Latest GMC figures show that overseas-trained doctors are twice as likely to face disciplinary hearings as UK medical graduates. Three times the number of doctors who trained abroad were struck off the UK medical register last year compared with 2005.

The GMC has now commissioned a series of research projects that will look at a range of issues including the competence of foreign doctors and whether they are subject to institutional racism within the health service.

According to The Times, over 5,000 cases were dealt with by the GMC in 2006. Of these, 303 resulted in a fitness-to-practise hearing and 54 doctors were struck off - 35 of whom had trained outside Britain. The probe will look into the pattern, for which there is currently 'no good explanation'.

Said Paul Philip, director of standards and fitness-to-practise at the GMC: 'The number of fitness-to-practise cases we deal with is going up year on year.

'Doctors with a primary medical qualification from overseas or within the EU are disproportionately represented and more are being refereed to us than we should see without good explanation.'

Pune docs to Dutt's rescue...Munnabhai way

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:20:35 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Pune, Aug 10 - Even as Sanjay Dutt gets busy doing carpentry in the Yerawada Jail here, his hardcore fans outside are planning on a novel approach to help...the Munnabhai way.

The philosophy of persuasion with love and patience - as preached by Dutt's character in the film 'Munnabhai M.B.B.S.' and called Gandhigiri - is what they have in mind. And guess what? These fans are doctors themselves.

Bhalchandar Gaikwad, an administrative director at a pharmaceutical company in Pune, has decided not to sit back and watch the law take its own course. He and a group of his friends are going from door to door gathering public opinion about the TADA court judgement giving Dutt six years of rigorous imprisonment for illegal possession of arms during the Mumbai blasts of 1993.

Bhalchandar and his 165 friends on weekends organise meetings of student groups, IT professionals, office goers, businessmen and people from various backgrounds gathering their perspective about the case.

'The campaign is definitely not going to be the usual protest march, slogan shouting or placards. It's going to be done through Gandhigiri,' says Bhalchandran.

The meetings offer a discussion forum for the common man to express his opinion about the TADA judgement on Dutt and about the actor himself.

According to Bhalchandar, people feel the court has taken too long to come to a decision.

'The judicial system should first take care of the people who supply these arms and ammunition. The court has taken 13 years to come to a decision on this case and in the process spent millions of rupees. Ironically, the main culprits are still not behind bars,' retorted Bhalchandar.

'If the judicial and police system does not catch people like Dawood Ibrahim, blasts such as the ones in Mumbai will and can happen in any city in the country.'

Harshal Mhaske of Nobal Hospital in Pune, also a part of the group, feels Dutt is being made a scapegoat.

'Put restrictions on him, do not let him leave the country, so on and so forth, but do not put him behind bars. He has already suffered enough for the crime he committed 14 years back,' Mhaske said.

The doctors also clarify that they are not pro-crime but feel the Indian judiciary should not make Dutt pay too heavy a price in the name of justice.

These Pune doctors are also planning to go to Delhi and demonstrate Gandhigiri outside the Supreme Court where a petition has been filed for Dutt's bail.

And the way they will do so is by offering a rose to all lawyers...Munnabhai style.

Asian doctor charged with sexual assault

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:10:13 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Aug 10 - An Asian doctor working in Britain's National Health Service - has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a hospital in Norfolk and making indecent photographs of a child.

According to details with the General Medical Council -, Rashid Usman Sandhu, the accused, graduated from Punjab in 2001. He was registered with the GMC since June 11, 2004.

Sandhu, 29, worked as a doctor at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and has now been suspended. He will appear at Great Yarmouth Magistrates' Court Sept 10.

Adrian Pennington, chief executive at the hospital, confirmed that Sandhu had been employed from Aug 2003 to April 2005 as a senior house officer and from May 2006 to the present day as a specialist registrar in the Accident and Emergency Department.

Pennington said: 'As soon as the police contacted the trust with serious allegations, a full investigation was launched. The doctor was immediately excluded from duty at the hospital and the trust continues to work closely with the police.

'Prior to employment, thorough checks are made on all our clinical staff. These include checking employment history, clinical qualifications, visa status - and full police checks. I can confirm all these checks were completed in this instance and they did not highlight anything of concern.'

'Our trust has robust child protection and audit procedures in place that reflect national policy, and we take a multi agency response to any allegation of this type. Patient safety is paramount.

'Investigations have shown there is no more we could have done to stop this individual allegedly choosing to ignore trust policy and procedure,' he added.

A Norfold police spokesperson said: 'Investigating officers have been working closely with senior managers at the James Paget University Hospital and have received total cooperation throughout the inquiry.'

Release full transcript of probe, Haneef tells Australia

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:49:29 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Bangalore, Aug 1 - Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef Wednesday contested claims by Australian authorities that they have fresh evidence of his involvement in the failed British terror plot and challenged them to come out with the full transcript of his police interrogation and an online chat with his brother.

'What Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews is revealing now about the probe and the chat is not new. It is only selective and partial,' a tense Haneef told reporters here at a hurriedly-convened press conference.

'The minister has not come out with the full transcript of the police investigation that contains my explanation about the online conversation I had with Shoaib,' he said.

He was referring to an online chat he had with his brother about the botched June-end terror plot. The chat took place July 2, the day Haneef was arrested at Brisbane airport.

Haneef's cousin Imran Siddiqui, who had rushed to Australia to bail him out, said they were not yet given the full transcript of either the interrogation or the chat in spite of filing an affidavit a fortnight ago seeking them.

'Haneef's replies to the Australian Federal Police - about the contents of the chat and other queries will clear the air and prove that his attempt to depart from Australia had no links with the botched car bombings in Britain or the alleged involvement of his cousins - Kafeel Ahmed and Sabeel Ahmed - in the terror plot,' Siddiqui said.

'Let Andrews or the AFP come out with the full chat transcript and the entire transcript of the interrogation. There is no evidence of Haneef having prior knowledge about the terror plot or links with its perpetrators, including his cousins,' he added.

The 27-year-old Indian doctor, who worked in a Queensland hospital, returned to India Sunday after Australia dropped terror charges against him after a 25-day incarceration. His cancelled work visa was, however, not restored.

Recent reports from Australia said the probe against Haneef was still on and Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews justified his decision to cancel his visa on the basis of the contents of the online chat.

Though he had remained inaccessible to the media since his first press conference here late Monday, Haneef came calling to give his version of Andrews' statement Wednesday.

Haneef said the Australian police had asked him about the chat with his brother and that he had answered all their queries.

In a brief statement, Haneef said his Australian lawyer Peter Russo had advised him not to make any comment on his visa status before the pending case came up for hearing in an Australian court Aug 8.

'Since the Australian minister and the AFP are still commenting on why my work visa was cancelled, it is better my views come from my legal team till the case is heard,' Haneef said.

Asked whether it was a sheer coincidence that he was leaving for India so soon after the failed bombings in London and Glasgow, Haneef said it could have been circumstantial and that he would not like to elaborate.

Haneef, however, admitted he was in regular touch with Shoaib and his family on the telephone and the Internet.

'I have been in regular contact with my family back in India. It was not only on that day - I was chatting with Shoaib. I have been in touch with him that way regularly,' he said.

Apex court adjourns hearing on government's quota plea

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:32:26 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 31 - The Supreme Court Tuesday adjourned to Aug 7 the hearing of the central government's latest plea for revival of the suspended law for the reservation for Other Backward Class - students in government-funded higher educational institutions.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan adjourned the hearing on the government's plea, saying the matter would be heard by the five-judge constitution bench, to be formed to examine together the legality of the 93rd amendment of the constitution and the quota law.

The bench, which also included Justice R.V Raveendran and Justice Dalveer Bhandari, said the constitution bench would first adjudicate the government's petition seeking revival of the quota law, suspended since March 29 by the apex court, before taking a call on the larger issue of the constitutionality of the law.

On July 26, the bench had fixed Tuesday as the day on which it would hear the government's third petition for revival of the Central Educational Institutions - Act, 2006, saying that the constitution bench would start scrutinising the legality of the Constitution - Act, 2005 from Aug 7.

The bench had asked all the parties to the case to file their written arguments by Aug 4.

The Central Educational Institutions - Act, 2006, providing for 27 percent reservation in centrally-funded institutions, had been suspended on a bunch of petitions by anti-reservation activists and groups, including Youth for Equality and advocate Ashok Thakur. The bench had ruled that the legality of the law needed a closer scrutiny.

Ever since suspension of the law, the government has been repeatedly attempting to get the suspension vacated. It had filed its latest and the third application July 17 and had been agitating for its early hearing since then.

Indians in Australia seek apology from government

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:43:16 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, July 29 - The 230,000-strong Indian Australian community has been relieved that justice has finally prevailed as Muhammad Haneef was on his way home, though it has demanded an apology from the government for the Indian doctor's 25-day incarceration before terror charges against him were dropped.

The United Indian Association - and the Overseas and Australian Medical Graduates Association - have asked the government to apologise to the Indian community in print and electronic media without any further delay to ensure that there will be no snowballing effect of the backlash on the community.

UIA president Raj Natarajan said, 'I think the recent developments involving the dropping of charges against Dr. Haneef has to a large extent vindicated the views of UIA and OAMGA and their call for the rule of law to prevail and Dr. Haneef is given a fair go.'

Referring to the demand, he added: 'This is not too much to ask of the government which boasts that they are the custodians of the great traditions of democracy. Many political pundits around the world are questioning the intentions of the government and rightly so.'

So what effect will this case have on the standing of the Indian doctors in the mainstream Australian society?

Natarajan said: 'I think the healing process would now be faster and the Australian people are intelligent enough to sort the good from the bad.

'Having said that, the government should not only apologise to the Indian community in general but to the Indian doctors in particular for the effect this bungled episode has had on the community.'

OAMGA president V.R. Nagamma said: 'With respect to recent developments on the Haneef case, we as the Indian community along with the doctor fraternity believe that justice has prevailed.

'Both the AFP - and DPP - have done their job in an appropriate manner and the outcome has been positive.'

Meanwhile, civil libertarians say any inquiry into the bungled prosecution of Haneef should focus squarely on the actions of Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock and Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has been a strong critic of the way Haneef's case was handled from the beginning and is again calling for a senate inquiry into the matter.

Beattie told the media: 'I got my share of criticism, being attacked by the prime minister, two other federal ministers, including Alexander Downer. I had Mick Keelty, the federal police commissioner, give me a swipe on the way through.

'But in the end, I didn't do it for any reason other than I feel a personal responsibility to look after Queensland's interests.'

The Labour party has called for a judicial review of the DPP, while the Greens say there should be a royal commission.

The 27-year-old doctor from Bangalore was held on July 2 at Brisbane airport, just as he was about to fly to India, on the charge of passing his mobile phone SIM card to a cousin in Britain who has been held for the failed terror plots in London and Glasgow last month.

Following contradictions in the case against him, Australian authorities cleared him of any involvement in the terror plots and he took a flight home Saturday evening.

Study examines faculty's beliefs on the effects of decreased resident duty-hours

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Internal medicine faculty heavily involved in residency programs believe that resident duty-hour limitations negatively affect aspects of residentsï¿½ patient care, education and professionalism, but improve residentsï¿½ well-being, according to a report in the July 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Residency duty-hour restrictions were put into place in 2003 to reduce the risk of negative events resulting from sleep deprivation and to improve residentsï¿½ well-being. ï¿½Before implementation of duty-hour regulations, some cautioned that reductions in duty hours may have unanticipated negative effects on patient care, resident education and professionalism,ï¿½ according to background information in the article. Some also feared that reducing residentsï¿½ duty hours would increase clinical faculty workload.

Darcy A. Reed, M.D., M.P.H., of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues surveyed 154 key clinical faculty from 39 internal medicine residency programs affiliated with U.S. medical schools in 2005 to obtain their views on the effect of residentsï¿½ duty-hour limitations. Key clinical faculty consists of faculty members who dedicate at least 15 hours per week to the residency program and provide clinical teaching and supervision of residents.

Of the 154 faculty members targeted, 111 (72 percent) responded. Three-fourths of them had five or more years teaching residents and one-third had more than 15 years of experience.

Key clinical faculty reported they believe resident duty-hour restrictions:

Uttar Pradesh declares revised medical entrance results

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:44:58 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Lucknow, June 21 - The Uttar Pradesh government Thursday declared revised results of the medical entrance examinations even as a university vice chancellor announced his resignation in the wake of violent statewide protests that led a youth to commit suicide.

Taking a serious note of the plight of thousands of candidates following serious anomalies in the earlier results of the Combined Pre-Medical Test -, Chief Minister Mayawati had recommended the removal of Purvanchal University vice chancellor K.P. Singh to Governor T.V. Rajeshwar.

The vice chancellor announced his decision to resign after the revised results were declared at a press conference here. Poorvanchal University had conducted this year's CPMT examinations.

'I take the entire responsibility for the errors in the CPMT results. But let me tell you, such errors are nor uncommon and were once detected even in the IIT - entrance examination,' Singh said in defence.

The press conference was convened by Principal Medical Secretary Arun Kumar Misra to announce the revised results that came as a boon for many and bane for some.

According to the list released Thursday, as many as 53,735 candidates have passed this time, against 15,088 earlier.

'The difference is attributable to feeding of wrong keys in the computers,' said Misra, adding that revision of results had affected about 75 percent of the candidates.

About 80,000 candidates had appeared in the examination seeking admission in different medical colleges in the state, having a capacity of about 1,500 seats. These also included the aryurvedic and homeopathic institutions.

Significantly, Manvi Dua, who had topped the examination as per the earlier result, was now placed in the 20th position. Similarly, those who had figured among the top 20 in the previous result were now actually far down in the list.

The wide variation in the two results was visible all over the state. Anamika, a Kanpur-based candidate, who had secured 1,044th rank earlier but now stood at the 22nd position, was simply thrilled with joy.

'I had really worked very hard and it was such a disappointment when I saw my name way down in the list. I could not have imagined entry into any of the MBBS colleges. But now I am eligible to get into the best medical college of the state,' Anamika told IANS over telephone.

Another candidate Richa Rai, belonging to Indira Nagar locality in Lucknow, got 24th rank in the revised list after 'failing' as per the earlier result.

'I just could not get over the fact that I had not qualified. Had it not been for the revision of the result I would have been simply cursing my fate,' Richa told IANS.

Officials were tight-lipped about the fate of the candidate who had ended his life by jumping before a moving train due to his 'failure' as per the previous list. However, sources confirmed that he remained equally unlucky this time too.

STAMP system can help medical professionals to predict violence

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A researcher who spent nearly 300 hours observing patients in an accident and emergency department has developed a method for identifying possible flashpoints, according to the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Lauretta Luck, who carried out her research at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, points out that the STAMP violence assessment framework could have much wider applications than just hospitals.

The five-month research project was carried out in a 33-bedded emergency department in a public hospital serving a large rural, remote and metropolitan community in Australia.

It serves a multi-cultural community, which includes a high number of tourists and seasonal workers as well as a large metropolitan population.

Luck carried out 290 hours of observation and interviewed 20 Registered Nurses who agreed to take part in the study.

"During my time in the department there were 16 violent episodes aimed at staff taking part in the study," says Luck. "Because I was on the spot I was able to obtain feedback from them while the event was still fresh in their minds. They were able to tell me how they perceived the event and how they tried to handle it.

"Many more episodes were observed during the study period and I was keen to note how staff managed to defuse potentially violent episodes".

âViolence towards healthcare staff and other professionals such as police officers and social security staff are an increasing part of daily lifeâ says Luck.

âWe feel that the STAMP system provides an easy to remember checklist that can be used in a wide range of potentially stressful situations to provide an initial indication of possible violence.

âRecognising the early signs that can lead to a violent episode can give staff the time they need to defuse the situation before it escalates.

âSTAMP also provides a basic framework that can be developed by healthcare organisations and other agencies â using research, observation and experience - to meet their own specific needs.â

Extended Shifts for Medical Interns Negatively Impact Patient Safety

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Working an extended duration shift can pose a risk to not only the safety and well-being of medical interns, but also to that of their patients.

The study, authored by Laura Barger, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, was based on 2,737 physicians in their first post-graduate year, who participated in a nationwide Web-based survey, completing a total of 17,003 monthly reports. A regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the number of extended duration work shifts (greater than or equal to 24 hours in length), reported medical errors and a self-reported measure of stress.

It was discovered that the reporting of medical errors and the number of extended duration shifts worked in a month were both significant predictors of stress. Compared to months in which no extended duration shifts were worked, interns working five or more extended duration shifts had seven times greater odds of reporting at least one fatigue-related significant medical error that resulted in an adverse patient event and reported 300 percent more fatigue-related preventable adverse events resulting in the death of the patient. Moreover, interns who reported a medical error that resulted in an adverse patient outcome were more than three times as likely to report high stress in that month.

These results suggest that extended duration shifts negatively impact patient safety and the well-being of medical interns. They have important public policy implications for post-graduate medical education and suggest the need for counseling or other care for interns who make medical errors, said Barger.

The amount of sleep a person gets affects his or her physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies associate lack of sleep with serious health problems such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Experts recommend that adults get between seven and eight hours of sleep each night to maintain good health and optimum performance.

Bid to save medical colleges from de-recognition

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 12:17:44 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Bhopal, June 3 - The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to provide necessary equipment and adequate staff to the five medical colleges in the state that are facing possible de-recognition from the Medical Council of India -, say official sources.

The MCI, a statutory body regulating medical colleges, affiliation of new colleges and doctors' registration, decides on continuing with the recognition after inspecting the medical colleges and associated hospitals throughout the country in every five years.

The council had carried out an inspection of the medical colleges in the state last year and found them unsuitable for imparting medical education, following which it had recommended the central government to de-recognise them.

'The state has five government medical colleges - one each in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Rewa - and the MCI have asked the central government to direct the colleges not to admit students for the 2007-08 academic session in case the shortcomings pointed out by it were not removed,' informed an official of the state medical department.

The deficiencies pointed out by the medical council, he said, include a dearth of teaching staff, infrastructure, equipment, hostels and many other facilities.

MCI officials, who had inspected the five colleges in 2006, reportedly said that dearth of basic infrastructure in the colleges was not only affecting medical education in the state, but also the quality of doctors being churned out as per standards set by the council.

'But the looming threat of de-recognition has prompted the state's finance committee to loosen its purse strings to meet the infrastructure deficit in the medical colleges and hospitals affiliated to MCI,' the medical department official said.

In April, the state government had sanctioned about Rs.436 million for the purchase of necessary equipment to overcome the shortcomings pointed out by the MCI. It had also sanctioned 3,403 posts of teaching and non-teaching staff to fill the vacant posts of professors and assistant professors, said the source.

Royal College of Physicians exams now in India

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:50:32 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Chennai, June 2 - The clinical examination for the prestigious Membership of Royal College of Physicians - can now be held in India.

Three colleges under the RCP banner - the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Physicians of London - Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with Sri Ramachandra University - here to offer the examinations.

'Any physician from anywhere in the world can take his/her clinical tests for MRCP here,' said Georgi Abraham, coordinator for the India programme. So long physicians had to fly to Britain or to any of the nine other countries where the examinations are held.

'We have been trying to get this specialist examination held in India since 1997 and it has taken us ten years to convince the MRCP board that we have the facilities to hold it,' Abraham who is also professor of medicine at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College told IANS.

The SRU medical college has 25 specialist skill stations and has made available seven of these for the MRCP examination.

The first examination was held this week over three days with about 45 examinees attending. The candidates included one from Britain, one from Australia and another one from Pakistan.

Neil Dewhurst, the Medical Director and Chairman of the MRCP Examinations Board, expressed hope that many more young doctors from South Asian countries would attempt to qualify the clinical exams now.

The exam will be held twice a year and the MRCP authorities expect at least 90 to 100 physicians taking the test this year.

The membership to the RCP is recognised worldwide and allows physicians to practise almost in every country. At least 25,000 doctors take the exam every year.

There are plans to offer the specialist examination for membership to the Royal College of Surgeons, in India, Abraham added.

India-born doctor to become first woman to head BBC

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:39:29 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Nov 29 - India-born Dr. Chitra Bharucha is set to become the first woman to head the BBC, albeit in an acting capacity, following the resignation of BBC chairperson Michael Grade.

Bharucha, vice-chairperson of the recently formed BBC Trust - which will take on the responsibility of running BBC come January - has been named acting chair of the Trust.

As of now, Anthony Salz, who is deputy chairperson of the BBC's board of governors, has taken over from Grade, who is joining the BBC's main terrestrial rival in Britain, ITV.

The BBC Trust is a new body that has been created to oversee the regulation and governance of BBC from January, when the board of governors, which currently oversees the autonomous broadcaster, is disbanded.

Along with an executive board, the Trust will take over the role of the current board of governors and will be independent of the BBC management.

When it assumes its responsibilities in January, Bharucha will become the acting chairperson of the BBC Corporation - till a full-time chairperson is appointed.

According to reports, current acting chairperson Salz is not joining the Trust, which will replace the board in January, and will be leaving his role in the BBC at the end of the year.

Though Britain's Department for Culture, Media and Sport will advertise the BBC Trust chairmanship as soon as possible, it is unlikely the process will be completed until well into the new year, according to a report in the Digital Spy website.

Applications for the post must be scrutinised by a government panel, which can take time.

Born in Madurai, India, Bharucha has lived in Britain since 1972.

A haematologist by profession, Bharucha has served as deputy director, Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service, and consultant clinical haematologist, Belfast City Hospital.

She currently also chairs the Fitness to Practise Adjudication Panels of Britain's General Medical Council, having served as a council member from 1999 to 2003.

Bharucha shifted from a career in medicine to media in 1996 when she joined the BBC Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland, a position she stayed in till 2003.

She had also served as the Northern Ireland member of the Independent Television Commission from 2001 to 2003.

In 2004, Bharucha was appointed to the Advertising Standards Authority - Council, where she currently chairs the Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs for the Food Standards Agency.

Disgraced Indian-born doctor a scapegoat: expert

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:42:29 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, Nov 26 - Disgraced Indian-born surgeon Jayant Patel, wanted in Australia for manslaughter, is merely a scapegoat, a Queensland investigator who first probed his work has said.

Bundaberg hospital inquiry commissioner Tony Morris QC, who was a guest speaker at the Whistleblowers Australia conference in Brisbane last week, slammed the Queensland health administration, according to Australia's news.com.

Patel found himself at the centre of a medical scandal in early 2005 when he was accused of gross incompetence while working as director of surgery at the Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland. He was linked to at least 17 deaths and dozens of injuries.

'In a strange sort of way he is almost a distraction,' Morris was quoted as saying.

The high profile barrister criticised the Queensland health department for not implementing real reforms since the Bundaberg crisis and said the bureaucracy was actively obstructing every attempt to do so.

'Perhaps the enduring tragedy of Jayant Patel is... he has become a scapegoat for everything that is wrong in the Queensland health department. Patel is not, and never was, the problem,' he said.

Morris was ousted as the inquiry's head after displaying 'ostensible bias' against the Bundaberg Hospital's managers.

Last week, the Queensland police initiated the process of extraditing Patel, dubbed as Dr. Death by the media, from the US.

Morris singled out the Bundaberg Hospital nurse Toni Hoffman for her blowing the whistle on Patel.

Incidentally, Hoffman has been chosen for the Whistleblower of the Year Award.

Ailing Indian doctor in Britain to return to Kolkata

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 17:25:59 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Nov 26 - A doctor from India who came to Britain in 2002 to work in the National Health Service but was stranded when he had to quit his job due to an incurable brain disease, will now be able to return to India thanks to a campaign by a local newspaper in Sunderland.

Kaushik Chatterjee, a doctor from Kolkata, came to Britain in the spring of 2002 and initially worked in London. Later, he was appointed senior house officer in elderly care at Sunderland Royal Hospital in February 2003.

His case was taken up by The Sunderland Echo, a local newspaper, which highlighted his difficulties regarding his inability to return back to India due to paucity of funds.

He could not apply for benefits because of his visa difficult situation. As part of his 10-year visa agreement, the newspaper reported that he was required to hand over his passport to the Home Office officials after appointment in the Sunderland hospital.

Within weeks of joining, Chatterjee's colleagues noticed that he was having difficulty in walking. A scan revealed that he was suffering from spinocerebellar degeneration, a genetic condition, which affects mobility and speech.

Chatterjee was allowed to continue living in student accommodation by the hospital and survived on charitable contributions.

The newspaper highlighted his plight earlier this month, which led to several offers of help. Hundreds of pounds were raised to meet the cost of food and Chatterjee's flight home.

The newspaper said that his case was taken up by Tahri Khan from the Unity Organisation, a multicultural centre.

Khan said that the Home Office had returned Chatterjee's passport and he would be arranging a flight, hopefully before next week so that he could return home to Kolkata.

Chatterjee told mediapersons: 'I'm ecstatic. I want to be home as soon as possible. I'm very grateful to everybody who has helped. It's very frustrating. I came to make a career in England. I did all my studying, I did everything - I didn't take any short cuts.'

He will be accompanied on his journey home to Kolkata by Lynne Swanson, 55, of Ashbrooke, whose heart was touched by his story.

Swanson said: 'I was full of hell when I read about it. I think it's a shame it didn't come to light sooner.'

Khan accused the government of failing to care for Chatterjee.

Chatterjee said his mother did not yet know that he would soon return home.

Bihar to get eight new private medical colleges

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 19:25:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Eight new private medical colleges are set to open in Bihar as two US and six Indian firms have submitted proposals to invest in the health sector.

"The Bihar State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) has approved the proposals for eight new medical colleges in the private sector," said a state official on condition of anonymity.

"This heralds the beginning of big private investments in the health sector," he added.

According to SIPB sources, two US firms, owned by NRIs, have submitted separate proposals for opening medical colleges in Patna.

Medical World4U, a company owned by Ashok Kumar, a US-based doctor, is to set up a medical college and super-speciality hospital here with an investment of Rs.1.4 billion.

Another firm called Indo-American Medical Foundation is to invest Rs.1 billion in setting up a college.

Bettiah, in west Champaran district, has attracted two proposals - one by Medicontrivers India Ltd and the other by Kerala-based Universal Empire Group.

Rajeshwar Thakur, a doctor in the Bihar capital, is to invest Rs.3 billion and the Hai Medical and Research Institute Pvt Ltd has proposed a project worth Rs. 80 million.

In Bhojpur district's Ara town, the Ambedkar Medical and Technical Education Trust has proposed a Rs.350 million project.

SIPB has also approved a proposal by the Lord Buddha Educational Trust to open a medical college and hospital in Saharsa district with an investment of Rs.1 billion.

Bihar currently has six medical colleges and hospitals and all are state-owned.

Severe discrimination based on race and ethnicity in medical-school admissions at University of Michigan

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:20:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Three studies released today by the Center for Equal Opportunity document evidence of severe discrimination based on race and ethnicity in undergraduate, law, and medical school admissions at the University of Michigan.

The studies are based on data supplied by the University itself, pursuant to freedom-of-information requests filed by CEO and the Michigan Association of Scholars.

Linda Chavez said: Racial discrimination in university admissions is always appalling. But what is really remarkable is that the weight given to race by the University of Michigan in its undergraduate admissions is actually heavier now than under the system that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003. If the old system was too heavy-handed to pass legal muster, then how can the new system be defended? The Supreme Court has obviously had no effect on stopping UMs discrimination.

Roger Clegg agreed. It is clear that, left to their own devices, universities will not end the racial discrimination that Justice OConnor said she expected to end in 25 years. Fortunately, in Michigan, the voters will have the opportunity in a few weeks to Vote yes on 2 and require that taxpayer-supported, public institutions like UM treat all Michiganders without regard to their skin color or what country their ancestors came from.

Severe discrimination favoring African American applicants over white and Asian applicants was found at all three schools in all four years for which data were received (1999, 2003, 2004, and 2005, the most recent year for which data were available). Hispanics were also favored, but by less; frequently whites were given preferences over Asians, although to a still smaller extent. In all three studies, the data received from the university were analyzed to calculate: (1) the gaps in academic qualifications among admitted students; (2) the number of nonblack students who were rejected even though they had better academic qualifications than the median black admittee; (3) the odds ratios for the three minority groups relative to whites; and (4) the probabilities of admission for students of different races but with the same academic credentials (test scores and grades) and background (in particular, in-state applicants with no parental alumni/ae). For the undergraduate and medical school students, the subsequent academic performance of students after admission to UM was analyzed (the law school did not provide the data needed for such an analysis).

Undergraduate Admissions

In the most recent year (2005), the median black admittees SAT score was 1160, versus 1260 for Hispanics, 1350 for whites, and 1400 for Asians. High school GPAs were 3.4 for the median black, 3.6 for Hispanics, 3.8 for Asians, and 3.9 for whites.

In the four years analyzed, UM rejected over 8000 Hispanics, Asians, and whites who had higher SAT or ACT scores and GPAs than the median black admittee--including nearly 2700 students in 2005 alone.

The black-to-white odds ratio for 2005 was 70 to 1 among students taking the SAT, and 63 to 1 for students taking the ACT. (To put this in perspective, the odds ratio for nonsmokers versus smokers dying from lung cancer is only 14 to 1.) In terms of probability of admissions in 2005, black and Hispanic students with a 1240 SAT and a 3.2 high school GPA, for instance, had a 9 out of 10 chance of admissions, while whites and Asians in this group had only a 1 out of 10 chance. These disparities are reflected in subsequent academic performance at the University of Michigan, where blacks and Hispanics earn lower grades, and are less likely to be in the honors program and more likely to be on academic probation, than whites and Asians.

It is noteworthy that race and ethnicity are apparently more heavily weighted in admissions now than in the system declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Medical School Admissions

Black admittees had substantially lower MCAT scores and undergraduate science GPAs compared to other groups; Hispanic admittees scores and grades were higher; and whites and Asians the highest (with Asian GPAs slightly higher than whites).

During the four years for which we received data, 11,647 Hispanic, Asian, and white students (or nearly 3000 students each year) who earned higher undergraduate grades and scored higher on the MCAT than the median black admittee were nonetheless rejected.

The odds ratio favoring black applicants over whites was 21 to 1 in 2005.

Likewise, differences in probabilities of admission in 2005 were dramatic. For instance, students with an MCAT total of 41 and an undergraduate science GPA of 3.6 have these probabilities of admission: 74 percent if black and 43 percent if Hispanic, but only 12 percent if white and 6 percent if Asian. For those with a 42 MCAT and 3.7 GPA: 85 percent if black and 59 percent if Hispanic, but only 21 percent if white and 11 percent if Asian. Finally, for those with a 43 MCAT and at 3.8 GPA, black applicants have a 9 out of 10 chance of admission (91 percent) and Hispanics a 3 out of 4 chance (73 percent), but whites have only a 1 out of 3 chance (33 percent) and Asians only a 1 out of 5 chance (19 percent). Gaps in USMLE Step 1 scores--this is a licensing exam taken after the first two years of medical school--parallel racial/ethnic differences in entering qualifications. White and Asian median scores are substantially higher than 75th percentile black scores.

Small But Substantial Proportion Of Surgical Residents Interested In Part-Time Training

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:22:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Medical students expressed increased interest in a career in surgery if part-time training options were available, and some residents, fellows and practicing surgeons would be interested in flexible training options as well, according to the results of a web-based survey published in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Current surgical residencies are a minimum of five years long; new regulations limit workweeks to 80 hours. As many as one-fifth of surgical residents leave their programs before finishing, most often citing lifestyle concerns, according to background information in the article. Many of todays medical students have more diverse interests and, when they apply for postgraduate training, may prefer specialties in which a more flexible approach to training (i.e., part-time, reduced hours or extended periods of time off) is an option to allow them to integrate other professional and family interests, the authors write. Because about half of medical school graduates are now women, who comprise only 24 percent of general surgery residents, the field must devise methods to attract and retain female surgeons.

Alison R. Saalwachter, M.D., of the University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, and colleagues assessed interest in part-time training options among 482 medical students, 789 surgical residents, 179 surgical fellows and 2,858 fully trained surgeons using a web-based survey. The respondents were asked to rate, on a scale of one to five, how interested they would be in a general surgery training program that lasted longer but featured shorter workweeks (between 40 and 80 hours).

Of the 4,308 physicians and students who responded to the survey, 76 percent were male, and 20 to 30 percent would accept a residency that lasted longer than five years in exchange for the opportunity to train part-time (although few would accept an extension to more than seven years). Thirty-six percent of female and 24 percent of male medical students indicated that the availability of a more flexible approach to training would positively affect the decision to choose a career in surgery. At all levels of training, women were more likely than men to express interest in a program longer than five years and were also more likely to accept a reduction in salary during those years.

Of the survey respondents who were physicians, 9.1 percent had taken time off from their residency for reasons other than doing medical research. The authors suggest that even though not all residents would be interested in part-time training options, such programs could greatly benefit those who desire flexibility for personal, financial or health reasons. Flexible options should be available for those who need it who might otherwise feel unable to pursue or continue in a surgical career, they write. For example, the availability of protected time off could permit a surgeon in training to tend to a personal crisis or a family emergency, whereas, without this option, he or she may have to resign from a program with no guarantee of being able to finish training.

Although women were more likely than men to express interest in flexible options, lifestyle issues are not solely woman- or family-related, the authors continue. In light of recent concerns about decreasing applications to general surgery training programs and a need to appeal to students with greater interest in controllable lifestyle careers, a more flexible approach to surgical training could boost interest and improve applicant caliber, they write. Because the upcoming generation is less willing than previous ones to sacrifice quality of life, academic medicine will lose both women and men if greater work balance is not achievable.

World Emergency Medicine Experts to Meet in Indo-US Emergency Medicine Summit

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) All India Institute of Medical sciences will host the Indus EM 2006 from September 27 to October 1, 2006. The conference will be themed at Connecting care, competencies and culture.

The conference will feature multiple parallel scientific sessions with over 200 hours of scientific deliberation. Renowned international and national faculty is poised to attend this conference. There will be opportunity to interact with National Experts and US Residency Directors and live video-conferencing with the United States will be available. It will also feature dedicated tracks for Residents and Medical Students, Trauma and Disaster Medicine and Special Tracks on Women and Pediatrics EM. There are INR 1,00,000 worth of prizes for competitions as well.

INDUSEM 2006 invites physicians, surgeons, residents, medical students, nurses and paramedics to be part of the scientific extravaganza. With endorsement from worlds leading bodies promoting international emergency medicine the conference promises to be an absorbing quality experience for the delegates, says Dr. Sanjeev Bhoi, the organizing secretary.

"The major attraction remains the research competitions directed towards the residents, nurses, paramedic staff - the EMARCS 2006-EMERGENCY MEDICINE ACADEMIC RESEARCH COMPETITIONS SUMMIT with substantial cash prizes, our attempt to promote researching in India", adds Dr. Amit Gupta.

The conference will emphasise on the latest advances in treatment, literature reviews, and in-depth assessment of the latest clinical controversies. It is expected to be attended by over a 1000 delegates.

For a full program and details of the conference including call for abstracts, please visit the official website.

Upset Pakistani scientist wants to surrender nationality

Tue, 02 May 2006 22:53:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A Pakistani scientist announced he was giving up his nationality as he was upset with the government for not backing him in a case he filed against a German research institute three years ago.

Human genetic scientist Qaiser Rashid told reporters: "I will prefer nationality of a poorer country, the one which stands by its citizens in their hour of need. It's not something new as several Pakistanis have migrated to other countries after being fed up by this system."

According to Rashid, he had joined the German Arthritis Research Centre (DRFZ) on its invitation as a PhD student on Sep 23, 2002, "after I proposed a project to devise novel ways of treating lupus (an autoimmune disease that also affects the joints)".

He claimed that even after performing three successful experiments, he was disengaged from the project and expelled from the institution on Nov 11 that year without being served a 15-day notice as per the contract. "I was not even given the experience certificate and the Berlin labour court also dismissed my lawsuit in this regard," he said.

He returned to Pakistan and in August 2003 filed a petition in the Lahore High Court but nothing came of it. "I filed another petition but it was dismissed by the Lahore High Court chief justice after saying that the ministry of foreign affairs was not under any obligation to approach a foreign private institute for issuance of a certificate," he stated.

He said he was an MBBS doctor (Pakistan), a post-graduate in human genetic engineering (from Britain) and a researcher in molecular immunology (from the US).

Delhi medical students to continue anti-quota strike

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 01:22:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Students of four medical colleges here Thursday decided to continue their stir against a government proposal to hike reservation seats, even as Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh assured them that the matter will be considered after the assembly polls in five states.

"We met the minister and he assured us that he would speak to the prime minister after the assembly elections are over. We have been asked to give them (government) time till May 11 so that the government could discuss the issue," said Aatish Kumar, a doctor of the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) who was part of the delegation.

The minister assured the students that he would raise the issue before the cabinet after the ongoing elections in five states were over as he was bound by the Election Commission's code of conduct.

On April 5, Arjun Singh had declared that the government was planning to reserve 27 percent of seats for other backward classes (OBCs) in 20 central universities, the Indian Institutes of Management, the Indian Institutes of Technology and other central government funded institutions.

Arjun Singh also apologised to the students for the police action against them Wednesday. Over 400 medical students had clashed with police after they were denied a meeting with the minister a day before.

The minister said that he was always open to meeting students and would meet them prior to raising the issue before the cabinet, according to the students.

Kumar said: "The doctors and the interns have decided to resume work in the hospitals so as not to cause inconvenience to people but all students would remain on strike till May 11. The future course of action would only be decided after the government comes out with its decision on the issue.

"We do not want to trouble the people unnecessarily but we would be forced to take extreme steps and intensify our agitation if the government does not listen to our demands," he added.

Kumar added that this time only the outpatient departments (OPDs) were on strike but all hospitals might stop work after May 11.

"We have also decided to boycott our ongoing examination to take part in the strike. If the government does not want to give us enough opportunities then there is no point for us to study hard and take examinations," said
Soumyendro Chaterjee of the University College of Medical Science (UCMS).

The students of Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College, Lady Harding Medical College and University College of Medical Science (UCMS) are taking part in the strike.

The strike did not cover the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where the flow of patients is very high, but protestors said its doctors and students were wearing black badges in support of the strike.

"Students from Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karntaka have also joined our agitation and we expect more students to come forward as the days progress," said Shewta Sardana of Lady Harding Medical College.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police deployed personnel in huge numbers outside Arjun Singh's Akbar Road residence and at the India Gate where the students were holding protest demonstrations.

Chandigarh doctors call off strike

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:47:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Striking doctors of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here returned to work Tuesday evening after police nabbed three people who had assaulted two doctors earlier in the day.

Nearly 250 doctors of the premier hospital, who went on a lightning strike early Tuesday, returned to work following the arrest.

The arrested are attendants of a young woman patient. The doctors were assaulted after one of the attendants alleged that the doctors had tried to molest the patient while examining her.

The assault on the doctors led to the strike, giving patients a harrowing time at the hospital.

Responses to recent crises show that doctors can achieve advocacy goals

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:19:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) When problems in the health care system threaten doctors' ability to practice medicine and patients' access to needed treatments, surgeons can play an important role as advocates for political solutions.

Dr. George E. McGee and coauthors review the medical liability crisis in Mississippi during the late 1990s, prompted by multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in malpractice cases. Most companies providing malpractice insurance to doctors stopped offering coverage, while the rest hiked premiums dramatically. Many physicians were forced to leave the state or retire, leading to shortages in such specialties as neurosurgery and obstetrics. "The ratio of mothers to obstetricians in Mississippi fell below that of many underdeveloped countries," the authors write.

Rather than caving in, physicians in Mississippi--led by the state medical society--decided to fight back. Dr. McGee and colleagues sum up their approach to advocacy, which focused on patient education: Develop a consistent and credible message; Avoid hyperbole (the truth speaks volumes); Encourage all physicians to empower and activate their patients with facts; Acknowledge that media expertise is essential; and Communicate, communicate, communicate. The resulting public pressure led the state legislature to pass a comprehensible tort reform package, including a cap on noneconomic damages. The authors conclude, "With this, physicians began returning to Mississippi--to provide welcome care." Dr. Mini B. Swift and coauthors review the financial crisis at Alameda County (Calif.) Medical Center, which provides comprehensive care for indigent patients in Oakland, Berkeley and surrounding communities. Increasing debt and decreasing state and federal funds raised the threat of reducing services at a time of increasing need.

A physician-led advocacy group concluded that a new local tax was the only answer. A one-half cent sales tax proposal was placed on the ballot in 2004, but was given little chance of reaching the two-thirds majority needed for approval. Again, advocacy initiatives focused on patient education. The message focused on the benefits to patients, highlighting the plight of uninsured patients, the threat to the area's "safety net" hospital, and the regional value of the trauma center. When voting was over, the health care measure had passed by a 71.5 percent majority. "[T]he improbable evolved into the unbelievable as the fervor of a few became the mandate of the many," Dr. Swift and colleagues write.

Surgeons and physicians have an important role to play in addressing the challenges facing the U.S. health care system, according to Dr. Andrew L. Warshaw, Surgeon-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and Editor of SURGERY. "Doctors must become educated about the issues, involved, articulate, and politically active in order to mobilize our patients, our legislators, and our payors through a coherent, cogent message," writes Dr. Warshaw. "We must work together with our patients in the political arena to change the systems that threaten to undermine their healthcare."

Medical jargon is not unequivocal

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:30:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Patient data are increasingly recorded in an electronic form instead of on paper. This makes it much easier to retrieve certain information. Yet if one patient with diabetes is given the label 'diabetes mellitus type II' and the other patient 'DM type 2', a search query for 'diabetes mellitus' will not produce a list containing all diabetes patients.

Terminology systems have been developed in order to introduce structure to the medical jargon in patient files. These are lists of terms from a certain medical area, such as diagnoses, causes of death or surgical interventions. Synonyms are linked to each other and underlying terms are often provided with a definition.

Cornet's research focused on the methods for evaluating the quality of these terminology systems. These methods examine the quality of the content, its accuracy and how complete the term lists and definitions are. By carrying out these quality assessments, a hospital department can establish how useful and accurate a system is. Then they do not need to blindly trust the developer of the system.

If everyone uses the same medical terms, it is much easier to use the data of all patients for improving patient care or for epidemiological research. Then a search query on the basis of a certain term will no longer incorrectly omit data. In the United States and the United Kingdom unequivocal term lists are already in use. But according to Cornet it will not be long before the Netherlands follows suit.

Indian-origin dean of S Africa medical school quits

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 07:26:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Girish Mody, the Indian-origin dean of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM) in Durban, has reportedly tendered his resignation following a series of claims of racism, discrimination, exam leaks and unequal treatment of students during his stint of a little over a year.

According to a report in the Sunday Independent newspaper, a spokesman of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to which NRMSM is affiliated, confirmed Mody's resignation.

Mody's tenure was marked by a series of controversies with the students openly demanding his resignation, the report said. His term as head of the prestigious institution saw the suspension of as many as five medical professors over various allegations, whose disciplinary hearings were held last December.

According to the newspaper report, though Mody promised a complete report after the hearings, he has not done so till date. A faculty source was quoted as saying that there were also threats of the university being sued if the report into the hearings was made public. Mody had completed just 16 months of his five-year term.

Though the report quoted sources as saying that Mody resigned because of pressure and stress, the man himself told the newspaper that he took the step because of "a change of personal circumstances".

"I will still be a professor of rheumatology, just sooner than I was supposed to," he was quoted as saying.

"We are glad he is not lost to us. He is leaving his administrative position to go back to teaching and research, which he clearly loves more. He will be missed at the level of senior management. He had an excellent style of dealing with people," the report quoted the university spokesman as saying.

Though Nelson Mandela never wanted places or institutions to be named after him, the NRMSM is among the few exceptions. The institute, established over 50 years ago, was named after the great South African leader after the end of the apartheid regime.

Nepal deporting doctors treating protesters

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:19:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) King Gyanendra's government in Nepal has come down heavily on two doctors from abroad for treating protesters who were hurt while taking part in anti-king demonstrations, a report said Friday.

A German and an American doctor were ordered to leave Nepal after they volunteered to treat people hurt during the ant-king protests that erupted in the capital last week, the Kathmandu Post daily said quoting a website.

Brian Cobb, an American doctor, was reportedly detained Wednesday after he appeared on a private television channel the day before saying he and others were brutally assaulted by the security forces.

On Tuesday, Cobb had told Kantipur television channel that truncheon-wielding policemen swooped down on him and other people and started hitting them indiscriminately.

The doctor also told the channel he saw a man's eye being gouged out by the security forces. Cobb left Nepal Thursday, the daily said.

It also said the visa of a German doctor, identified only as Angel, who had been treating injured demonstrators, was cancelled. However, it was not known immediately if he was still in Nepal.

Since the royalist government imposed daytime curfew in Kathmandu valley from Saturday and authorised the security forces to shoot at sight, human rights organisations have been expressing dismay at the excessive use of force to stop protests.

In Thamel, the tourist hub in the capital, police swooped down on a small group of people Tuesday when they stood at a prominent square, holding improvised placards asking for the restoration of democracy and peace.

Nine tourists, including citizens from Germany, Britain, Israel and Russia, were taken to the police station and released after questioning.

On Thursday, the second day in a row, the security forces broke up a peaceful sit-in in the capital by nearly 50 leading international NGOs, demanding peace to be able to conduct development work.

A local media agency, Nepalnews.com, said the continuing repression showed the zero tolerance policy of the royalist government.

Nicaraguan doctors continue strike for five months

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:17:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A five-month protest by Nicaraguan doctors urging a pay raise continues in the absence of an agreement with the authorities, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

Medical Federation Leader Elio Artola blamed the failure on President Enrique Bolanos' attitude, but talks will continue Monday on the demand for an additional 13 percent raise.

Artola says the government refuses to go beyond 30 percent given a few days ago - 16.75 percent added to the first 13.25 percent grant to the Federation of Health Workers. The doctors make 200 to 500 dollar monthly salaries and they consider themselves the worst paid in the Latin American region.

The protest affects 32 public hospitals and 3,000 medical staff members from the Medical Federation are only assisting emergencies.

Woman doctor nabbed for sex-determination test

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:06:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A woman doctor in Haryana was caught red-handed Wednesday after she conducted a sex-determination test on a woman to ascertain the sex of her unborn child.

Vijay Bhargawa was caught immediately after she conducted the test at Rewari town and disclosed the sex of the unborn child to a decoy customer sent to her by state health officials.

A bribe of Rs.2,350 allegedly paid for the test was recovered from her.

Sex determination tests are banned in India under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act.

The ultrasound machine of the private clinic owned by Bhargawa was sealed by health officials led by Haryana's Director General of Health Services N.K. Sharma and six other senior doctors.

The team raided Bhargawa's clinic after she conducted the test.

Haryana has one of the worst sex ratios in the country, at just around 800 females for 1,000 males.

There have been several instances in the districts of Sonepat, Karnal, Panipat, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Hisar of poor women from other states like Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Assam being sold to families from Haryana so that they could marry off their eligible sons.

On March 28, the first conviction in a case related to violation of the PNDT Act violation was made by a court in Palwal town of Faridabad district.

Anil Shabani, a doctor, and his pharmacist were sentenced to two years in prison for conducting an illegal sex-determination test.

In another case at Gurgaon, a doctor has been charged with conducting a sex determination test and prosecution proceedings are on.

Sharma said strict action would be taken against anyone indulging in such illegal acts.

Over 3,200 inspections were carried out at ultrasound clinics in the past year across Haryana, he said, adding that licences of 114 ultrasound centres had been cancelled or suspended for violation of the PNDT Act.

At least 23 cases are pending against doctors for conducting such tests.

Nicaraguan doctors continue strike for five months

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:20:37 PST

NHS Crisis Adding to Woes of Overseas Doctors in Britain

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:36:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Apart from changes in work rules that have adversely affected Indian doctors' employment prospects, a financial crisis has gripped several hospitals in Britain's National Health Service (NHS), leading to hundreds of job losses.

Almost every day, several hospitals announce job cuts to meet budget deficits. In recent weeks, the overall job losses in the NHS are said to be nearly 7,000 in 22 trusts and hospitals in different parts of the country.

The financial crunch further lessens the prospects of thousands of Indian doctors currently seeking employment in Britain. New work rules have compounded the situation for them as now they can no longer work as part of "permit free training", and need work permits.

Britain's health authorities are faced with higher numbers of local medical graduates and many more from the expanded European Union who have the right to work in Britain. The situation makes it difficult for non-EU nationals - such as Indian doctors - to secure employment in the NHS.

An association of doctors of Indian origin has scheduled a demonstration outside the Department of Health here April 21 to protest against the changes in work rules as applicable to Indian doctors.

Last week, York Hospitals NHS Trust decided to cut 200 jobs over the coming year as part of plans to save seven million pounds. Two days earlier the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust had announced that 720 jobs were to be axed as it tries to save 30 million pounds.

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire is cutting 1,000 jobs in the face of a 15.5 million pound debt, while Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is also losing 325 posts as part of plans to save more than 10 million pounds over the next year.

The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, is cutting about 480 jobs under plans to save 25 million pounds in the next year, and the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust said that it could be forced to cut 250 jobs to avoid going into debt.

To save costs, some hospitals - such as those in Staffordshire - have resorted to outsourcing medical secretarial work to India. A similar pilot scheme at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (RCH) has been opposed by the local staff.

As one of the cost-cutting schemes, hospital officials have proposed that consultants use a digital recorder to dictate notes that can be uploaded via the internet and sent to companies in India and elsewhere to be typed.

A spokesman for RCH said: "We are reviewing ways to address a backlog of work that cannot be met, at the moment, by staff at the trust. We are considering companies who provide similar services for other NHS organisations and throughout any pilots they will be monitored and assessed on their speed of turnaround, accuracy, reliability and cost issues. We will then evaluate the outcomes."

CBI Evidence Not Sufficient to Scrap AIPGE Exam - Supreme Court

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 23:05:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The government Monday sought permission from the Supreme Court to scrap the All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Test following allegations of students using unfair means, but the court said there was no material before it to allow this.

Rejecting the government's plea that a fresh examination be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a bench of judges K.G. Balkrishnan and P.P. Naolekar, granted time till April 13 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a thorough probe into allegations of unfair means adopted by students in all centres where the examination was held.

The bench told Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, who appeared for the government, that the materials supplied in respect of the investigation conducted in Chennai and the proposed investigation in Delhi were not sufficient to scrap the test held this year.

It asked Subramaniam to file a status report on the investigation by April 13 so that it could consider the application for holding a fresh entrance test.

The court was hearing a petition filed by 12 successful candidates who appeared in the test. They sought a direction to the government not to cancel the results.

Subramanian said the government wanted to cancel the examination in the larger public interest and to maintain the sanctity of one of the most prestigious examinations in view of a CBI report that 22 students at centres in Chennai had used ingenious methods for copying the question paper and answers were sent to students via SMS messages.

Appearing for the students, senior counsel Arun Jaitley said that merely because 22 of the 36,945 students had used unfair means, the examinations should not be cancelled.

Out of 4,188 students who passed the test, only 11.34 per cent had appeared in the centres at Chennai and of them, 10.25 per cent or 421 students had passed the test.

Jaitly asked: "Why should successful students be made to suffer for the unfair means adopted by 22 students? Let them investigate the matter in respect of other centres and if they find something extraordinary then the court can consider the question of scrapping the entire test.

"If it is a localised problem, it can be dealt with by taking appropriate action against the 22 students."

Successful candidates of Medical Dental Surgery (MDS) requested the court to let them get admission to institutes, as there was no allegation of malpractices in their examination that was held at centres different from those of postgraduate medical test.

Overview of CBI Raids in AIIMS Conducted PG Exam Leak Case

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:08:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com )

Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) Wednesday raided clinics and residences of several doctors at 35 places across the country for their alleged involvement in the leakage of medical examination question papers in All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination (AIPGMEE) conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for the year 2006. It claims to have cracked the case of question paper leak and other malpractices committed within two days of registering the case. The investigating agency which initially registered two cases in this connection on the basis of a complaint received from the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, today conducted searches at more than 30 places spread over the States of Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The searches and subsequent examination of the suspected doctors has revealed that two doctors of Pondicherry and one from Madurai were the kingpins of this scam and they had collected amounts of up to Rs. 10 lakh from each of the candidates.

The raids were carried out in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Chennai and cases against 22 doctors were registered in Chennai and 6 cases were registered in Delhi. Officials said initial investigation had suggested a possibility of a scam and therefore raids were carried out by the agency. They said some doctors who were questioned during the raids confessed to receiving Rs.1 million for leaking the question paper and helping students answer the questions. They said the doctors had helped the aspirants by sending them text messages on their mobile phones. Question papers were taken out of the examination halls and then answers were sent through SMSs.

According to the CBI, when results of the All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination (AIPGE) were declared, it was found that 424 aspirants, who cleared the exam for 1,006 seats, were from Chennai. The entrance exam was held in January this year. Officials said among the top 100 students, 37 were from the Tamil Nadu capital. Investigations were carried out after several aspirants complained about malpractices adopted by some students during the exam.

The modus-operandi of the racket was that the question papers from the examination hall were taken out and answers were provided by a group of people which were sent through SMS to the doctors appearing for the entrance test. CBI during investigation found evidence of money changing hands and receipts taken from doctors who had organised the entire operation. CBI found that the candidates had also arranged cell phones on the day of the examination for receiving the answer keys through SMS on the cell phones.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry was concerned about malpractices in such a prestigious examination had promptly handed over the case to CBI for investigation. During the preliminary enquiry by CBI, it was revealed that out of 1006 seats, 424 candidates had been selected from Chennai Centre alone and in the list of first 100 candidates, 37 candidates figured from Chennai Centre. The analysis of the answer sheets revealed that they had used unfair means to get selected. The enquiry concluded that there was a strong possibility of a large scale scam involving a number of doctors of Chennai and Tamil Nadu, who would have indulged in illegal acts in getting selected for this All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Test.

CBI registered the two cases on 27.3.2006 under different sections of IPC for cheating, forgery and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against 28 doctors who were suspected to have connived with unknown public servants for illegal means to pass the entrance test. Out of the two cases, one case was registered in Chennai against 22 doctors and unknown public servants and searches were conducted in Chennai, Erode, Madurai, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari, Salem, Villupuram, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Tuticorin and Pondicherry. The other case was registered in Delhi against six doctors (who were candidates in the entrance test) and unknown public servants and others. In this connection, searches were conducted in six places in Delhi.

CBI is going to further investigate into all aspects of the case and will try to bring the guilty persons to book at the earliest. More raids are expected.

It may be recalled that CBI had successfully investigated the AIPGMEE-2000 paper leak case and charge sheets have been filed against the accused. Besides, CBI has cracked the CAT-2004 paper leak case, Railway Recruitment paper leak case and recently the CET-2005 Delhi engineering entrance test paper leak case.

Facts that emerged today:

1. 35 places were raided in Chennai, Erode, Madurai, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari, Salem, Villupuram, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Tuticorin and Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi (Six Raids). These places included doctors residences and clinics.

2. Out of the three kingpins, two were from Pondicherry and One from Madurai. Each collected upto one million rupees per candidate for the leak.

3. Answer keys were sent to the candidates inside examination hall on SMS messages.

4. 424 people were selected from Chennai center amongst top 1006 cadidates (whooping 42%).

5. 37% candidates in top 100 were from Chennai center.

6. The answer sheets were analysed by CBI to establish use of unfair means. (good precedent for future)

7. 28 cases against involved candidates have been registered today under Prevention of Corruption act. Out of them 20 are registered in Chennai and 6 cases in Delhi.

British medicine scholarship open to Indians

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:39:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Medical practitioners living and working in India can now apply for six Commonwealth distance learning scholarships being offered for study at the Cardiff University in Wales.

Available in September 2006 to registered medical practitioners living and working in developing Commonwealth countries, the scholarships worth over 4,000 pounds will cover fees and living expenses to study all three phases of the Cardiff University's palliative medicine programme.

The closing date for the scholarship applications is mid-May.

Palliative care aims to deliver the best quality of life for patients with advanced and progressive illness.

The Commonwealth Scholarships Commission (CSC) "will provide support to students for the duration of their palliative medicine studies at Cardiff University", said an official statement Tuesday.

"The scholarships will enable more doctors in developing regions to benefit from our world-class teaching programme and to enhance the care delivered to their patients," it said.

Stephen Jones, learning resources manager in the School of Medicine's Department of Oncology and Palliative Medicine, said: "We are proud to be able to extend our world-class teaching programme to enhance the care delivered to patients by medical practitioners in India."

Doctor warned for refusing treatment

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:17:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A doctor of Indian origin who refused to treat a patient who turned up at his clinic because he was an asylum seeker in Britain has been warned by the General Medical Council (GMC) here.

Mahesh Chandra, the general practitioner, reportedly refused the man treatment because "he was not British and did not speak English", a GMC committee has been told.

Chandra, who studied medicine in India and has been practicing in Britain since 1971, received a second warning from the medical council last week, following a reprimand last year.

Chandra ran a clinic in Bolton, Lancashire, until his retirement in June 2003. The patient, identified as Mr X, had been staying across the road from the clinic, after arriving in Britain in June 2001 from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He spoke French, but his 11-year-old daughter was able to speak English, the GMC committee was told.

A witness reported that on that particular day, the asylum seeker was "practically collapsing" at the clinic.

Rebecca Harris, for the GMC, said: "Dr Chandra refused to see him from what he was saying he wouldn't treat someone who'd been dumped on him and wasn't a British citizen. Dr Chandra wasn't prepared to listen and refused his staff permission to call an ambulance.

"Asylum staff had to call for an ambulance, Mr X was taken to hospital and had to be kept in for two days."

Chandra was issued with a warning over the incident earlier this year, which he refused to accept.

Anthony Hopkins, representing Chandra, said: "Dr Chandra does not accept the allegations of Mr X and he does not have any recollection of the incident itself. Dr Chandra is not a doctor who practices by way of prejudice and discrimination."

The GMC hearing issued Chandra a further warning, saying his failings were a "significant departure" from standards.

Uttar Pradesh rural doctors angry over attendance

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:17:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Village heads in Uttar Pradesh are to monitor the attendance of doctors at rural health centres, but medics angry at the move have threatened to strike work unless the order is withdrawn.

The health secretary last week directed district chief medical officers to take the attendance of doctors at primary health centres and community health centres with the help of village chiefs or other local officials.

The decision follows the failure of the government to ensure proper treatment of the poor and needy in the health centres in villages and towns.

According to the order, the district chief medical officers would send weekly reports on the attendance of doctors, and these would be verified and ratified by the village heads and block development heads.

The doctors resent the move.

D.P. Misra, who heads the Provincial Medical Service Doctors Association, said: "We have conveyed our reservations against this order to the government and are not going to take it lying down.

"Getting a doctor's attendance verified by illiterate village heads or block development chiefs would be extremely humiliating."

He added: "If the order is not withdrawn within the next three days, government hospital doctors will proceed on a state-wide strike."

Major boost for salaried dentistry in UK

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:46:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Salaried dentists in UK will see their careers modernised and pay reviewed health minister Rosie Winterton announced today as she visited The Lister Centre in south London.

Meeting salaried dentists at the Centre, Rosie Winterton confirmed that consultation responses supported proposals for reviewing pay, terms and conditions to support career modernisation. Among the proposals now being taken forward are:

* designing career paths that acknowledge, develop and reward the crucial role of salaried primary care generalists
* supporting the development of Dentists with Special Interests through a clear framework of development and reward within the general career path
* recognising and remunerating primary care-based specialists and trainees in specialities recognised by the General Dental Council in the same way as their hospital-based counterparts

The consultation Creating the Future - Modernising careers for Salaried Dentists in Primary Carefollowed a review of salaried dentistry which involved the British Dental Association [BDA], patient representatives and NHS management, and it set out high-level proposals for change, set within the context of the overall reform programme for wider NHS dentistry.

NHS Employers will now undertake negotiations based upon the proposals set out in Creating the Future, with a view to new terms and conditions of service being introduced from April 2007. NHS Employers has been asked to work in partnership with the BDA to agree the new terms and conditions that will support the modernisation of careers, support high-quality patient care, and increase the amount invested in salaried dentists pay by up to 10%. These reforms will be designed to ensure appropriate appraisal and personal development planning, linked to General Dental Council requirements, become an integral part of the new arrangements for salaried dentistry.

Health minister Rosie Winterton said of the proposals for salaried dentists:

"The overwhelming support in the consultation for these reforms reflects the value these services provide, and the career benefit dentists feel from having the option of salaried employment. This is why it is so important we now push ahead with the modernisation of careers for salaried dentists in primary care.

"Salaried dentists have a long and important tradition as an essential part of the overall provision of dentistry in this country, looking particularly after the dental needs of children and other vulnerable groups, including those with special needs. In many places they also play a vital role in ensuring access to NHS primary dental care. It is important that, like their colleagues in other branches of medicine and dentistry, their roles and working conditions support the delivery of high quality clinical services for patients, and recruitment and retention of staff."

Acting Chief Dental Officer Barry Cockcroft added:

"These reforms will create a new pay scale for salaried primary care dentists which rewards competence, contribution and experience. The reforms will also ensure that specialists working in the salaried parimary dental care services will benefit from the same terms and conditions of service as their equivalents in the hospital dental services. This is great news for salaried dentists and supports the crucial service they perform."

After the Maharashtra resident doctors strike

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 20:31:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Doctors in Maharashtra hospitals called off their 12-day strike Saturday after the authorities conceded some of their demands related to their safety and working hours.

As word spread that the doctors were back at work, thousands of patients poured into the hospitals. Long queues were seen in the city's hospitals.

"It could not have come at a better time for me. My son's eye surgery was fixed for Sunday and we were wondering what would happen as his condition is very delicate," said Anant Kishnan, a corporate executive.

The decision to call off the strike came after the government promised to institute a four-man committee - including members of the Maharashra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) - to look into the issue of security for doctors and promised to check the feasibility of reducing their working hours.

MARD members said they would put in extra hours to clear the backlog of cases after assurances from the government that no action would be taken against them for going on strike.

The government agreed to increase their stipend to Rs.12,500 a month, less than the original demand of Rs.13,500.

No Compromise in Sight for Maharashtra Resident Doctors Strike

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:09:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) With neither the Maharashtra government nor doctors striking a note of compromise, the medicos strike entered its 10th day Wednesday, leaving thousands of needy patients in distress.

The Maharashtra doctors' strike, which began after relatives of a patient allegedly manhandled a physician at a city hospital late last month, could take on a nationwide character with the Indian Medical Association threatening to join the strike.

The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) Wednesday claimed that 43 organisations including the IMA, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd Employees' Union and Bombay Students' Association have pledged support to the strike.

"We will form a human chain in protest at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai today (Wednesday). We want to keep the protest totally peaceful," MARD joint secretary Bharat Jigiasi told IANS.

"They (government) have shown no interest at all. Forget about a compromise, they are not even bothered to listen to our woes," Jigiasi said.

Around 7,500 Maharashtra doctors have joined the strike, badly crippling the medical system in the state. The government is making do with a handful of employees.

Resident doctors on a peaceful candle march

The striking doctors want the implementation of the Central Parity Scheme espoused by the Medical Council of India that outlines certain tenets of the profession like the doctor-patient ratio, living and working conditions of the doctors and work hours.

The doctors are looking for a written agreement this time as they claim they have been given verbal promises several times in the past, all of them ending up as non-starters.

Citizens' Group Challenges Maharashtra Resident Doctors' Strike in Court

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 04:33:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A citizens' group Tuesday challenged the ongoing strike of Maharashtra doctors in the Bombay High Court even as the medicos' protest entered its ninth day.

The petition filed in the Nagpur Bench of the Mumbai High Court said that doctors in government medical colleges and hospitals had no right to go on strike.

The petition also demanded compensation for patients who have suffered due to unavailability of the striking doctors' services. The citizens' forum has also demanded that public money spent on the doctors' education be recovered.

Meanwhile, the government doctors showed no signs of returning to work Tuesday as their strike entered the ninth day and instead observed it as a "black day".

Refusing to accept any compromise other than the implementation of the Central Parity Scheme (CPS), which they claim was promised since 1989, the doctors protested by cladding themselves in black.

Over 2,500 doctors of 15 government-run hospitals have stayed away from work since Feb 27 demanding better security at work after relatives of a patient beat up a doctor.

"There can be no other compromise. The CPS has to be implemented. Why is the government not doing it despite its promises?" Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors joint secretary Bharat Jigiasi asked.

"This is despite the fact that the Supreme Court had in 1988 asked all state governments to implement CPS. In 1989 it had issued a show-cause notice to the Maharashtra government on its non-implementation," Jigiasi told IANS.

The CPS is a set of guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India in 1985 on issues like the doctor-patient ratio, duty hours, and living and working conditions of medicos.

According to Jigiasi, Maharashtra is one of the few states yet implement the CPS guidelines.

Doctors of municipal hospitals in other cities in Maharashtra like Pune, Aurangabad, Sholapur and Nagpur have also joined the strike in solidarity.

"We will be protesting tomorrow (Wednesday) at Azad Maidan (Mumbai) by forming a human chain," Jigiasi revealed.

The government has, so far, terminated the registration of 350 doctors for refusing to resume duty, Mumbai Additional Municipal Commissioner V.L. Patankar said.

The government invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) last Wednesday and asked doctors to return to work at the earliest or face deregistration of their licenses.

Hundreds of patients have been thronging government-run hospitals across the city of 18 million as authorities struggled to cope with emergency cases with the help of skeletal staff.

End of Permit Free Training for International Doctors in UK

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 04:14:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) All doctors wishing to work in the UK from outside the European Union (EU) will be required to have a work permit from July 2006 Health Minister Lord Warner announced today.

The move means that any NHS trust wishing to employ a doctor from outside the EU will have to prove that a home-grown doctor cannot fill the vacant post, ending the current permit free training arrangement for international doctors.

Health Minister Lord Warner said:

We now have more than 117,000 doctors working in the NHS, 27,400 more than in 1997 as well as record levels of doctors in training in UK medical schools.

This investment and expansion, coupled with the reform of medical education, is leading to increased competition for medical posts as vacancy rates fall.

Therefore, to ensure that we are only recruiting doctors to the UK where we have a genuine skills shortage NHS Trusts will be required to get a work permit for every doctor that they wish to employ from outside the EU.

In future International Medical Graduates who wish to work or train in the NHS will need a work permit. To obtain a work permit an employer must show that a genuine vacancy exists, which cannot be filled with a resident worker.

We recognise that international doctors have made a huge contribution to the NHS since it was founded in 1948 and there will still be opportunities for overseas staff to come to the UK. We will continue to need small numbers of specialist doctors, who can bring their skills and experience to the NHS. However, increasingly the NHS will be less reliant on international medical recruitment.

The changes will come into action shortly when the NHS will only be able to recruit internationally when they cannot fill a training post with a UK graduate.

The only exception will be to allow two years of permit-free training for non-European Union nationals who have trained in a UK medical schools so that they can acquire full registration with the GMC.

Numbers of doctors entering medical school in UK

Any doctor wishing to apply for postgraduate medical education training in the UK , whether at the Modernising Medical Careers foundation programme level or senior house officer stage, will be required to have a work permit.

Currently International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are able to undertake postgraduate medical education in the UK without needing a work permit.

Health Minister Lord Warner added:

The Department of Health will continue to work with the General Medical Council to ensure that IMGs who are interested in working or training in the UK understand exactly what type of job and training opportunities exist.

Maharashtra doctors observe black day

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:52:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Government doctors showed no signs of returning to work Tuesday as their strike entered the ninth day and instead observed it as a "black day".

Refusing to accept any compromise other than the implementation of the Central Parity Scheme (CPS), which they claim was promised since 1989, the doctors protested by cladding themselves in black.

Over 2,500 doctors of 15 government-run hospitals have stayed away from work since Feb 27 demanding better security at work after relatives of a patient beat up a doctor.

"There can be no other compromise. The CPS has to be implemented. Why is the government not doing it despite its promises?" Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors joint secretary Bharat Jigiasi asked.

"This is despite the fact that the Supreme Court had in 1988 asked all state governments to implement CPS. In 1989 it had issued a show cause notice to the Maharashtra government on its non implementation," Jigiasi told IANS.

The CPS is a guideline issued by the Medical Council of India in 1985 on issues like doctor-patient ratio, duty hours, and living and working conditions.

According to Jigiasi, Maharashtra is one of the few states yet implement the CPS guidelines.

Doctors of municipal hospitals in other cities in Maharashtra like Pune, Aurangabad, Sholapur and Nagpur have also joined the strike in solidarity.

"We will be protesting tomorrow (Wednesday) at Azad Maidan (Mumbai) by forming a human chain," Jigiasi revealed.

The government has, so far, terminated the registration of 350 doctors for refusing to resume duty, Mumbai Additional Municipal Commissioner V.L. Patankar said.

The government invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) Wednesday night and asked doctors to return to work at the earliest or face deregistration of their licenses.

Hundreds of patients have been thronging government-run hospitals across the city of 18 million as authorities struggled to cope with emergency cases with the help of skeletal staff.

Pairing chronically ill patients with medical students to create better doctors

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:16:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Can someone who suffers from a lethal genetic disease teach a pair of medical students to become better doctors? That's the goal of a unique, long-term patient-student pairing program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Doctors-in-training -- like Christopher Guerry, a second-year medical student at Penn -- are learning what it's like to live with cystic fibrosis (CF), and many other chronic health conditions. They're shadowing patients with chronic conditions such as HIV, asthma and kidney failure. The students are taking part in the "Longitudinal Experience to Appreciate Patient Perspectives (LEAPP)" -- a program at Penn's medical school - in which students are paired with chronically ill patients for several years.

"The goal of the program is to better understand what the patient must go through and to improve doctoring skills by learning from those experiences," explains Paul Lanken, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Division at Penn and Director of the LEAPP program. "We want to produce better doctors doctors who have a real compassion for what the patient is going through, including their daily struggles with a serious chronic condition."

Medical Student Paired With Patient Deb Becker Deb Becker has battled Cystic Fibrosis (CF) - a disease characterized by thick mucus in the lungs that affects breathing and digestion -- more than half of her life. The 50-year-old grandmother first noticed the symptoms of CF at 16 and was diagnosed with it at age 25. Becker eventually lost her oldest sister, who also suffered from the disease. And throughout Becker's life, as a single parent, she has been in and out of the hospital often. But she persevered, "You put one foot in front of the other and do what you need to do."

On oxygen round the clock, Becker, a Shiloh, New Jersey resident, has limited mobility. Cystic fibrosis affects my lungs," she says. "The weather and allergies make it hard to breathe. I cough. But I still try to get out and about; I try to leave the house everyday at least to go grocery shopping."

"Medical students can learn from me," Becker comments. "When it comes to medical treatment, I don't trust anybody. I question a lot. I want to know why someone's doing something. I want the young doctors to learn to respect the patient as a thinking person and make time for them."

Medical student Christopher Guerry will follow Becker's progress over the next three years. "This long-term experience can give us an appreciation of being able to have a more in-depth relationship with a patient, similar to the way physicians used to work within communities, when they had a real and lasting relationship with their patients," said Guerry.

Guerry's first visit with Becker lasted two hours. He learned about CF and the difficult aspects of the disease Becker has had to live with and overcome. "Mrs. Becker is wonderfully open and there is so much we can learn from her personality and strength. The burden of managing such an illness daily is incredible. I am struck by her optimism and humor and love of her family."

Student/Patient Pairing Leads to Patient Advocacy and Better Doctors David Lipson, MD, Director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis program at Penn and who is also involved in the LEAPP program, notes, "We are bringing the patient into the classroom, so to speak. It's one thing to read about a disease; it's another to interact with a patient and see how the disease affects them physically, socially, financially, and coping in general."

Douglas Holsclaw, MD, Senior Staff Physician with the Adult Cystic Fibrosis program at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, who diagnosed Becker and has been her doctor for the last 25 years, says, "The medical students in this program get a learning experience here at Penn -- with all the resources we have and the depth of knowledge of our physicians -- that they may not get elsewhere. They get to see firsthand the doctor-patient relationship truly evolve, during which the doctor is able to continually comfort a patient, and say to them 'you remember how you made it through that surgery in the past, you were fine, you bounced back, and you'll be fine this time too.'"

Medical students in the LEAPP program are expected to meet the patient they are paired with in person, and then follow-up with them by phone or face-to-face at least every month over a three-year period. Students are also encouraged to visit their patients when they are hospitalized, during other doctor visits, and during outpatient testing. One in-home visit is required. Also, students must complete written assignments, which focus on the biopsychosocial aspects of their patient's illness.

In the first year of this experience, students primarily work to form a relationship with the patient and family. In the second and third years, students are expected to have the sufficient skills and knowledge to serve as 'health coaches' for their patients, under the supervision of the patient's physician.

"We want the students to learn how a patient with a chronic health condition lives and works how it affects not only their physical well-being but also their emotional and spiritual well-being, too," explains LEAPP Director Lanken. "We want them to understand this from the patient's point of view, not the doctor's. We want them to view their future patients first of all as persons, and learn what it's like for them to live with their particular condition and how it affects their family. Bottom line in the long run, this will teach our Penn medical students how to be better doctors."

More resident doctors suspended in Maharshtra strike

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:56:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The Maharashtra government terminated the registration of 200 more striking doctors as their protest continued for the seventh day Sunday, crippling healthcare services.

The decision late Saturday night takes to over 350 the number of doctors terminated from service.

Over 2,500 doctors from 15 government-managed hospitals have stayed away from work since Feb 27 demanding better security while on the job after relatives of a patient beat up a doctor.

The doctors are also demanding an increase in stipend and improvement in working conditions.

Doctors of select municipal hospitals from several other cities in Maharashtra like Pune, Aurangabad, Sholapur and Nagpur have also joined the strike in solidarity.

The confrontation between the authorities and the doctors is not showing any sign of abating. The doctors have vowed to continue with the strike even in the face of termination of registration.

"The highhanded attitude of the government has strengthened our resolve to continue the strike," said a spokesman of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) that is spearheading the strike.

"The authorities must understand that termination of services of even all doctors of government-run hospitals will not solve the problems we are fighting against," he added.

"Our demands are very valid and that is why we are getting support from not only doctors in other cities but also from outside the state. We are also planning to take legal help against the termination orders."

An official said tough action would be initiated against others for failing to respond to the government's ultimatum to return to work.

The government invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) Wednesday night and asked doctors to return to work at the earliest or face deregistration of their licenses.

Meanwhile, hundred of patients continued to throng government-run hospitals across Mumbai as authorities struggled to cope with the emergency cases with the help of skeletal staff.

Scores of patients were seen lying in the corridors of various hospitals.

Maharashtra resident doctors vow to intensify strike

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:50:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Striking doctors of Maharashtra's government-run hospitals Monday vowed to intensify their eight-day-old stir as authorities struggled to cope with the crumbling healthcare services in the state.

The doctors said they would appeal to their colleagues across the country to join them in their fight against low stipend and pathetic living and working conditions in hospitals.

The agitating doctors from 15 municipal hospitals in Mumbai and over half a dozen other cities in Maharashtra are also contemplating a legal battle with the state government for terminating their registrations.

Over 2,500 doctors from 15 government-managed hospitals have stayed away from work since Feb 27 demanding better security while on the job after relatives of a patient beat up a doctor.

Doctors of select municipal hospitals from several other cities in Maharashtra like Pune, Aurangabad, Sholapur and Nagpur have also joined the strike in solidarity.

"We have decided to intensify our agitation as the government is not showing willingness to resolve our problems," said an official of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) that is spearheading the strike.

"The authorities cannot force us to report back to work by adopting high-handed measures like cancelling registration of doctors and throwing them out of their hostels," he added.

The government has, so far, terminated the registration of 350 doctors for refusing to resume duty for defying state's ultimatum, said V.L. Patankar, additional municipal commissioner.

The government invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) Wednesday night and asked doctors to return to work at the earliest or face deregistration of their licenses.

Meanwhile, hundreds of patients continued to throng government-run hospitals across Mumbai as authorities struggled to cope with the emergency cases with the help of skeletal staff.

Scores of patients were seen lying in the corridors of various hospitals. They complained that hospitals were admitting only emergency cases while a large number of others were being turned away.

Patankar said the government had decided to take emergency measures like deploying doctors from private nursing homes and rural areas in the municipal hospitals in Mumbai to normalise the situation.

Agra doctor's achievement - 85 operations in 24 hours

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:51:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A surgeon's deft fingers have helped him achieve a unique feat - 85 operations in a day, that too without a break.

Ajay Prakash started the marathon feat Thursday afternoon at a hospital here, using a minimally invasive surgical technique described by him as "uncomplicated, efficient and time-saving".

Assisted by his gynaecologist wife Divya, Prakash, an abdominal surgeon, performed free of cost 76 gall bladder and nine appendix operations in a 24-hour span, finishing Friday afternoon.

"I wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness and affordability of the single-hole technique which I have perfected over the years," Prakash told IANS.

Unlike routine surgery that involves cutting open the area to be operated, the single-hole technique entails only a small incision for the operation.

Asked why he was keen on a record, Prakash said: "This helps me to remain focused and upgrade my skills constantly. My only reward is the satisfaction and relief I see on my patients' faces. And god willing, next year I should be able to score a century."

Unlike the high-cost equipment used for conventional surgery, the single-hole technique requires only simple equipment that costs just Rs.10,000. "My operations are less traumatic for the patients and dependence on equipment is minimal," he said.

In 2004, Prakash had performed 60 operations in a single shift and the next year he managed to carry out 75 surgeries.

The husband-wife team, assisted by their son and daughter-in-law, has already carried out more than 16,000 operations in Agra, Jaipur and Delhi.

Two years ago, the husband-wife team was invited by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Rashtrapati Bhavan to give a presentation about the surgical technique.

Lord Patel is next chancellor of University of Dundee

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:58:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Lord Naren Patel, a celebrated obstetrics expert here who had his initial education in India, has been named the next chancellor of the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Lord Patel, 68, who has had a distinguished career holding several prestigious appointments in the British education and health sectors, succeeds Sir James Black in the prestigious post.

Lord Patel is currently honorary professor at the university, and will be installed as chancellor at the end of May in time to preside over the student graduation ceremonies in June and July.

Born in Tanzania, he was educated in India, Tanzania and London. He graduated from St Andrews University in 1964 and continued to work in Scotland, including more than 30 years at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School in Dundee, where he became known for his research on premature babies and foetal problems.

He is currently chairman of the British stem cell oversight committee and the patron of several charities.

Speaking about his appointment, Lord Patel said: "There can be no greater award than to be asked to be chancellor of this university in which I have worked for most of my life. I feel honoured and privileged."

Chairman of university Court John Milligan said: "The University Chancellor embodies the mission of the university '...to advance and diffuse knowledge, wisdom and understanding by teaching and research and by the example and influence of its corporate life'.

"We are honoured and delighted to have Lord Patel accept this role for the University of Dundee. Lord Patel's quiet and relentless dedication to health improvements, both in this country and in the poorer countries of the world, is an inspiration.

"And his knowledge of the university - as one who has been closely associated with its work throughout his professional life - makes him an ideal Chancellor."

Lord Patel's key contribution is in the field of medicine where his obstetrics work is of international standing. He is currently retired and sits in the House of Lords having received a knighthood in 1997 and elevation to the Peerage in 1999.

In the House of Lords, he has been a member of the Science and Technology Committee for seven years. He is currently chairman of the National Patient Safety Agency of England and Wales. He is also a member of the Board of the Armed Forces Pay Review.

His academic and clinical interests are in the field of high-risk obstetrics. He has published widely on pre-term labour, foetal growth retardation and obstetric epidemiology.

The gap between basic biology and medical practice is growing

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:26:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The UC Davis School of Medicine is among 13 innovative graduate programs in the nation to receive funds from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to foster the translation of basic science discoveries into new medical treatments. The goal of the $10 million national initiative is to train scientists with a better understanding of medicine so they are better equipped to conduct research that benefits the diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

"The gap between basic biology and medical practice is growing," said Ann Bonham, executive associate dean for research and education at the School of Medicine and principal investigator of the grant. "As knowledge in molecular genetics and cell biology accelerates, the biomedical community is finding it increasingly hard to harness the explosion of new information and translate it into medical practice. Grants that support the training of scientists who know the process and language of medicine are crucial to bridging the information gap and finding innovative solutions to human health problems."

The $700,000 grant complements a strong translational research focus already under way at UC Davis School of Medicine and specifically supports expanded training for eight postdoctoral students who will enroll in a new, one-year curriculum beginning in the summer of 2006. Known as the Integrating Medicine into Basic Science scholars program, the new training builds on basic Ph.D. training through an array of clinical experiences and rotations, new courses, and a variety of small-group, interdisciplinary, active learning experiences with medical students, basic scientists and physician-educators.

"We've organized our postdoctoral and faculty scholars into Clinical Medicine-Basic Science Learning Groups to offer a comprehensive, hands on training experience in the area of vascular disease," said Bonham. "We've also established a dynamic, new summer institute that enables postdoctoral students to learn the fundamentals of clinical medicine using some of the most engaging components of our medical school curriculum."

Through the school's innovative Doctoring Course, for example, postdoctoral students work side-by-side with medical students, assessing realistic patient cases and actively exploring the dynamics of patient communication, clinical problem solving, and the application of psychosocial, cultural, bioethical and basic science concepts. Similarly, a new course on Medical Anatomy, Physiology and Pathophysiology enhances the study of the human body and its disease states with hands-on training with patient simulators at the UC Davis Center for Virtual Care.

Other program components include: rotations in clinical settings to expose scholars to the medical challenges; participation in clinical trial studies at the General Clinical Research Center and the Clinical/Translational Research Investigator Services Program; and new seminars and workshops that emphasize interactions with legislators, state officials, community advocates, medically underserved groups and other stakeholders.

The first class of postdoctoral students will focus on cutting-edge research in vascular biology, a key area of excellence at UC Davis that encompasses heart and vascular diseases, stroke and related areas of metabolic syndrome, nutrition and obesity. There are plans to later increase enrollment to 10 students per year and expand the areas of study to include cancer, neurological disease, infectious disease and other primary areas of research.

"Our goal is to create a ground-breaking translational research program that embraces cross-disciplinary teamwork to make bold new changes in how we train our basic scientist students so they can discover answers to medical challenges," said Bonham. "We are training the next generation of scientist scholars who will become the leaders of tomorrow. We want to prepare them to collaborate with their clinical colleagues and work as a team to transform basic research discoveries into high-impact clinical applications."

Indian-born radiologist Diddy shines in Germany

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:33:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) It's been a long haul from a medical college here to Essen, but Rajeev Diddy has made a seamless transition, becoming the only Indian-born radiologist licensed to privately practise in the German city - and picking up four MD certifications in his specialty along the way.

He sees up to 100 patients a day from 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then writes up the reports, a task that takes another two to three hours. Saturday's and Sundays are holidays, but "managerial issues invariably arise" as the practice is linked to the home in real time.

"If you want to keep your nose in front, if you want to compete with the best, you have to be on the cutting edge," Diddy, 54, who was here on a private visit, said modestly of his $5 million practice.

What makes his achievement all the more creditable is the fact it has happened in a "non-immigration country" that permits expatriate doctors but licenses very few to practise privately.

"I'm the only Indian doctor with a one-man show in Essen. I am not too sure about the rest of Germany or Europe, but there can't be many more," said Diddy, who was born in Batala in Punjab and had his schooling in Delhi.

"In a way, Germany happened quite by accident. After my MBBS (from Maulana Azad Medical College), I had just obtained by MD in radiology (from Delhi University) when I visited my father, who was posted in the Indian embassy in Bonn.

"I liked what I saw and was lucky enough to get a job as an assistant doctor at the Essen University Medical College," Diddy added.

That was in 1978. Two things happened in 1981: he shifted to the prestigious Marion Hospital in Essen as an associate professor and also met a girl named Monika, whom he was to marry later in the year.

"That was also when I started thinking about breaking out on my own or taking a shot at becoming chief of a hospital. I decided on private practice," said Diddy.

But he had to first get a German MD in radiology, which he obtained in 1986. He was given permission to set up private practice the next year.

"In the early 1990s, the German authorities separated radiology into diagnostics and therapy so I obtained two more MDs. Then, in the mid-1990s, with the number of tests increasing, I had to appear before a board to be re-certified," Diddy said.

He counts 1984 as another landmark year.

"I had to decide: Shall I keep my passport or become a German citizen? There were sentiments involved, but since I had decided I would one day go on my own, I realised I would be on a battleground where I would have to compete with the locals.

"Then, there are the local laws; you never know when they may come in the way. So I decided to apply for citizenship," he added.

"My wife stood by me like a rock in the rough ocean of mankind. The base was made but I had to brush my knowledge day by day to stay in the race," Diddy said.

The Diddys have two sons. Benjamin, 22, is studying to become a doctor while Nicholas, 18, is in high school and keen on a career in IT.

Nicholas, in fact, controls the completely wired Diddy residence.

"If we have a problem, we have to hope he has the time to fix it," Diddy said with a laugh.

South Africa to recruit nursing staff from India

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 02:52:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A leading South African private hospital group is planning to recruit nurses from India to alleviate the huge shortage of such staff in the country.

Estelle Jordaan, director of nursing at Medi-Clinic, told the Afrikaans daily Beeld here that a team from the private hospital group would be leaving for India next week to start a selection process for 60 clinical nurses.

These nurses are destined for a pilot project in the Western Cape Province, where the shortage of staff is most acute.

"We will conduct interviews and also have clinical tests conducted, but they will also have to assume a mentorship role by training local staff," Jordaan said.

Medi-Clinic had decided to look towards as a source in August last year after a nursing conference again highlighted the critical shortage of staff.

After a Medi-Clinic team studied the quality of training, work and knowledge in Singapore, the Philippines and India, the latter emerged as the best country to launch the plan.

"The nursing staff in India has unbelievable capabilities," Jordaan said, adding that the greatest problem area in South Africa was in the specialty areas of intensive care nursing and theatre staff.

In recent years, poor remuneration has resulted in mass exodus of skilled and experienced nursing staff, especially to Europe and in particular to Britain. One local group, Netcare, is considering an incentive campaign to lure back South Africa nursing staff now working in Britain.

India is testing centre for NCLEX exam for nurses going to US

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:37:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) After two years of lobbying by the Kerala government, India has finally been cleared as a testing centre for nurses going to the US.

The US-based National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is likely to zero in on Kerala to hold the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for registered nurses as the state government has been vigorously presenting India's case.

NCSBN is a not-for-profit organisation, whose membership comprises the boards of nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five US territories -- American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

George Abraham, president of the Houston unit of the Non-Resident Keralite Affairs Department (Norka), said NCSBN had announced last week a list of new countries where the nursing test would now be held.

"The new testing sites will be located in Australia, India, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Germany and Taiwan. In India, it is certain that Kerala will be the testing centre," Abraham, who has been lobbying India's case, told IANS.

Outside the US, the NCLEX examinations are currently held only in London, Seoul and Hong Kong. The testing centre is likely to be located in the offices of the Root-Norka, which looks after the welfare of non-resident Keralites.

"The department is getting ready for the visit of the NCSBN team," Abraham said.

The move is expected to be a great boon for nurses going to the US and Canada.

Consortium leads the way on GP career development

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:34:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The Royal College of General Practitioners has awarded the contract for the running of its prestigious Leadership Programme to a three-strong consortium.

The Consortium comprises:
Peninsula Medical School Postgraduate Health Institute;
University of Exeter Centre for Leadership Studies; and
OD Partnership Network (a network of international and UK health service organisations)

The awarding of the contract follows a keenly contested process, involving 15 high quality bids. Six of the 15 were shortlisted for interview by a panel including
RCGP Honorary Secretary of Council, Maureen Baker; Vice-Chair of Council, Professor Nigel Sparrow, and Dr Helena McKeown, a past delegate of the leadership programme.

Enrolment will start in late Spring 2006 and the programme will combine e-learning, residential weekends and tutorials. It will be overseen by a panel of renowned experts in leadership and primary care.

Professor Steve Field, Chair of the RCGP Education Network, said: The Consortium is to be congratulated on its excellent bid, particularly as it came through in the face of such high quality opposition.

It will offer an intellectually challenging programme which is rooted in an exciting vision of the future role of GPs and their potential for leadership in the health service.

British cosmetic surgeons becoming millionaires by breast enlargement operations

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:22:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The high demand in Britain for operations to enlarge women's breasts has turned cosmetic surgeons here into millionaires, latest figures from the industry reveal.

Breast enlargement topped the list of cosmetic operations performed in 2005 and the overall demand for cosmetic operations was up by one-third, according to figures published by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).

Breast operations were up by more than 50 percent, to 5,655 operations.

Each breast enlargement operation costs about 4,000 pounds. Operations to reduce breasts numbered 2,700 while anti-ageing operations such as eyelid surgery and brow lifts increased between a third-and-a-half.

The association revealed that women were not the only ones going in for cosmetic surgery - operations sought by men accounted for 2,440, or 11 percent of the total performed. The most popular operation on men is rhinoplasty - the procedure to have an aesthetically pleasing nose.

According to The Independent, more than 100,000 cosmetic procedures are carried out in Britain each year, including treatments such as botox for wrinkles and laser peels to rejuvenate skin, performed by doctors who have had no specialist training in cosmetic surgery.

The growth has been fuelled by television programmes such as "Nip and Tuck" and magazine promotions that have extolled the benefits of the surgical makeover. The trend has been welcomed by some surgeons but alarmed others.

Said Douglas McGeorge, the president-elect of BAAPS: "When performed under the right circumstances, aesthetic surgery can have a very positive psychological impact and improve a patient's quality of life."

Adrian Searle, the current president of the association, warned: "With the increasing media coverage that provides the public with ever more information on what surgical procedures might achieve, it is essential our members promote responsible practices."

Searle said: "The trivialisation of medical procedures is appalling. It seems to have come down to the level of loyalty cards, money-off vouchers, competition prizes and even a raffle prize of a procedure of your choice.

"This belittling of the seriousness of undertaking a medical procedure degrades not only our specialty but also the medical profession as a whole."

GP Registrars receive awards for their audit work

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:14:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Eleven GP Registrars are to receive awards, sponsored by Roche Products, for audit work undertaken during their vocational training at an awards evening at the Royal College of General Practitioners on 12 December 2005.

The awards are in two different categories: top winners who win £1,000 each and a bound copy of their winning application, and others who will receive £400.

This years top awards are being presented to Dr Tahir Mohammed, for his work on patients with impaired fasting glycaemia; Dr Kiran Raza for her work on discussing immunisation in patients with absent or dysfunctional spleen; and Dr Saw Ye Tun Aung for his work on monitoring plasma glucose and HbA1C in patients on olanzapine.

Other winners include Dr Shah Ali for his work on controlled drug registers and Dr Mark Taubert for his work on communication with patients terminally ill with cancer. (Full details are given in Notes to Editors).

The awards are presented each year to encourage GP Registrars to undertake original audit work during their vocational training and to plan, execute and present the results of that work in a scientific manner.

Dr Roger Neighbour, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners and host of the awards evening, said: As Registrars time in practice gets ever more pressurised, its important for them to stay curious and critical about their clinical performance. These awards encourage them to get into the audit habit at the start of their careers. By their generous sponsorship, Roche are helping to improve patient care in a wide range of contexts.

Top winners:

Tahir Mohammed 'All Patients with impaired fasting glycaemia should have a glucose tolerance test'

Kairan Raza 'Discussion on Immunisation in patients with absent or dysfunctional spleen'

Saw Ye Tun Aung 'Monitoring plasma glucose and HbA1C in patients on olanzapine'

GP Registrars receiving £400 each:

Shah Ali 'An Audit of Controlled Drug Registers and Procedures'

Vikram Dave 'Clopidogrel Audit: Do patients have justified clinical indication and duration of use in their medical record?'

Anuya Deshpande 'Pneumococcal Vaccinations in patients with Diabetes Mellitus'

Kate Frankland 'Do all patients with Depression have their alcohol use recorded?'

Madhu Tamilarasan 'The Documentation of Pre-booked Telephone Consultation: A completed audit cycle'

Mark Taubert 'Caring for Patients terminally ill with Cancer in our Practice. Is Communication good enough?'

Mahibur Rahman 'Health Challenge Quiz developing an interactive health promotion tool'

Rehan Rahmatulla 'Management of Abnormal Plasma Glucose'

GP bodies seek urgent talks on PMETB delays

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 21:23:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Grave concerns about proposed lengthy procedures for the awarding of completion of training certificates (CCTs) to GP Registrars are voiced in a joint letter to the PMETB (Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board) from the BMAs General Practitioners Committee (GPC) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

Under the old system, the JCPTGP (Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice) took a maximum of 10 working days to award a CCT. Under the new body, PMETB, which started work this month, it may take up to six to eight weeks. The CCT is essential before a doctor can take up work in NHS general practice. This is unlike the situation for hospital doctors where registrars can continue to work for up to six months while waiting for their CCT.

Joint signatories Dr Hamish Meldrum (GPC Chairman) and Dr Mayur Lakhani, RCGP Chairman warn that the current situation will have a detrimental impact on GP recruitment. In their letter to PMETB they conclude: We would like to work with you to resolve this as a matter of extreme urgency.

Hurricane Katrina affected 20,000 doctors

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 06:53:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Hurricane Katrina and the city-swamping floods that drowned New Orleans and surrounding areas in a toxic gumbo appear to have dislocated up to 5,944 active, patient-care physicians, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows. "The nearly 6,000 is the approximate number of physicians doing primarily patient care in the 10 counties and parishes in Louisiana and Mississippi that have been directly affected by Katrina flooding," said UNCs Dr. Thomas C. Ricketts. The number displaced also was more than one-quarter of the total number of new physicians who start practice in the United States each year, said Ricketts, deputy director for policy analysis at UNCs Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and professor of health policy and administration at the School of Public Health.

"A large proportion of the practicing physicians in the area were also in training in residency programs," he said. "In the immediate three-parish New Orleans area, more than 1,270 residents physicians were training at the time Katrina struck."

Ricketts, who also directs the Southeast Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies, led the analysis of data drawn from the March, 2005 American Medical Association Masterfile of Physicians and FEMA-posted information. He also used data from the American Association of Medical Colleges, Tulane and Louisiana State universities medical schools, the Texas Board of Medicine and the state of Louisiana.

Of the physicians in the Katrina flood-affected areas, which included six Louisiana and four Mississippi counties or parishes, the majority, 2,952, were specialists with 1,292 in primary care and 272 in obstetrics and gynecology, the researcher found.

The two New Orleans medical schools at Tulane and LSU enrolled about 1,300 medical students in all years in 2004, and those students have been moved to other programs in the region, primarily to Baton Rouge and to east Texas, Ricketts said. Various agencies and organizations coordinated their relocation, including the AAMC, state and regional Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) programs in Texas and Louisiana and the Liaison Committee on Graduate Medical Education.

Another 2,052 physicians in 16 Louisian parishes FEMA identified as being severely affected (Level 1 Disaster Declaration). That included 144 residents in training as well as 1,032 specialists, 724 primary care physicians and 140 obstetrician-gynecologists. Doctors involved primarily in administration, research or education were excluded from the total but not those working for the federal government.

Ricketts said one possibly positive result of the disasters could be greater support for electronic medical records. Also, some health-care officials may see the opportunity to reorganize and restructure their efforts. Some physicians will decide to retire instead of re-opening their practices.

"Likely a very substantial number of physicians will permanently move away from the area. This is both an opportunity for places that need physicians as well as a dire problem for the population that will remain."

The results reveal a very big problem for restructuring health-care services since it is difficult to shift or allocate a few physicians much less thousands.

3000 junior doctors in the UK could have been unemployed

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 20:22:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The BMA calls on the Department of Health in England to address medical unemployment today (Tuesday 20 September 2005), as new research suggests that the number of junior doctors unable to find posts last month may have been underestimated.

In the absence of central figures on the numbers of doctors out of post, the BMA set out to get a clearer idea of the scale of the problem. In August, it sent questionnaires to a random sample of 2356 junior doctors in the UK. Of the 675 who responded, almost one in ten (65) had been unable to find work as a doctor in the UK. If the same proportion applies to the total numbers of doctors in these grades, as many as 3000 junior doctors in the UK could have been affected.

Other evidence has shown that the problem is most acute in England and Wales, and has not been a major issue in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Many doctors have already begun applying for posts in Australia and New Zealand. The survey shows that around a third (35%) of the survey respondents who had not found a post were no longer looking for work in the NHS, equating to a loss of around 900 doctors if the pattern applies across England and Wales.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Jo Hilborne, chair-elect of the BMAs Junior Doctors Committee, said: We know theres a problem, and were keen to work with the government to help deal with it. These are people who are desperate to work for the NHS, and have spent years of their lives in training at a huge cost to the taxpayer. Patients healthcare needs are growing, the country is still short of doctors, and we should be doing everything we can to prevent their skills from being wasted. Many doctors are on short-term contracts that expire in February, and unless something is done very quickly, were going to have the same problems all over again.

The BMA believes that the intense competition for training posts has been the result of an increase in numbers of doctors graduating from medical school and a rise in the number of overseas doctors hoping to train in the UK. In addition, it believes that reforms to the medical training structure may have resulted in some long-term posts being phased out.

It is calling for improved workforce planning and the introduction of a system where overseas doctors do not come to the UK until they have at least a provisional offer of a training post. It has also written to the Health Secretary calling for an expansion of numbers of doctors in specialist training, and an increase in funding to accredit more posts for training.

GMC Plans New Rules on Doctors Licences

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:25:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The GMC Council at its next meeting in Edinburgh on September 20 is deciding whether to change the basis on which a doctors license to practise is approved in order to include the requirement to provide information which will support a more risk-based approach to regulation.

This approach is based on the principle that doctors who may be more at risk should be subject to a higher degree of scrutiny by the GMC compared with others, to whom a lighter touch will apply. In the first instance, the focus will be on doctors working outside a GMC approved environment who do not have an employer at all, or who are employed but their employer does not have systems in place capable of providing assurance to the GMC about their fitness to practise.

The GMC would require all doctors to provide information describing their practice, which may include for example details about the scope of their work, the name of their employers if any and whether they practise within their specialty or outside it. An initial information gathering exercise would require all the UKs practising doctors (around 120,000) to provide these details as a condition of being given a licence to practice.

Where doctors are not working within an approved environment patient and colleague questionnaires will be used to flag any concerns about fitness to practise. A pilot research project from Leeds University has suggested that these questionnaires are a potentially valid, reliable and practical means of gathering evidence. A further commission of joint research from CEFP and Peninsula Medical School is developing this work and the signs are very encouraging in terms of the validity and reliability of using questionnaires in this way.

Alongside this work, the York Health Economics Consortium has been commissioned to provide research which, among other things, explores whether it is possible to establish early indicators of serious impairment of fitness to practise.

President of the GMC, Professor Sir Graeme Catto, said:

The GMC knows that the majority of doctors perform well in difficult circumstances and we are determined to concentrate enforcement resources on the small minority who present a threat to patient safety. Once we are able to establish where the genuine risk lies, these doctors will be subject to greater scrutiny while others will receive a lighter regulatory touch. We expect to work closely with employing authorities so we can provide them with any relevant research or information which helps them spot the warning signals and intervene before a failure in medical care, rather than afterwards.

Chief Executive of the GMC, Finlay Scott, said:

Changing the way we manage the licensing of doctors by gathering information about their practice will be a huge step forward in terms of enabling the GMC to analyse the activities of the medical workforce accurately. It will provide the foundation for research which should show us where the most risk to patients lies. This will help us simultaneously to improve safety and, working in a more joined up way with the NHS, to lessen the regulatory burden on those doctors who provide no cause for concern.

Patients Have Confidence in Doctors Who Communicate Well

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:20:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Results from attitude surveys commissioned by the GMC from MORI and NOP World during spring/summer 2005 show that over four out of five patients are confident in their doctor and that this confidence is directly correlated with the doctors ability to provide adequate information, underlining how much good communication skills influence the way in which the general public responds to their doctor.

996 members of the public, 203 GPs and 100 hospital doctors were interviewed in May and June and a range of questions relating to the doctor patient relationship, confidence in the regulatory systems and complaint procedures were put to them.

For the 7 per cent expressing a lack of confidence in their doctor, this mainly reflected their sense of the doctors poor listening and explaining skills. Doctors themselves believe that good communication skills are central to gaining patients trust with at least three-quarters of both GPs and hospital doctors agreeing that these are key.

When asked whether they would make a complaint if they had cause to, over four out of five members of the public said they would. For those who wouldnt, almost 3 in 10 would be put off by the bureaucracy, a quarter wouldnt know how to and around one in five believes they wouldnt be listened to, or wouldnt want to make a fuss.

In line with GMC concerns about improving the links between local systems of governance and national regulation, over a third of GPs and 3 in 10 hospital doctors expressed a lack of confidence in regulation, provided through the way in which local governance and appraisal systems are linked to the GMC. These concerns are also demonstrated by the fact that although around half of GPs said they were happy with clinical governance information being used as the basis for revalidation of their registration with the GMC, approaching one in five said they lacked confidence in it and almost three in ten were unable to say either way.

Over half of the public expressed confidence in the regulatory system and almost all (94 per cent) said there should be regular checks to make sure that doctors are up to date with their knowledge and skills required to do their job.

President of the GMC, Professor Sir Graeme Catto, said:

This pilot survey has given the GMC some extremely useful insights into how the public and the profession regard doctors and how they are regulated. It is clear that the public continue to hold doctors in high regard but only as long as those doctors are able to communicate well. Patients expect to be treated with respect and given proper information about any proposed treatment. When doctors are able to listen and explain, patients respond by trusting their advice.

It is also undeniable that there are concerns being expressed within the profession about how effectively local clinical governance and national regulation work together. This mirrors the GMCs own assessment and will help to inform our future activity. We expect to make this an annual tracking survey in order to measure how far improvements in our own and other regulators policies have impacted on the publics confidence in the profession and its regulation.

Sociocultural differences influences patient-physician communication

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 01:37:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Many resident physicians report a lack of preparedness in caring for patients with specific cultural characteristics, such as those who have beliefs or practices at odds with Western medicine, according to an article in the September 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical education.

Sociocultural differences between patients and physicians influence communication and clinical decision making, and there is evidence that patient-physician communication is directly linked to patient satisfaction, adherence, and overall quality of care, according to background information in the article. Unexplored or misunderstood sociocultural differences between patients and physicians can lead to patient dissatisfaction, poor adherence to treatment, and poor health outcomes. In an effort to provide health care professionals with the knowledge and skills to effectively care for diverse populations, an educational movement in "cross-cultural care" has emerged. Little has been known about residents' educational experience in this area.

Joel S. Weissman, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues conducted a study to assess the self-perceived preparedness of resident physicians to provide quality care to diverse patient populations and to determine whether they reported receiving formal training and evaluation in cross-cultural care during their residency. To accomplish this, surveys were mailed in 2003 to approximately 3,500 residents in 7 specialties in their final year of training at major U.S. teaching hospitals.

Responses were obtained from 60 percent (2,047) of the sample. Virtually all (96 percent) of the residents indicated that it was moderately or very important to address cultural issues when providing care. The number of respondents who indicated that they believed they were not prepared to care for diverse cultures in a general sense was only 8 percent. However, a larger percentage of respondents believed they were not prepared to provide specific components of cross-cultural care, including caring for patients with health beliefs at odds with Western medicine (25 percent), new immigrants (25 percent), and patients whose religious beliefs affect treatment (20 percent). In addition, 24 percent indicated that they lacked the skills to identify relevant cultural customs that impact medical care. In contrast, only a small percentage of respondents (1 percent-2 percent) indicated that they were not prepared to treat clinical conditions or perform procedures common in their specialty.

Approximately one-third to half of the respondents reported receiving little or no instruction in specific areas of cross-cultural care beyond what was learned in medical school. Forty-one percent (family medicine) to 83 percent (surgery and obstetrics/gynecology) of respondents reported receiving little or no evaluation in cross-cultural care during their residencies. Barriers to delivering cross-cultural care included lack of time (58 percent) and lack of role models (31 percent).

"These findings have implications for how residency training programs prepare physicians to provide high-quality care to an increasingly diverse nation. The practice of medicine continues to be complex and it is difficult to achieve a high level of competence in all areas. Nevertheless, the views from residents indicate that a lot of additional training and the presence of good role models and mentors go a long way to ensure that they are sufficiently skilled to deliver high-quality medical care," the authors write.

"Our study is the first, to our knowledge, to obtain a national estimate of the readiness of new physicians to deliver high-quality care to culturally diverse populations. While attitudes regarding the importance of cross-cultural care seem to be positive, there appear to be relatively few opportunities for meaningful education and mentoring, and little evaluation. These findings highlight a need for significant improvement in cross-cultural education to help eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care," the authors conclude.

Wellcome Trust Announces Open Access Plans

Thu, 26 May 2005 18:57:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The move comes as part of a drive from the UKs biggest medical research charity to push forward open access publication of scientific literature, making findings freely available to those who want to see them.

The Wellcome Trust has also announced that from 1st October 2006, all existing grant holders must deposit any future papers produced from Trust funding into PubMed Central or UK PubMed Central. This delay in extending the grant condition will allow existing grant holders time to adjust to the new policy and let us know what problems if any they may experience, affording us the time to overcome them.

The Wellcome Trust is the UKs biggest non-governmental funder of biomedical research spending £400 million producing almost 3500 papers each year.

Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said:

Digital archives such as PubMed Central add enormous value to research. Everyone, everywhere will be able to read the results of the research that we fund. PubMed Central provides a link from research to other papers and sources of data, and greatly improves the power and efficiency of research.

Digital archives are only as good as the information stored in them. Thats why we feel its important to encourage our researchers along this path one I hope others will follow.

Last week the Wellcome Trust, alongside MRC, BBSRC, British Heart Foundation, ARC and JISC, called for organisations interested in operating a UK PubMed Central to come forward.

Publisher BioMed Central congratulated the Wellcome Trust on its move to require researchers receiving Wellcome funding to deposit copies of resulting research articles in an Open Access archive.

"For too long, funders have stood by as the results of scientific and medical research have been handed over to traditional publishers, who have then put those research articles behind subscription barriers," said Matthew Cockerill, Director of Operations at BioMed Central. "Subscription-only access to research does not meet the needs of researchers, funders, or the general public, all of whom benefit from the widest possible access to research findings, which is what Open Access delivers."

"Following on from the National Institutes of Health's similar initiative in the USA, Wellcome's move shows that the funders who spend hundreds of millions of pounds to carry out the research in the first place are no longer prepared to see their research results remain inaccessible."

The Wellcome Trust is the UK's biggest non-governmental funder of biomedical research with an annual spend of £400 million. The recipients of Wellcome's funding produce almost 3500 scientific articles each year. With such a major funding body backing Open Access, it is now expected that other funding bodies around the world will follow suit.

Wellcome's policy specifies that articles must be made freely available within, at most, six months of initial publication, but BioMed Central called on researchers to go further and to make their research accessible immediately on publication, by choosing an Open Access journal."

"Six months is a long time in science with the rapid pace of research, quick access to the latest results is vital. So, the best way for researchers to meet the spirit of the Wellcome policy is to publish in fully Open Access journals, such as those published by BioMed Central."

Publishing in any of BioMed Central's 130 Open Access journals will also make life easier for Wellcome-funded researchers: "BioMed Central already deposits a copy of the official final version of every research article that it publishes with the appropriate Open Access archive. As a result, authors publishing with BioMed Central will automatically meet the requirements of the Wellcome policy, saving themselves the effort of having to deposit a separate copy of their research article."

Stronger leadership from doctors will encourage renaissance in medicine

Tue, 17 May 2005 18:05:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Stronger leadership from doctors will encourage a renaissance in the medical profession the Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), Dr Mayur Lakhani, will suggest in an address to the Trinity Medical Society, Oxford.

Dr Lakhani will suggest that the profession has to some extent lost its way recently with a leadership vacuum that has allowed a culture of managerial and state dominated regulation. While commending students for choosing medicine as a career option, Dr Lakhani will argue that doctors have become tamed by political change and as a result there is low morale in the medical profession world wide.

There are some who say that the profession does not have a solution to its problems Dr Lakhani will say but I disagree and believe that it is distinctly possible to bring about a renewal of professionalism. What we need is a determination to espouse the cause of patient centredness and partnerships with patients.

The Medical Royal Colleges have a particularly important role to play in bringing about a renaissance in medicine and it is essential that the profession retains a strong voice in standard setting, Dr Lakhani will assert.

I am proud to be a doctor and love my profession. A strong profession is important for society. I am very pleased that so many students want to do medicine as a career. Future doctors would do well by embracing high standards and patient centeredness as the bedrock of a new professionalism.

GMC needs to get its head out of the sand over revalidation

Fri, 13 May 2005 18:05:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The General Medical Council needs to get its head out of the sand over revalidation, argues a senior doctor in this week's BMJ.

In June 2000, the GMC set out its initial plans for revalidation to "protect patients from poorly performing doctors who would be identified as early as possible." This was enshrined in law in December 2002.

But by April 2003, the GMC revised its plans, basing revalidation on doctors' annual appraisals, even though appraisals were not set up to judge a doctor's competence. In 2004, the Shipman inquiry forced the GMC to shelve its plans, and a high level review is now being conducted by the chief medical office for England.

The GMC's revised plans for revalidation will not detect poorly performing doctors, writes Professor Aneez Esmail, medical adviser to the Shipman inquiry. Revalidation is supposed to weed out doctors that are not fit to practise, yet appraisal has probably not identified a single doctor whose performance is seriously deficient, despite being in operation for nearly three years.

The public has also been told that revalidation is rather like an MOT test for doctors, yet there are no clear standards by which a doctor's fitness to practise can be determined, no objective test, and no independent scrutiny of that test.

He believes that revalidation has immense value for individual doctors. "As a practising doctor I would like to be able to show my patients that I am practising at a standard which is safe and up to date," he says. "I do not fear revalidation and, like the majority of doctors, would welcome it."

Revalidation is not about catching another Shipman or about judges dictating to doctors how they should regulate themselves. It is about safeguarding patients ? nothing more and nothing less, he concludes.

List of Priorities for New Health Secretary - BMA

Mon, 09 May 2005 21:40:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A list of the most critical areas for joint working in developing NHS policy has been sent to the new Secretary of State for Health by the British Medical Association.

In a letter expressing confidence in working in a constructive and positive way with the Government, Mr James Johnson, chairman of the BMA flags up what the BMA sees as the priority areas for the rest of this year.

Top of the list is involving doctors, health professionals and patients in the formulation of health policy and reforms.

Mr Johnson also calls on the new government to help people lead healthier lives, including taking measures such as banning smoking in all enclosed pubic places. Patient choice should be meaningful, relevant to patients and workable for doctors, says the letter.

The BMA wants to see recognition that private sector provision in the NHS must not destabilise the services which the NHS itself provides.

We seek to work with you on health issues in a way that produces the best outcome for patients and doctors alike writes Mr Johnson. He is seeking an early meeting with the Secretary of State for Health.

Doctor voices concerns over new NHS IT System

Fri, 06 May 2005 16:33:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The political drive to implement the NHS's national programme for information technology is failing to take account of professionals' anxieties, argues a GP in this week's BMJ.

Dr Nigel de Kare-Silver describes his experience of workshops to introduce the new system to users. "We were shown screens of a third rate computer program lifted from the existing system of US hospital administrators," while further meetings produced "lame presentations by various strategic health authority IT leaders."

He goes on to describe problems with the "choose and book" system, in which doctors will select from a list of local hospitals and book an appointment while the patient waits. This has a national implementation date of the end of December 2005.

"The application screens are slow, and the computers often fail to pick up the programs. There is no integration with existing clinical systems or with Microsoft Outlook," he writes.

But the "really frightening module" is the inability of the software to retain advice by either the consultant or the GP, or to integrate it with clinical results. "This is a major clinical governance issue, he adds.

While the ambition of the NHS agenda for IT change should be applauded, it is unfortunate that the contractors show no ability to deliver a system that is an advance on existing services, says the author. "It is frightening that the political drive to implement the system is failing to take account of professionals' anxieties."

Before allowing its delivery, clinicians from all backgrounds must demand a service that is rigorous in terms of clinical governance, friendly in its user interface, fast, and relevant to the needs of clinicians and patients, he concludes.

UK Politicians Failing to Address Low Morale Among Doctors

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 14:43:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) All the UK's main political parties have all failed to address the single most important factor hindering the improvement of health services in their election campaigns--the collapse in morale among doctors, states an editorial in this week's issue of THE LANCET.

Politicians have made a strategic mistake in putting the patient before everything else in the quest to achieve effective health care. Their debates about the NHS have been based on a set of entirely false notions about what matters to patients, states the editorial. Meanwhile doctors have been left demoralised by targets that compromise patient care, shift work that compromises professionalism, and a massively over-managed health service.

The Lancet comments: "John Reid, the present Health Secretary, has spoken of a "personalised health service", one in which the patient takes control of decisions about the prescription of medicines and the selection of surgical procedures. Yet this attitude is manifest nonsense. If doctors have any role at all--and perhaps they do not in Dr Reid's world view--it is to establish a partnership with the patient. A partnership based not on power or untrammelled patient choice, but rather one based on mutual respect. Respect by the doctor for a patient's anxiety and care preferences. And respect by the patient for a doctor's skill and professional expertise.

"What UK medicine needs is a new and stronger political voice, one that is more concerned with augmenting professional standards than with protecting professional status. That voice does not exist at present. Doctors want to strengthen their professional morale because they know that a more robust and motivated profession will mean better outcomes for patients. Currently, no politician recognises this truth. May 5 will therefore not be about democracy at all. The public will be voting in a vacuum of fact. And our collective health will surely suffer the consequences."