PG Times

Faced with criticism, govt. says scheme has been put off to 2022 The government on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, turned around to inform the Supreme Court that it has dropped its decision to implement a new exam pattern for National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test- Super Specialty (NEET-SS) 2021 due in November. Faced with criticism from the court for the sudden manner in which the new pattern has been introduced at the last minute this academic year, the Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati, said the implementation of the new exam pattern has been postponed to 2022. The November 2021 exam would follow the existing exam pattern, Ms. Bhati submitted. “In deference of your lordship’s observations & interest of students, the Centre has decided that the revised scheme will be implemented from 2022. The present exam will be held based on the 2020 scheme,” Ms. Bhati submitted. A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud expressed its satisfaction with th...

A consensus on the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations 2021 is a must The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest organisation of doctors in India, has demanded that the National Medical Commission (NMC) withdraw the draft Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations 2021. In its current form, it notes that there shall be common counselling for admission in all medical educational institutions to all Post-graduate ‘Broad-Specialty’ courses (Diploma/MD/MS) on the basis of the merit list of the National Exit Test. Currently, admissions to such programmes are based on the post-graduate NEET. Half the seats to the various courses are based on the all-India quota and the rest are admitted by the State governments, which comply with reservation norms. The IMA contends that the draft regulations leave States with no power or discretion to manage admissions to State medical colleges, which rely on State funds. If States did not have the freedom to decide on student intake, they woul...

On June 14, 1802, three-year-old Anna Dusthall became the first child in India to successfully receive the smallpox vaccine. Only the barest details are known about Dusthall— she was a healthy girl, possibly of mixed racial identity, “remarkably good tempered” — a trait crucial to the vaccination’s success — and, from the pus that formed on her skin upon vaccination, five more children were vaccinated in the city of Bombay. Thereon, enough vaccine material was collected using her lymph and sent to Poona, Surat, Hyderabad, Ceylon, Madras and more places along the coast and the Deccan. Dr Helenus Scott, the physician who vaccinated her, hoped that with the availability of the vaccine, “one of the greatest evils that has afflicted humanity” would be diminished or even extinguished. His wish would take root, but not before a confusing century, riddled with challenges and challengers, passed by. As recent research indicates, the history of smallpox vaccination in colonial India wasn’t a sim...

The health ministry hasn't explained the criteria to decide how the 11 million doses of Covishield, and 5.5 million of Covaxin would be split between states   The nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive starts on Saturday amid speculation among some doctors whether the home-grown vaccine, which is yet to prove its efficacy, is being sent to public institutions that have fewer opportunities to question the decision. The doctors who have questioned the inclusion of the home-grown Covaxin from Bharat Biotech alongside the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine at the start of the inoculation campaign say the proposed split of the two vaccines in Delhi has amplified their concerns. Six government hospitals in Delhi will receive Covaxin while all the 42 private hospitals will receive the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, Covishield, produced in India by the Serum Institute of India, according to a document received by the sites. While government district hospitals will also receive Covishield with the priv...

Early detection is key to minimising health and economic burdens Chandra Mohan The history of mankind is replete with ravaging pandemics that have wiped out civilisations. Now Covid-19 has spread to more than 180 countries, infected upwards of 83 million, and killed 1.8 million people in just one year. In India, in 1918 the Spanish Flu killed more than 13 million in just three months. And within the last year the country has reported more than 10 million Covid cases and 1.48 lakh deaths. Insights provided by Pasteur’s germ theory of disease, rapid advances in the development of new anti-microbial drugs and vaccines, improved housing, sanitation, and clean drinking water have dramatically reduced the burden of infectious diseases over time. Life expectancy in India increased from 32 years in 1947 to 69 years in 2020 leading to the illusion that the scourge of infectious diseases has been conquered. Nothing could be further from the truth. Increasing drug resistance, newly emerging infec...