A study by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre measured radiological doses for 12 different examinations in 40 hospitals in the country, and found wide variations. Children received the same doses as adults, which sometimes meant they got more than five times the necessary dose.

 

The US-based Discovery Laboratories had planned a placebo-controlled study in Latin America of sinapultide, a new drug for treating idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome in premature newborn infants. A control group of 325 babies would have received a placebo instead of available surfactants, as a result of which many would have died unnecessarily. The trial would have the Helsinki Declaration, which requires that new treatments be tested against the best current method. The company's Dr R Capetola said the study planned three arms: sinapultide, an already-approved surfactant drug (beractant), and a placebo. Alternative trial designs were rejected as likely to increase the length of the study, resulting in thousands of additional deaths and debilitating lung conditions among infants. Following public protest, the trial was modified to include an active control.

Fred Charatan: Surfactant trial in Latin American infants criticised BMJ March 10, 2001. Public Citizen press release:http://www.citizen.org/hrg/PUBLICATIONS/1564.htm)

 

A 50-year-old woman in Puri, Orissa, wrote to the prime minister and the National Human Rights Commission saying she is ready to sell one of her kidneys to save her husband who is suffering from cancer. Mustari Biwi begs every day to provide a meal for her family. Affected by the cyclone last year, she received no relief. "I  wrote to the chief minister and district commissioner seeking financial help but got no responses, so I decided to sell my kidney and arrange the money," she said.

 

 

The Maharashtra Medical Council Act of 1965 gives the council powers to deregister doctors found guilty of negligence or malpractice. Of the 162 cases registered against doctors till date, no doctors have been deregistered. A few have been suspended, and a number are being heard at present.

 

 

 

One year ago, municipal hospitals in Mumbai raised fees for registration and for minor tests, and imposed new charges for various surgical procedures - as well as for delivery of a third child.  The result: a discernible drop in the number of patients attending the out-patient department as well as for in-patient treatment.  Some patients slip away before they get discharged. Instead of seeing this as a symptom of people's desperation, some hospitals plan to deal with the problem by advancing the time of check-out so it doesn't coincide with visiting hours.

 

 

 

On February 13, six people who underwent cataract surgery at the KJ Somaiya Hospital in Mumbai lost their eyesight after contracting an infection. A state government inquiry found infection prevention practices, and records, inadequate. A senior opthalmologist states that quick action could have saved some people's sight, but the hospital did not have the facilities, nor did it refer the patients elsewhere. At a press conference on March 21, the hospital's dean insisted that the infection must have come "from some extraneous source", but that the management was considering giving compensation to those who lost their vision.