Health

With the Kanwar Yatra in Uttarakhand set to begin amid the ongoing monsoon season, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh Executive Director Doctor Meenu Singh on Saturday urged pilgrims to stay hydrated, maintain hygiene and consume clean food to prevent monsoon-related illnesses during the journey. Speaking to ANI about the health challenges associated with the monsoon season, Dr Singh said rain often leads to road congestion and travel difficulties, while also increasing the risk of gastrointestinal illnesses such as indigestion, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. "Due to rain, there are a lot of problems. There is congestion on the roads. Travel is affected a lot. Along with this, some diseases come to notice a lot. One is related to our gastrointestinal system. There ...

An Indian-American army surgeon played a key role in an innovative minimally invasive procedure to remove a golf ball-sized brain tumour through a patient's nose, helping avoid open brain surgery. Major Jagatkumar Patel, an anterior skull base surgeon at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre near Washington, worked with neurosurgeon Lt Col Charles Miller to perform the rare surgical procedure on Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Andy Archer, who had lived with the tumour for 15 years. The procedure required highly synchronised collaboration between the two experts, the US Department of Defence said in a statement. The benign tumour, measuring about 4.4 cm, was located in front of the pituitary gland of Archer and was pressing against his optic nerve. According to the Defence Depar...

An AIIMS New Delhi-led review has brought together three decades of published childhood cancer survival evidence in India, providing policy makers the country's first consolidated picture of outcomes across major childhood cancers. The researchers screened 6,802 published articles up to December 2023 and included 182 studies from treatment centres across the country, covering 22,886 children, to share insights that promise to help policy makers identify gaps and strengthen accountability in India's fight against childhood cancer. Published in JCO Global Oncology, the study was led by Sameer Bakhshi and colleagues at AIIMS New Delhi, in partnership with CanKids…KidsCan and international collaborators, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital ...

Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life is influenced by multiple socio-cultural factors, including individual preferences, use of pre-lacteal feeds and infant milk substitutes, family practices and breastfeeding frequency, the government told Parliament on Tuesday. Highlighting that steps are being taken to promote the practice, Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth has improved to 50.1 per cent in National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 (2023-24) from 41.8 per cent in NFHS-5. She was replying to a query on whether the government had taken note of the decline in exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months from 63.7 per cent in NFHS-5 to 55.8 per cent in...

Subhash Vishnu Chache, a 62-year-old resident of Vashi in Navi Mumbai has regained his vision after Navi Mumbai doctors conduct a rare and complex dual surgical procedure.  He had been living with a mature cataract and a dense corneal scar in his left eye, a rare and challenging combination that had left him nearly blind. A team of specialist ophthalmologists at the hospital's Wadala facility successfully restored his sight by performing Pinhole Pupilloplasty (PPP) along with cataract surgery. For Chache, the loss of vision happened gradually over the years. A dense scar had formed on the cornea, the transparent front layer of his left eye, preventing light from entering the eye properly. At the same time, the natural lens had become completely cloudy due to a mature cataract. His right ...

Friendship is often treated as something optional in adult life, a pleasant addition if time permits but rarely viewed as essential to health. Yet mental health experts are increasingly challenging that idea. Emerging research and clinical observations suggest that deep, emotionally meaningful friendships are not simply social comforts. They may act as a measurable indicator of long-term mental, physical, and cognitive wellbeing. Strong friendships have been linked with lower stress, improved emotional regulation, healthier ageing, stronger immune responses, and even reduced risk of chronic disease. Experts describe this phenomenon as platonic intimacy: close, emotionally safe, non-romantic relationships built on trust, mutual support, belonging, and consistency. At a time when modern adu...

There is a concerning surge in cases of Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E infections during the monsoon. The causes can be attributed to contaminated food and drinking water. Factors such as heavy rainfall, waterlogging, overflowing drains, and poor sanitation create ideal conditions for these viruses to spread, and raise the chances of hepatitis A and E. Mumbai health experts urge everyone to be extra cautious about what they eat and drink and stay healthy during those rainy days. Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E are viral infections that tend to take a toll on the liver. These viruses tend to spread through the faeco-oral route, so the person becomes infected after consuming food or water contaminated with infected stool. Also, eating unhygienic roadside food, drinking untreated water, having raw ...

For many people undergoing IVF, failure often arrives with a familiar explanation: sometimes it just does not work. Patients are encouraged to trust the process, stay hopeful, and try again. While uncertainty is an unavoidable part of fertility treatment, experts say there is an important difference between accepting biological uncertainty and continuing treatment without questioning whether the approach itself should change. IVF is emotional, deeply personal, and often financially demanding. Every cycle involves multiple variables including medication response, hormone levels, egg quality, sperm quality, laboratory performance, embryo development, transfer timing, and uterine conditions. Yet many patients continue with the same clinic and same treatment plan simply because changing cours...

Indian-American radiation oncologist Dattatreyudu Nori has said HPV vaccination could give India a decisive advantage in its fight against cervical cancer and help eliminate the disease in the coming years.  “Now, with the HPV vaccination, we have an upper hand, and in few years, we'll be able to eliminate cancer of the cervix from India,” Nori said in an interview with IANS. The 2026 Padma Bhushan awardee described cervical cancer as preventable, detectable and curable, making the continued loss of lives particularly distressing for doctors working in oncology. “Cancer of the cervix is preventable, is detectable, is treatable and curable,” he said. Nori said about 200 women die of cervical cancer every day in India. He welcomed the introduction of free HPV vaccination for girls, sayin...

Fertility testing is not something everyone needs every year. Knowing when to get tested can help you make informed decisions about your reproductive health, say Pune-based doctors.   Many people believe that fertility testing should be done every year, just like cardiac, liver, and kidney tests. However, this is a misconception that needs to be debunked right away, says Dr Nisha Pansare, fertility specialist, Nova IVF Fertility in Kharadi, Pune. Unlike routine blood pressure, thyroid or diabetes screening, fertility testing is not recommended every year. The test needs to be done based on the person's age, reproductive plans, medical history, or health conditions that may take a toll on fertility. Fertility tests will vary from one individual to another and shouldn't be missed if advise...