Health

A baby girl born prematurely at just 860 grams and admitted in a critical condition to a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh has been discharged after nearly two months, with her weight rising to 1.4 kg, officials have said. Medical experts said babies born after a full-term pregnancy usually weigh between 2.5 kg and 3.5 kg. The baby was born at home on May 30 in the 25th week of pregnancy and was admitted to the Special Newborn Care Unit of Ratlam district hospital around eight hours later in a critical condition, Civil Surgeon Dr A P Singh said on Thursday. "Babies born at 25 weeks of gestation with very low birth weight face a significantly higher risk of serious health complications," he said. Because of the premature birth, the baby's lungs were not fully developed and she had d...

A two-and-a-half-year-old child born with a rare congenital condition that left him without a functional oesophagus has begun eating through his mouth after undergoing a complex reconstructive procedure at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, marking another successful outcome for the hospital's paediatric surgery department, hospital officials said on Sunday. The child, Mantavya, son of Shailesh Patel of Sanand in Ahmedabad district, was born on November 7 in 2023, with Pure Oesophageal Atresia, a rare birth defect in which the two ends of the oesophagus are too far apart to form a continuous food pipe. Because of the condition, he was unable to swallow milk or food by mouth from birth. To save his life, surgeons performed an oesophagostomy, creating an opening in the neck, and a gastrostomy, inse...

Hyderabad Metro Rail turned into a life-saving corridor as it facilitated transportation of heart and lungs from a donor for transplantation on Saturday. The Metro enabled priority medical transit from CARE Hospitals, Gachibowli, to KIMS Hospitals, Minister Road, Secunderabad, in just 25 minutes.  The time-sensitive transportation was from Raidurg Metro Station to Rasoolpura Station, a distance of 14 kilometres. The stretch has 13 stations, and the transit took 25 minutes.  The transit was executed through seamless operational coordination, ensuring the timely movement of the donor organs during a critical phase of the transplantation process, said Hyderabad Metro. This mission was carried out through close coordination between Hyderabad Metro Rail, healthcare professionals and hospita...

The Ahmedabad Civil Hospital has successfully performed a high-risk total hip replacement on a woman suffering from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). This serious blood disorder significantly increases the risk of excessive bleeding during surgery, hospital officials said on Saturday. The woman, Sangeeta Trivedi, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, underwent the complex procedure free of cost at the government-run hospital after reportedly being informed by several private hospitals that the surgery would cost between Rs three lakh and Rs five lakh and carried a high risk because of her medical condition. Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi said the successful surgery by the Department of Orthopaedics demonstrated the capability of government hospitals to provide highly specialised ...

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...