Health

Bhubaneswar,December 6 (LocalWire):Odisha is home to 15 percent of country’s malaria endemic districts even though the incidence of the vector-borne disease in the State has comparatively climbed down in the recent years.

Of the country’s 63 districts identified as the malaria’s hotbed, ten districts of Odisha figure in the inglorious list as per the latest statistics reeled out by the union health and family welfare ministry.

Malkangiri, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Nuapada have been identified as malaria endemic districts as per the ministry report.

However the silver lining of malaria survey report suggests that incidence of malaria and fatality cases is steadily on the downslide in the State.

66,311 malaria cases were reported in 2018 year, a substantial climb-down from 2017 when 3,47,860 cases were recorded.

In 2016 year, 4,44,843 malaria cases were diagnosed by government health agencies.

The malaria fatalities have also made a nosedive in past three years.

While 77 people died of malaria in 2016, the fatalities had come down to 24 in 2017. The 2018 year saw 24 people dying of malaria.

While as many as 21 out of 30 districts were identified as malaria endemic in 2016, the number of endemic districts dropped down to 10 in 2018, the statistical report pointed out.

The incidence of disease and rate of fatality has been controlled considerably due to prompt intervention by the health department.

The hilly forest and tribal dominated districts in the southern, northern and western parts of the State are regarded as endemic areas while the coastal districts are less affected by the disease.

The distribution of long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) has succeeded to control the outbreak of the disease. 36 lakh LLINs have already been distributed this year.

The State will procure 1.13 crore nets for free distribution mostly malaria prone areas, said the officials.

The government has successfully launched “Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran” (DAMaN) scheme to provide access to services in the most remote and difficult-to-reach areas of the state and screen the entire population of the inaccessible areas and treat all positive cases with appropriates Anti-malaria drugs, they added.

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Bhubaneswar,December 6(LocalWire):Odisha has become free from vector-borne chikungunya disease with not a single case confirmed case being detected in past two years.

The union state minister for health and family welfare, Ashwini Kumar Chubey replying to a query by BJP MP Jual Oram informed this in the Lok Sabha.

It was in 2016 that the State had recorded 51 chikungunya cases.

That was the last. Since then no case of the vector borne disease has been reported in the State.

The disease is not as deadly as dengue and malaria which is life threatening. It’s is a viral illness.

However its symptoms are quite similar to that of dengue and malaria.

People afflicted with the illness suffer from high fever, severe joint pain, muscle pain and headache and joint swelling.

The aedes aegypti mosquito spreads the illness.

The State has implemented special action plan to control malaria and dengue.

It also includes chikungunya, said officials.

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Bhubaneswar, November 29 (LocalWire): Odisha has made visible progress in eliminating preventable maternal deaths, gender-based violence, child marriage and use of contraceptives.

According to the data presented at a consultation on sexual reproductive health and rights organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, the number of pregnant women in the state going for three or more Ante Natal Checkup (ANC) doubled between 1991-92 and 2015-16.

“While Institutional Deliveries increased five-fold in the state, Maternal Mortality Ratio reduced by more than half,” UNFPA state programme coordinator Dr Deepa Prasad said.

“Many women today have better lives than their mothers and can hope for even more for their daughters.
But unfortunately, these gains have not been experienced equally by all,” Prasad said while addressing an audience of adolescents, LGBT, persons with disability and representatives from civil society organizations.

Similarly, it was noted that the number of girls marrying before the age of 18 years and cases of adolescent pregnancy has reduced by half during the same period.

The consultation was organised to discuss 25 years of International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25).

ICPD stands for the International Conference on Population and Development, a 1994 meeting in Cairo where 179 governments adopted a revolutionary Programme of Action and called for women’s reproductive health and rights to take centre stage in national and global development efforts.

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Bhubaneswar, Nov 27 (LocalWire): The number of malaria positive cases registered a quantum jump in comparison to last year although mortality is on a lower side with two deaths being registered as against five last year, state government officials said today.

Of the 54,53,983 blood samples tested till 31 October, 59,444 samples were diagnosed as malaria positive.

2018 had witnessed 33,204 malaria positive cases.

The growth is estimated at whopping 78.78%.

Malkangiri district with 7,507 positive cases recorded the highest number of malaria patients followed by Rayagada (4,794), Kalahandi (4,630), Koraput (4,135), Ganjam (2,888), Kandhamal (2,318), Nabarangpur (1,423), Sundargarh (1,297) and Mayurbhanj (456).

Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara with 17 positive cases were least malaria-affected areas followed by Balasore (20) and Cuttack (26).

Sundargarh accounted for two malarial deaths this year while other district did not register any casuality, said officials.

From 2012-17, around 18.5 lakh malaria cases had been reported and more than 300 deaths occurred.

However, it has been controlled considerably due to prompt intervention of the health department.

The hilly forest and tribal-dominated districts in the southern, northern and western parts of the state are regarded as endemic areas while the coastal districts are less affected by the disease.

The distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) has succeeded to control the outbreak of the disease and 36 lakh LLINs have already been distributed this year.

The state will procure 1.13 crore nets for free distribution mostly malaria prone areas, said the officials.

The government has successfully launched ‘Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran’ (DAMAN) scheme to provide access to services in the most remote and difficult-to-reach areas of the state and screen the entire population of the inaccessible areas and treat all positive cases with appropriates anti-malaria drugs.

‘With greater surveillance, more cases were detected and offered timely treatment.

As a result, the disease has claimed only two lives this year,’ said Yamini Sadangi, Additional secretary of Health and Family Welfare department.

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Bhubaneswar, Nov 13 (LocalWire): The rare craniopagus surgery conducted successfully by a team led by eminent neurosurgeon Dr (Prof) Ashok Kumar Mahapatra at AIIMS in New Delhi in 2017 has featured in the 2020 edition of the Limca Book of Records.

Like Mahapatra, quite a few Odias and institutions from the state have entered into record books.

Here is a glance into those from Odisha who have figured in the Guinness World Book of Records.

1 The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) here entered the Guinness World Book of Records on 8 November 2019 when as many as 26,382 tribal students of the institute promoted oral hygiene by brushing their teeth simultaneously at a single venue.

2 Manoj Kumar Maharana, a native of Berhampur, entered the Guinness World Book of Records in 2018 by stuffing 459 drinking straws in his mouth and holding them for 30 seconds without using his hands.

3 As per Guinness World Book of Records, the largest laughter yoga class consists of 15,991 people, achieved by students of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences in Bhubaneswar on 29 August 2017.

The participants were tribal students from Odisha and neighbouring region, who study at KISS.

4 The most vertical rotations of a toothpick using the mouth in one minute is 36, achieved by Manoj Kumar Maharana on 5 September 2018.

5 The largest jewellery bindi mosaic (image) is 29.96 m² (322 ft² 84 in²), and was achieved by Alkem Laboratories Limited, at RSSDI 2017, Bhubaneswar on 4 November 2017.

6 Most people performing a high-five simultaneously is 25,250 and was achieved by KISS on 9 December 2015.

7 The largest television remote control is 4.5 m (14 ft 9.1 in) long and was made by Suraj Kumar Meher and Rajesh Kumar Meher as measured in Sambalpur on 21 September 2015.

8 Sudarsan Pattnaik took sand art to a whole new level after building a 48-foot sandcastle with 530 feet circumference at Puri sea beach on 15 February, 2017.

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Bhubaneswar, November 13 (LocalWire): The rare craniopagus surgery conducted successfully by a team led by eminent neurosurgeon Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra at AIIMS in New Delhi in 2017 has featured in the 2020 edition of the Limca Book of Records.

The team comprising 125 doctors and paramedical staff had operated on 28-month-old Jaga and Balia, who were joined to each other at the cranium.

The complex surgery was conducted in two stages: first on 28 August 2017 and then on 25 October 2017, and has been recorded as the first craniopagus surgery in India in the record book.

Prof. Mahapatra, who was the head of the neurosurgery department at AIIMS then said, “Though a difficult challenge, it was the first successful craniopagus surgery in India.”

“The facilities and expertise available at AIIMS in New Delhi made it possible,” he said, adding that his colleague Prof. Deepak Kumar Gupta and a large number of doctors and paramedics toiled hard to separate the twins.

One of the features of the surgery was that a vein taken from the vein bank at AIIMS was grafted in Balia’s brain as the children shared only one vein and it was the first such case of vein grafting in the world, he said.

After Jaga and Balia were admitted to AIIMs, a preliminary assessment was made to ascertain whether they could stand the arduous surgical processes.

“We decided to go ahead after the twins were made to undergo all tests under anesthesia conducted on 26 July 2017 over a 12-hour period,” the doctor said.

Prof. Mahapatra said the team constituted to take up the surgical separation took advice from Prof. James T. Goodrich, a famous pediatric neurosurgeon at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, as he had done two such surgeries earlier and was considered the best in the world.

“We spent time gathering as much information about fused brains and conducted three dry runs before the actual surgery was performed,” he said, adding that the team was aware that the probability of success, in this case, was only around 25 percent.

Chances of such cases are one in three million, and barely 12 or 13 such surgeries have been done in the world during the last 33 years, Prof. Mahapatra stated.

Jaga and Balia, who spent over two years in AIIMS, New Delhi before returning to Odisha are doing well though Balia’s development was slow. “We should give them two to three years’ time to see how they improve,” he said.

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Bhubaneswar, Nov 6 (LocalWire): Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today underscored the need to transform the premier SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack into an AIIMS Plus hospital and make it one among the best three hospitals in the country.

‘We have to spend over Rs1000 crore so that no one from Odisha will be required to go outside for treatment,’ Patnaik said during his visit to the hospital.

‘I understand that SCB ranks 14th in the country among the hospitals.

With your commitment, dedication, hard work and full support of the state, I am sure we will be able to make this hoapital among the top three hospitals in the country,’ Patnaik told a meeting in the hospital.

‘It is my dream that every person in Odisha should have access to affordable and quality health care.

It is in this context that the state government has been investing heavily in the health sector,’ he said..

Stating that the government will create a state-of-the-art 300-bedded integrated hospital equipped with latest medical facilities, the chief minister said that there will be an ecosystem with the best accommodation and recreational facilities for both doctors and students.

‘It shall be such that medical professionals settled outside will aspire to come and serve here,’ Patnaik said.

From three Medical Colleges in the state, now there are 10 medical colleges and SCB is in the centre of the focus of the government for providing the affordable and best quality healthcare, he said,

‘It has produced brilliant doctors who have served and continue to serve patients not only in Odisha but across the globe.

They are the pride of our state. It is now incumbent upon us to give back to this great institution and transform it into a world class hospital,’ he said.

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