No toll fee for ambulances from March 1

Health Desk- 07 February, 2020: Ambulances carrying patients will not have to pay toll on roads, ferries, and bridges under the Roads and Highways Department from March 1 this year.

Road Transport and Bridges Ministry on Thursday issued a circular in this regard, Nazrul Islam, secretary to the road transport and highway division (RTHD) told the media.

“This is one of the initiatives the ministry has taken to mark ‘Mujib Borsho’,” he said.

The circular said tolls would be waived both for the government and private ambulances on the condition that the service providers would deduct the amount from the ambulance fare.

Following a directive from Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, the RTHD on October 10 last year wrote to the finance ministry seeking its consent to keep ambulance outside the purview of toll collection.

Earlier, in November last year, the finance ministry approved the proposal.

In December, the road transport ministry sent a letter to the health ministry asking to take necessary measures to implement the decision.

Copies of Thursday’s circular were sent, among others, to the cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister, secretaries of public administration, health, finance and home and the chief engineer of RHD.

http://amarhealth.com/country-wide-health/4705/NotollfeeforambulancesfromMarch1

Prof Dr Sayeba among 20 Ekushey awardees

Health Desk- 06 Feb, 2020: Prof Dr Sayeba Akhter, the inventor of ‘Sayeba's Method’ will get country’s second highest civilian award, Ekushey Padak, this year, reports UNB.

Besides, nineteen other eminent personalities and an organisation will also get the award in recognition of their contributions to various fields.

The Cultural Affairs Ministry announced the names of the recipients on Wednesday.

Prof Dr Sayeba Akhter was the head of Department of Gynaecology in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). She has been providing fistula treatment in a city’s private hospital among the patients. Maternal mortality is one of the giant problem in developing countries. The main cause of this death is bleeding during delivery.

Seventy years back Prof Dr Sayeba Akhter invented the means of stopping bleeding during delivery named ‘Sayeba's Method’.

The method is- just stopping bleeding by pushing catheter with a condom into the uterus and swelling it up. This method is now followed by a huge number of countries across the globe.

The other awardees are as follows-

Aminul Islam Badsha (posthumous) has been selected for his role in the Language Movement.

Begum Dalia Nowshin, Shankar Roy and Mita Haque are being recognised for their contributions to music while Golam Mostafa Khan, SM Mohsin and Prof Dr Farida Zaman for dance, performing arts and fine arts respectively.

Hazi Akhter Sarder (posthumous), Abdul Jabbar (posthumous) and Dr AAM Mesbahul Haque (posthumous) have been chosen for their roles in the Liberation War.

Journalist Zafar Wazed (Ali Wazed Zafar) has been picked for the award for his contribution to journalism and Dr Jahangir Alam, Hafez Qwari Syed Saifur Rahman Nizami Shah and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute for their roles in research while Prof Dr Bikiran Prasad Barua for education.

Prof Dr Shamsul Alam and Sufi Mohammad Mizanur Rahman are getting the award for making contributions to economy and social service respectively.

Dr Nurun Nabi, Sikder Aminul Haque (posthumous) and Begum Nazmun Nesa Piari have been selected for language and literature.

Each recipient will get a gold medal, a certificate and a cheque for Tk 2 lakh.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hand over the Ekushey Padak to the awardees at a ceremony at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium on February 20.

http://amarhealth.com/good-news/4704/ProfDrSayebaamong20Ekusheyawardees

Health experts: Friendly relations build happy family

Health Desk- 06 Feb, 2020: Health experts at a discussion have stressed on building friendly relations between daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law to build planned and happy families, reports BSS.

They expressed the opinion at the discussion in concluding function of a day-long Wife-in-Law Fair-2020 held at Ekorchali Union Health and Family Welfare Centre (UHFWC) premises in Taraganj upazila of Rangpur district on Tuesday evening.

The Ekorchali UHFWC with the assistance of the Born On Time Project of LAMB Bangladesh organised the fair participated by over 1,000 daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law, local public representatives and filed level family planning workers. Deputy Director of the Department of Family Planning (DFP) Dr. Sheikh Md. Saidul Islam addressed the discussion as the chief guest with Ekorchali union parishad Chairman Md. Rafikul Islam in the chair.

Dr. Shamima Akhter discussed the crucial aspects of improving friendly relations between daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law in every family for ensuring proper health care of pregnant mothers and preventing preterm births.

The chief guest called upon mothers-in-law to ensure proper care of pregnant daughters-in-law and inspire them in conducting normal delivery at UHFPCs round the clock to further reduce the maternal and neonatal mortality rates.

http://amarhealth.com/health/4703/HealthexpertsFriendlyrelationsbuildhappyfamily

Virus outbreak not pandemic yet: WHO

Health Desk- 5^th Feb, 2020: The World Health Organization on Tuesday said that the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus, which has spread from China to two dozen countries, does not yet constitute a “pandemic”.

“Currently we are not in a pandemic,” Sylvie Briand, head of WHO’s Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness division, told reporters in Geneva.

Instead, she said, “we are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci.”

The disease has killed more than 425 people and infected a further 20,000 in China, nearly all of them in central Hubei province -- the epicentre of the outbreak -- and spread to two-dozen countries since it emerged in December.

Briand said that while there is rapid spread of transmission in Hubei, outside the province there are mainly “spillover cases” with sporadic clusters of transmission.

However, authorities in China have taken dramatic measures to halt transmission, while other affected countries have put in place steps to rein in the spread.

Courtesy: Afp, Geneva

http://amarhealth.com/amar-doctor/4702/VirusoutbreaknotpandemicyetWHO

Seminar on Coronavirus held at AFMC

Health Desk- 4th Feb, 2020: A scientific seminar titled ‘Coronavirus-A New Threat to Humanity’ was held at Armed Forces Medical College in Dhaka cantonment on Monday. 

Maj Gen Md Mustafizur Rahman, Commandant of Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), attended the seminar as the chief guest while Brig Gen Jamil Ahmad, Director of Kurmitola General Hospital, was present as the special guest.  

Key note speakers of the seminar were Brig Gen Prof Md Rahimgir, head of the Dept of Microbiology, Brig Gen Prof Md Shamsul Haque, head of the Dept of Community Medicine and Brig Gen Prof Md Abdur Razzak, head of the Dept of Medicine of the AFMC. 

Faculties and students of the college participated in the scientific seminar.

Detail discussion was held regarding the epidemiology, virology, clinical presentation, management and prevention aspects.

http://amarhealth.com/Health-Institute/4701/SeminaronCoronavirusheldatAFMC

China in ‘urgent’ need of medical equipment

Health Desk- 4th Feb, 2020: China said Monday it urgently needed medical equipment and surgical masks as the death toll from a new coronavirus jumped above 360, making it more deadly than the SARS crisis nearly two decades ago, reports AFP.

The 57 new deaths confirmed on Monday was the single-biggest daily increase since the virus was detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan, where it is believed to have jumped from animals at a market into humans.

The virus has since spread to more than 24 countries despite many governments imposing unprecedented travel bans on arrivals coming from China.

The World Health Organization has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and the first foreign death from the virus was confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday.

“What China urgently needs at present are medical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press briefing.

Authorities in provinces that are home to more than 300 million people—including Guangdong, the country’s most populous—have ordered everyone to wear masks in public in an effort to contain the virus.

But factories capable of producing around 20 million masks a day are only operating at between 60 and 70 percent of capacity, industry department spokesman Tian Yulong said, adding that supply and demand remained in “tight equilibrium” as a result of the Lunar New Year break.

All but one of the 57 new deaths reported Monday were in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province, most of which has been under lockdown for almost two weeks.

The national death toll reached 361 — exceeding the 349 mainland fatalities from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03.

The number of infections also jumped significantly, passing 17,200.

http://amarhealth.com/environment-health/4700/Chinainurgentneedofmedicalequipment

WHO forecasts 81pc cancer jump in poorer countries

Health Desk- 4th Feb, 2020: The UN health agency on Tuesday warned cancer cases would rise by 81 per cent in low- and middle-income countries by 2040 because of a lack of investment in prevention and care.

The Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report that these countries had focused their limited resources on combating infectious diseases and improving maternal and child health instead of fighting cancer.

It said they often had the highest cancer mortality too.

"This is a wake-up call to all of us to tackle the unacceptable inequalities between cancer services in rich and poor countries," Ren Minghui, a WHO Assistant Director General, said in the report.

The report, timed to coincide with World Cancer Day, said an investment of $25 billion (23 billion euros) over the next decade could save seven million lives from cancer.

"Controlling cancer does not have to be expensive," Andre Ilbawi, of the WHO's department for management of non-communicable diseases, told journalists.

The annual report found that overall cancer cases in the world would rise by 60 percent by 2040 and said tobacco use was responsible for 25 per cent of cancer deaths.

Elisabete Weiderpass, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which works with the WHO, said better cancer treatment in high-income countries had resulted in a 20-per cent drop in mortality between 2000 and 2015.

But in poorer countries, the reduction was just five per cent.

"We need to see everyone benefiting equally," she said.

While cancer had long been considered a disease of wealthy countries, this was no longer the case, the report said. It pointed out that one in five people worldwide would face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
http://amarhealth.com/Spot-Light/4699/WHOforecasts81pccancerjumpinpoorercountries