SCOTTISH patients have demanded Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon end the “postcode lottery” in drug provision after a second person with a rare blood disorder was refused potentially life-prolonging treatment despite a plea from a top clinician.
Retired barmaid Joyce Juszcak, 65, was refused the drug eculizumab for paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) on appeal by an NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde panel weeks after another patient William Devine died shortly after receiving his rejection letter.
Mrs Juszcak, of Gourock, Inverclyde, who describes herself as a walking timebomb, had been recommended for the treatment by haematologist Dr Henry Hambley, from Inverclyde Royal Hospital, who told the panel he was astonished by their decision to refuse the drug.
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WASHINGTON – Millions of women may soon gain free access to a broad menu of birth control methods, thanks to a recommendation issued Tuesday by health experts advising the government.
An Institute of Medicine panel recommended that the government require health insurance companies to cover birth control for women as a preventive service, without copayments. Contraception — along with such care as diabetes tests during pregnancy and screening for the virus that causes cervical cancer — was one of eight recommended preventive services for women.
The law already requires most health plans to provide standard preventive care for people of both sexes at no additional charge to patients, but the women’s health recommendations were considered so sensitive that the nonpartisan institute was asked to examine the issue and report back.
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Dear Dr. Donohue: One way of exercising that you haven’t mentioned is water walking. This puts less strain on joints.
Dear N.L.: Water exercises, including water aerobics, are a terrific way to improve strength, lose weight and restore balance while sparing joints. Everyone can do them if their doctors agree.
Walking, running and exercising with weights designed for water are only a few of the ways to do this kind of workout. Perhaps the best idea is to join a class with an instructor who can put you through the proper techniques.
You need a flotation belt to keep you horizontal when you are in deep water.
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Jaipur, July 22 After the deaths of at least 17 pregnant women in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur city this year allegedly due to contaminated IV fluids, another such batch of bottles have been found in a government hospital in the state’s Tonk district.
At least 85,00 bottles of IV fluids were removed from the stock of the Government Hospital in Tonk, some 90 km from state capital Jaipur, when some bottles were found contaminated during an inspection.
‘Fungus was found in some bottles from a batch of IV fluids. The entire batch has been removed from the stock and an enquiry has been ordered,’ a senior hospital official told IANS.
The bottles were to be administered to patients admitted at the hospital.
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