Healthcare Technologies

BJP Maharashtra manifesto promises $1 trn economy plan, focus on health

The party has also promised investment in various sectors, with the aim of making Maharashtra a USD 1 trillion economy by the year 2028

TechEagle launches eight drone hubs with healthcare partners across India

Drone logistics firm TechEagle on Monday announced the launch of eight dedicated hubs in collaboration with the country's premier healthcare institutions across eight states. The dedicated drone hubs, inaugurated virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week as part of Rs 12,850-crore multiple healthcare sector projects, will serve as critical points for rapidly deploying medical supplies, including essential medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic samples to underserved and hard-to-reach communities, TechEagle said in a statement. The eight dedicated facilities include hubs at AIIMS Guwahati, AIIMS Rishikesh, AIIMS Bilaspur, and AIIMS Bhopal, among others, it stated. With a targeted reach of over 200 locations across Assam, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh and others in the coming year, this initiative (of setting up dedicated hubs) will be a game changer for India's drone logistics landscapes, the company said. "Our drone trials with AIIMS reduced delivery times to just 20-30

More health packages focused on elderly care likely to be added to AB-PMJAY

The National Health Authority, the implementing agency for the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), is assessing the need to add more health packages catering to the elderly as the government is set to roll out the health coverage for all aged 70 years and above. The expanded scheme, which will benefit an estimated six crore citizens in about 4.5 crore households, is likely to be launched by the end of this month, official sources said. "The committee which decides on health-benefit packages under the scheme is deliberating on the need for adding more health packages, which exclusively tend to geriatric care, as the number of such beneficiaries will go up with the launch of the scheme," an official source said. The scheme presently offers a comprehensive coverage that includes 1,949 medical procedures across 27 medical specialties, such as general medicine, surgery, oncology and cardiology. Hospital services, including drugs (covering 15 days' medication ...

NITI Aayog group proposes separate law to tackle public health crises

Report provides action plan for a 100-day response to any disease outbreak or pandemic

CAG flags shortage of healthcare staff and irregularities in Chhattisgarh

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has highlighted the shortage of government healthcare personnel and irregularities in the procurement of medicines and medical equipment in Chhattisgarh. The CAG report on performance audit of Public Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services for the year ended March 2022 was tabled in the state assembly on Friday. There was an overall shortage of 34 per cent (25,793 personnel) against the sanctioned strength of 74,797 in the health department, it said. Though the doctor per population ratio (1: 2492) improved during 2016-22, it was far behind the WHO benchmark of one doctor for 1,000 people and national ratio of 1:1456. The posts of doctors were not sanctioned uniformly on the basis of population, resulting in uneven distribution of doctors under the Directorate Health Services across districts, the CAG said. In 23 district hospitals, there was a shortage of specialist doctors (33 per cent), medical officers (four per cent) ..

How digital tech and AI are revolutionising primary health care in India

Digital innovations are transforming not only clinical applications, but also streamlining administrative processes making the entire health care experience more patient-centric

Hindujas inks new India-UK healthcare pact with King's College London

The Hinduja Group and King's College London on Wednesday announced a new partnership aimed at improving healthcare outcomes in India and the UK, through training and research capacity building as well as scholarships for Indian students. King's College London, Guy's & St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, the Hinduja Foundation UK and Mumbai's P.D. Hinduja Hospital & Medical Research Centre run by the National Health & Education Society are involved in the new strategic partnership to advance two-way training, education and research capacity building. It will lead to the creation of a new Hinduja-King's Health Partners Academy with the aim of driving forward the development of new technologies to address global healthcare challenges. This collaboration will only strengthen the UK's close links to India, and create greater research capacity in healthcare engineering, clinical innovation, and advanced training," said UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden after a visit last ...

HHCN engages with states to boost preventive care for treating Haemophilia

Prophylactic treatment can reduce number of bleeds per year, improve quality of life, say experts

Max to invest Rs 2,500 cr in Lucknow, be UP's 'largest' pvt healthcare firm

Delhi-based group plans to double overall capacity by adding 4,200 beds in four to five years

Healthcare firm Nephro Care India files papers to raise funds via IPO

Healthcare provider will use the proceeds to set up a hospital in Kolkata and for general corporate purposes

More dependants, increased liabilities should prompt hike in term cover

Boost health coverage periodically to cope with double-digit medical inflation & access premium healthcare facilities

'Significant technological investment needed for cancer treatment in India'

Sasidhar, the new president and chief executive officer of Apollo's hospital division, talks about future expansion, medical tourism, and growth roadmap

Johnson & Johnson to buy equipment maker Shockwave Medical for $12.5 bn

Under the deal, J&J would pay $335 per share in cash for the medical device maker. The offer price implies a 4.7% premium to Shockwave's last close of $319.99 on Thursday

'Average length of stay' at hospitals are becoming shorter by the day

'Every hospital now tracks length of stay closely. We cannot keep on increasing the critical care beds,' says Dr Bishnu Panigrahi, group head, medical strategy and operations, Fortis Healthcare

Ultrahuman raises $35 mn to accelerate growth, research in health space

By collating a large set of biomarkers on an integrated platform across a range of products, Ultrahuman is able to create a grand unified view of the human body

18% of population requires assistive care solutions, says former DGHS

Highlighting India's growing need for assistive technologies to cope with disabilities or chronic illnesses, experts at a recent event stressed the need for evidence-based research and collaboration to bridge the gap between these products and their end-users. The experts at a session on 'Growing Need for Assistive Technologies' at the 8th National Health Writers and Influencers Convention, held at AIIMS, asserted that India has a huge and growing demand for assistive technologies (ATs) to help about 250 million people who need them to cope with disabilities, ageing or chronic illnesses. Speaking on the occasion, Dr R K Srivastava, former director general of health services at the Union Health Ministry, said 18 per cent of India's population requires assistive care solutions such as spectacles, hearing aids, wheelchairs, communication aids and prosthetic limbs. Dr Ashoo Grover, Scientist 'F' and Deputy Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, said ICMR and other .

PE fund Lighthouse invests Rs 229 cr in Safari for undisclosed stake

Private equity fund Lighthouse on Monday said it has invested Rs 229 crore in luggage brand Safari for an undisclosed stake. The investment by the mid-market consumer and healthcare-focused platform is the second bet taken by its newest fund, Lighthouse India Fund IV AIF, as per an official statement. It was not immediately clear how the company intended to deploy the newly raised funds. Lighthouse's co-founder and partner Sachin Bhartiya said the Private Equity (PE) fund sees structural tailwinds to the travel sector, and added that the Indian luggage market has been a beneficiary of increasing leisure travel and wedding spends. "Safari is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity with the confluence of expanding discretionary spends and changing consumer behaviour in favour of branded luggage with aspirational appeal," he said. Safari's chairman and managing director Sudhir Jatia said the luggage market still remains "highly unorganised" and his company aims to penetrate .

91,237 kids administered vaccine during Goa's polio immunisation programme

A total of 91,237 children in the age group of 0-5 years have been administered vaccine doses during the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme held in Goa. The immunisation programme was held on Sunday across 660 polio booth camps in Goa, as per a media statement issued by the state Directorate of Health Services. "Total 91,237 doses were administered to the children, which means an equal number of children benefitted with the programme," the official said. The target was to cover more than one lakh children during the campaign, he said. This will be followed by a house-to-house survey and coverage activity from March 4-6 during which doses for the left over children would be administered, he added.

Surrogacy rules: Couples with medical condition can now use donor gametes

The Centre has amended the surrogacy rules 2022 allowing married couples to use an egg or sperm of a donor in case one of the partners is suffering from a medical condition. The District Medical Board has to certify that either the husband or wife is suffering from a medical condition necessitating the use of donor gamete. "In case when the District Medical Board certifies that either husband or wife constituting the intending couple suffers from a medical condition necessitating use of donor gamete, then surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed," the notification issued on Wednesday said. The surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed subject to the condition that the child to be born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intending couple, it stated. This means if both the partners have medical problems or are unable to have their own gametes they cannot opt for surrogacy. "Single women (widow or divorcee) undergoing surrogacy must use self-eggs and donor sperm to

Healthcare firm Abridge secures $150 mn to develop AI model for clinicians

Shiv Rao, CEO of Abridge and also a practicing cardiologist, said the company plans to use the fresh funding for hiring as well as acquiring and training purpose-built medical AI models