Health Corner

Relief for orthopadiecs
The orthopaedic patients of the city have a reason to rejoice on. SaiShree Orthopaedic Super-Speciality and Joint Replacement Centre will commence its operations this weekend,with inauguration on June 13 by State Home Minister Jayant Patil. “This state-of-the-art 30 bedded hospital at Aundh is equipped to perform advanced orthopaedic surgeries and has separate operation theatres for joint replacement,spine and fracture surgeries with IBP and Et CO2 enabled patient monitors,joint-less OT walls,shadow less OT lamps,electro hydraulic operation tables with remote control,navigation system for precision joint replacement surgery. Joint Replacement Centre,emergency department,a well-equipped laboratory,24 hours medical shop,cafeteria and the private rooms with TV,AC and refrigerator are some of the other facilities at the SaiShree,” said Dr Neeraj Adkar,Consultant Knee and Hip Surgeon and one of the founders of SaiShree.

Lethal pleasure
The near to fatal effects of tobacco on its addicts is not restricted to the heart and lungs only but can spread its fumes to be the cause of developing cancer. It is estimated that one Indian in every 10 will get cancer in his or her lifetime. Dr Shona Nag,medical oncologist,Jehangir Hospital and Sahyadri Hospitals revealed that every year in our country one third of the cancer deaths are tobacco related. She also added that by year 2025 there will be a 500 per cent increase in the incidence of cancer in the developing world – half of this will be due to ageing and the other half due to tobacco use. Tobacco use is not only implicated in the cause of lung cancer,but cancers of the oral cavity,throat,stomach,breast and kidney. Another serious observation is the rising incidence of lung cancer among non-smokers. This experts’ say is the result of passive smoking,being near to a smoker. The pan in India has evolved as a good disguise for the practice of chewing tobacco or gutkha and word of caution needs to go in the air.

iTunes dentistry
Nobel Biocare,a dental medical devices group in Switzerland has come up with an innovative way to disperse educational material on dentistry. The cooperation aims to provide free training and educational material to dentists,dental specialists,students and patients on Apple’s Education platform,through downloadable audio-visual material through iTunes. This step is set to involve millions of dental professionals with state of the art dental education. The application,available on iTunes U,will be in a downloadable format,and any person with access to Apple’s iTunes store can feed in the requisite link and download the information. Nobel Biocare is set to become the first medical technology company to have its own presence on iTunes U,a first of its kind initiative in the world.