Health matters

Rotary Club,Aundh,and NCORD Blood Bank are jointly organising a blood donation camp on July 1,

8 am to 8 pm,at Saishree Hospital,Aundh. Encouraging people to participate in the camp,Rotary Club president Pravin Lakhe said it is a step towards saving lives.

Fighting Infection

Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital (ABMH) organised ABMH IPC 2013,a national conference on infection prevention. The two-day conference witnessed more than 200 participants including speakers and delegates from hospitals across India. Various approaches,practices and methodologies were shared to bring about an improvement in infection-control practices at hospitals for better patient care and safety. Topics such as hand hygiene,recent advances in microbial resistance,regulation of disinfection techniques and bio-medical waste management were discussed. “We plan to come up with various initiatives in the near future to improve the overall quality of healthcare delivery in India,” said Rekha Dubey,COO,ABMH.

Ageing Gracefully

Columbia Asia Hospital is launching a special programme for senior citizens that will help them keep a tab on health parameters and address concerns,if any. As part of this,a two-day screening camp for senior citizens was held at the hospital on June 24 and 25. “Through our special programme for senior citizens,we intend to talk about the fact that even in old age,one can live well with regular consultations and timely medical intervention,” said Dr Sunil Rao,general manager of the hospital.

Treating Cancer

Dr Amol Bapaye’s study on Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD),a new technique for the removal of early stage digestive tract cancer lesions,has been accepted and published in Indian Journal of Gastroenterology. Dr Bapaye,an interventional endoscopist from the city,said the study conducted on patients diagnosed with gastric cancer showed that ESD is an effective technique for removal of early gastric cancer,submucosal tumors or colonic polyps and can be performed even with limited resources by an expert in a standard endoscopy suite. ESD,which originated in Japan in the late ’90s,enables a clinician to resect an early-stage digestive tract cancer as a single piece regardless of the tumor size. This permits a higher curative resection rate and increased quality of life by minimising the resection size compared with that of Endoscopic Mucosal Resection (EMR). Bapaye has been invited to be a part of the Asia Pacific association of gastrointestinal Endoscopy (APAGE) ESD forum for further clinical research and development of this specialty.

Nursing Courses

Shree Hospital has introduced two nursing courses — a six-month Maharashtra government-affiliated course for ward assistant and a year-long course for students who have written Class X exams. Students enrolling for the courses will also be given a stipend.