FM AUGUST 2018 ISSUE1 - digital edition

Serum Institute of India, world’s
largest vaccine manufacturer.
The Pune-based Serum
Institute produces 1.5 billion
doses of vaccines annually.
Physician-scientist Huda Y.
Zoghbi and Duke University
nursing leader Marion E
Broome were the other
scientists conferred with
the Honorary Degree of
“Doctor of Science Hon.” for
their accomplishments.
Dr Poonawalla is also the first
Indian to receive the award for
“Excellence in Inter-American
Public Health” by the Pan
American Health Organization
(PAHO) and the Pan American
Health and Education
Foundation (PAHEF).
Twitter co-founder
invests in online
health startup Visit
T
witter co-founder Biz
Stone has made an
investment in Visit, a Delhibased
healthcare startup that
uses an artificial intelligencebased
bot in its app.
Visit is an on-demand
healthcare service platform
which provides its users a
pool of medical specialists and
general physicians to choose
from for consultation.
Founded in 2016, Visit offers
paid online consultation
through video and voice
channels, and seven days of
free follow-up checks over text
chat. Besides, it maintains a
pool of MBBS doctors, who
offer free health advice by text
through its ‘Q’ service.
Visit has a pool of 2,200
doctors, which includes
psychologists, dietitians,
dermatologists, sexologists,
gynaecologists, preventive
cardiologists and paediatricians,
besides general physicians.
Recently, it introduced an
artificial intelligence-based
‘chatbot’ that acts as a digital
assistant to provide “smart
help” to patients in accessing
consultation from doctors.
Visit Internet Services was
started by four students of
BITS-Pilani, including Vaibhav
Singh, co-founder and head
of growth at the firm. The
venture has already received
funding from MapMyIndia,
and is based out of Okhla in
South Delhi.
Kerala to
implement generic
prescription rules
T
he
Travancore-Cochin
Medical Council (TCMC)
has directed all registered
medical practitioners working
in Kerala to adhere to the
guidelines of India’s medical
regulator while
prescribing drugs.
The Medical Council of India
(MCI), the country’s top
medical regulator, brought
out the guidelines for generic
prescription on September 28
in 2016.
Kerala’s medical regulator
has now mandated that all
professionals write the generic
names of prescribed drugs in
capital letters. Doctors are liable
for disciplinary action if they fail
to comply with the directive.
The order is binding on all
doctors from government and
private sectors.
The doctors, however, can
mention the brand names
in the prescription to avoid
confusing patients who are
familiar with their routine
brands, reports said.
Earlier, the state council
members had vehemently
opposed the MCI decision to
implement the new generic
prescription guidelines.
The new directive has
reportedly come out on the
insistence of the state health
secretary who wanted the
council to implement the
guidelines of the MCI in Kerala,
as it is seen as a role model
for other states in several
healthcare reforms.
India bans antibody
tests for malaria
I
ndia has prohibited the use
of the antibody detecting
rapid diagnostic tests for
routine diagnosis of malaria.
The union health ministry has
also banned the manufacture
for sale, sale and distribution
of these test kits with
immediate effect.
The ministry said the use
of antibody detecting rapid
diagnostic tests offer no
solution to diagnose malaria
because serological testing
is not practical for routine
diagnosis of acute infections,
going by the time required for
development of antibody.
Also, the antibodies may persist
even after clearance of an
active infection. The expert
committee appointed by the
government is of the opinion
that serology does not detect
ongoing infection but measures
past exposure, stated the
government notification issued
on March 23, 2018.
These tests are used rampantly
AUGUST 2018/ FUTURE MEDICINE / 7