Author: Starvision News Desk

Mumbai, Oct 5 (IANS) Under fire from the opposition over deaths in hospitals, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday ordered all Collectors to visit the government hospitals in their districts and submit a status report immediately. The Collectors have been asked to visit all state-run, civic hospitals, primary health centers and hospitals attached to medical colleges across the state and prepare a detailed report on the current situation there.Shinde also directed the Collectors to visit government hospitals under their respective jurisdiction on a daily/regular basis to monitor the situation there, even as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi and other…

Nairobi, Oct 5 (IANS) A mysterious disease has affected about 95 schoolgirls in Kenya who have been paralysed, according to media reports.Officials from Kakamega county confirmed 95 students from St. Theresa’s Eregi Girls High School, located 374 kilometres northwest ofNairobi, had been hospitalised after alleged paralysis in the leg, KBC.co.ke reported.Kakamega County’s CEC for Health, Bernard Wesonga, said samples of blood, urine, and stool have been collected and sent for extensive testing to determine the cause of the unknown illness that has caused panic and anxiety among parents.Some students are responding positively to medication, while others are still under medical…

New Delhi, Oct 05 (IANS) More widespread access to Nicotine Replacement Therapy, a crucial tool in the fight against smoking for over 25 years, may help in tobacco cessation in India, said doctors on Thursday.Tobacco addiction remains a global menace, responsible for one death every six seconds worldwide and over a million deaths in India alone, constituting 9.5 per cent of all fatalities.Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) offers a 50 per cent higher probability of quitting smoking compared to attempting to quit without it, and it is both safe and readily available without the need for a prescription.Dr. Chandrakant S Pandav,…

New York, Oct 5 (IANS) Fathers also suffer from postpartum depression, and a new pilot study suggests they can and should be screened for the condition. Given the intertwined effects of mothers’ and fathers’ physical and mental health, addressing the health of fathers may be a powerful untapped tool in improving the ongoing maternal health crisis, said researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago in the US.For the study, published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, researchers interviewed and screened 24 fathers, 30 per cent of whom turned positive for postpartum depression on the same tool that is commonly…

Canberra, Oct 5 (IANS) Australia’s top retail body estimated on Thursday that the pre-Christmas spending in 2023 is tipped to remain nearly the same as last year’s results, as citizens have a tighter rein on their budgets due to the cost-of-living crisis.Provisional forecasts by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan indicated a total of A$66.8 billion to be spent during the November to December 24 Christmas trading period, up slightly by 0.1 per cent from last year’s level, reports Xinhua news agency.Spending on food is projected to account for the lion’s share, making up A$26.7 billion of the…

Kuala Lumpur, Oct 5 (IANS) The Malaysian government will earmark 81 billion ringgit ($17.1 billion) to subsidiSe essential items including electricity, fuel and food, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim saidWhile the figure is seen as high, Prime Minister Ibrahim said reducing the subsidy without looking at the needs of the people is not an option of the government, which must ensure the people are not burdened, especially by the current cost of living, reports Xinhua news agency.”Subsidies are an intervention by the government to ease the people’s burden. Subsidies for chicken and eggs are amounting to 3.8 billion ringgit but reducing…

Islamabad, Oct 5 (IANS) An 18-month-old baby girl has been infected with wild poliovirus in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province — the third positive case of this year, the Health Ministry said.The child was paralysed on September 13, the Ministry said in a statement, adding that the wild poliovirus type-1 was detected from stool specimen of the child living in Bannu district of the province, reports Xinhua news agency.According to the Ministry, all the three cases of this year were reported in the Ghora Baka Khel area of Bannu district.Genetically the newly reported case is linked to the second polio…

Houston, Oct 5 (IANS) In the wake of a fresh surge of migrants influx, the White House has waived 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction in Starr County, Texas, the .S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.It marks a U-turn of the Biden administration since building the border wall was a signature promise by former President Donald Trump in his 2016 campaign and has been fiercely criticized by the Democrats since then, reports Xinhua news agency.President Joe Biden halted the construction during his first week in the White House in Jan. 2021.”There is presently an acute and immediate…

Islamabad, Oct 5 (IANS) Usman Dar, one of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s closets aides who served head of the PTI’s Tiger Force, seems to have decided to change sides and become an “approver” against his party chief in the 9 May riots and vandalism case.Besides serving as head of the Tiger force, an organisation formed to induct and promote young volunteers to work for the party, Dar was also the former Special Assistant to Khan on Youth Affairs, under which the Kamyaab Jawaan programme was launched.In an interview to a TV channel, Dar claimed that the planning and…

New York, Oct 4 (IANS) Moderna on Thursday announced positive interim results from the Phase 1/2 trial of its investigational combination vaccine against influenza and Covid-19.Flu and Covid-19 represent a significant seasonal burden for individuals, providers, healthcare systems and economies. Combination shots aim to target both respiratory viruses that typically surge at the same time of the year. The Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of mRNA-1083 compared to a standard dose influenza vaccine Fluarix, in adults 50-64 years of age. It was also compared against an enhanced influenza vaccine Fluzone HD in adults 65-79 years of…