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oi-Lekhaka

By Lekhaka

on March 8, 2021

Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar today said that doctors should prescribe generic medicines to help poor people. Except for complicated disease where there is need for specific formulas, for other ailments the use of generic medicine should be encouraged. Speaking on the occasion of 3rd Jan Aushadhi Diwas in Pune he announced to start a campaign for doctors to popularise the use of generic medicine in the country.

Mr. Javadekar visited a Pradhanmantri Bhartiya Jan Aushdhi Kendra in Kothrud , Pune and attended the Prime Minister’s live telecast interaction from Shilong.

He also interacted with the doctors and beneficiaries at the centre. Mr. Javadekar said that Prime Minister has launched world’s biggest Health Insurance scheme which is helping 50 crore Indians. The cost of medicines at these Jan Aushadhi stores is 60 to 70 percent cheaper than market price. The prices of over 500 medicines have been reduced.

He further said that even the major operations like heart stent and Knee replacement can be done at much lesser cost under this scheme. This scheme has reduced the cost of medicines so much that people call it Modi’s shop of cheap medicines. The scheme which started with only 100 Kendras has now 7500 Kendras. Jammu and Kashmir has become First state to give free health services to residents irrespective of their income, said the Minister. The country has 50,000 wellness centres now which provide facilities like Yoga and exercise training etc. soon there will be 1.5 lakh such centres, he added. He pointed out that, due to Prime Minister’s vision these generic medicines are now available in various places and people are taking advantage of it.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1702984

The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has called on the Federal Government to pay the salaries of house officers and some resident doctors across the country on or before its scheduled meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly members on Tuesday or risk strike action.

This was stated in a communique by the National President of NARD, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, and the Secretary-General, Dr. Jerry lsogun, issued at the end of the virtual emergency National Executive Council of NARD.

He said that NEC demands the payment of all minimum wage and other salary arrears to our members nationwide without further delay.

He noted the immediate implementation of 50% of consolidated basic salary as hazard allowance for all healthcare workers.

NARD demanded “Immediate payment of the Medical Residency Fund for 2021 with the arrears of 2019 and 2020 inclusive;

“That all training institutions be directed to stop the collection of Bench fee from our members since it was not captured in the Residency Training Fund as approved.”

READ ALSO: COVID-19: NARD sets up telehealth initiative, targets one million Nigerians

He added that the Federal Government meet, with immediate effect, all the agreements in the Memorandum of Terms of Settlement (MOTOS) signed on April 21, 2020.

He also asked “That all clinical health workers be considered for COVID-19 vaccination and the other issues affecting efficient health care delivery in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic including adequate provision of PPEs be addressed;

“We wish to remind you that some of these issues have lingered on for so long and had culminated in a nationwide industrial action on September 14, 2020 which was later suspended to give room for further negotiations and possible settlement.

“In furtherance to the above, the NEC has unanimously resolved to proceed on a recess to reappraise the outcomes of the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 9, on the delay in the payment of their members’ salaries following which industrial harmony cannot be guaranteed if the above demands are not acceded to.”

Vanguard News Nigeria

LANSING, United States (REUTERS) – As his victims wept in a Michigan courtroom on Wednesday (Jan 24), disgraced long-time USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for abusing young female gymnasts who were entrusted to his care.

“I’ve signed your death warrant,” Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar, following days of accounts from about 160 of his victims.

Spectators and victims cried, applauded and embraced as Nassar, 54, wearing a dark blue jailhouse jumpsuit, was led out of the courtroom. Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse him in 2016, shared a hug with Angela Povilaitis, the lead prosecutor.

After the sentence decision, the president of Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked, said she was resigning after facing a barrage of criticism for not doing enough to halt the abuse.

The chief of the US Olympic committee called for all USA Gymnastics directors to resign.

Nassar, who served as the program’s physician through four Olympic Games, apologised to his victims during the hearing, telling them, “I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.” Aquilina dismissed his statement as insincere and courtroom spectators gasped as the judge read aloud from a letter he wrote to her claiming he was a good doctor who was manipulated into pleading guilty.

Nassar, who already is serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison for child pornography convictions, also said his accusers fabricated claims to gain money and fame, writing, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” “Would you like to withdraw your plea?” Aquilina asked Nassar after tossing aside his letter.

“No, your honour,” Nassar said.

“Because you are guilty, aren’t you? Are you guilty, sir?” the judge demanded.

After a long pause, Nassar said quietly, “I have said my plea, exactly.”

CHANGING VIEW

The prosecution and Aquilina emphasised the broader significance of the sentencing, coming amid a national debate over sexual misconduct prompted by accusations against powerful men from Hollywood to Washington.

“At this particular moment in history, this sentence and hearing will be viewed as a turning point in how our community, our state, our nation, our culture looks at sexual abuse,” Povilaitis said.

Aquilina rattled off a series of statistics about the prevalence of sexual abuse before saying, “It stops now.” The sentencing followed an extraordinary week-long hearing that saw Nassar’s victims unflinchingly, defiantly tell their stories in raw terms.

Despite Nassar’s objections, Aquilina allowed victims who were not part of his guilty plea to speak at his sentencing. Throughout much of the proceedings, the bespectacled Nassar sat with his head bowed, rarely making eye contact with his accusers.

The women ranged from famous Olympic gold medalists like Aly Raisman to former gymnasts like Denhollander, now a lawyer, who was the last of the victims to speak on Wednesday and whom Aquilina described as “the bravest person I have ever had in my courtroom”.

McKayla Maroney, a gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, called Nassar a “monster human being”, while a former member of the US national team said his abuse led to depression and an eating disorder.

Another gymnast said she was only 6 years old when Nassar began molesting her and blamed the doctor for her father’s suicide once he realised she had not been lying about the abuse she endured.

“I’ve been forever changed by all of this and I will never feel small again,” Bailey Lorencen said after the sentencing. She had been an anonymous accuser until she spoke in court this week. “I have a different confidence in myself as a woman.”

In addition to Raisman and Maroney, Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas went public in recent months with their own accusations against Nassar.

Nassar pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of first-degree sex assault in Ingham County, as well as three charges in Eaton County, where he is due to be sentenced next week.

INSTITUTIONS QUESTIONED

Around 140 victims have filed a lawsuit against Nassar, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University (MSU), claiming the institutions knew about allegations of abuse years ago and failed to act. The gymnastics body and the school have asked a judge to dismiss the cases.

“As tragedies are politicised, blame is inevitable. As president, it is only natural that I am the focus of this anger,” MSU President Lou Anna Simon said in her resignation letter.

Some of the sport’s biggest names, most notably Raisman, have said USA Gymnastics is in need of reform.

On Monday, three board members resigned in the wake of the scandal , following the exit last March of the federation’s president and chief executive.

But that was not enough for the US Olympic Committee (USOC). On Wednesday, its chief executive, Scott Blackmun, said in an open letter that “all current USA Gymnastics directors must resign.”

He also said the USOC would launch an independent, third-party investigation into the Nassar scandal to determine “when complaints were brought forward and to who.” He said the results would be made public.

USA Gymnastics replied that it supports the open letter but did not address the calls for the mass resignation. According to its web page, it has 18 directors.

Kerry Perry, who became USA Gymnastics president in December, on Wednesday applauded the sentence and vowed to “create a culture that empowrs and supports” the program’s athletes.

Several companies have announced they would not continue to sponsor the federation, including AT&T Inc on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar has been transferred to a high security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, after being convicted of molesting scores of young women who went to him for treatment, authorities said on Saturday (Feb 10).

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said the 54-year-old Nassar was at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson, which holds about 1,390 male inmates.

The bureau’s website listed his release date as March 23, 2069.

After weeks of horrifying testimony from nearly 200 victims about his decades of abuse, Nassar was sentenced on Monday in Michigan to 40 to 125 years in prison.

He had already received a 40-to-175-year sentence in a neighbouring Michigan county, and was sentenced to a 60-year federal term for child pornography convictions.

Prosecutors have said there are about 265 known victims in total, including Olympic gold medalists McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman.

The Nassar scandal has prompted multiple investigations into why the US Olympic Committee, the sport’s governing body USA Gymnastics, as well as Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked, failed to investigate complaints about him going back years.

United States Olympic Committee Board of Directors Chairman Larry Probst said on Friday before the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea that the US Olympic system “failed” the hundreds of young female athletes who were sexually abused by Nassar.

The US Olympic Committee has launched an investigation into its own conduct as well as that of USA Gymnastics and US lawmakers are also investigating.

Senior officials at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State have been forced to resign in recent weeks.

Lucy Mecklenburgh was left panicking when her baby son Roman choked on an apple.

The former TOWIE star, 29, said Roman, who turns one next month, had managed to bring up the fruit by himself, but spent two hours after that “gagging” and refused any more food or fluids.

She said she took her son, her first child with her fiancé Ryan Thomas , to his GP, who advised taking Roman to A&E if he continued to refuse fluids.

Taking to her Instagram account on Tuesday, Lucy posted a photo of Roman snuggled on her chest as she explained what happened in the terrifying ordeal.

She wrote: “This morning Roman choked on a little piece of apple and he managed to clear it himself but spent two hours gagging, being sick & bringing up thick saliva.”

“He’s just not himself I think it must be the acid irritating his throat & shock.

“He’s not eaten breakfast & lunch he put in his mouth, gagged & spat it all out.”

She later updated her fans, adding: “We did go to the GP and he suggested A&E if he continued to refuse fluids but he has finally had a bottle of water & breastfed just won’t eat solids.”

Later, when Roman was feeling better and Lucy had calmed down, she explained what had happened.

The mum-of-one said: “It was just awful. I think, in my head, I thought choking was when they went completely silent and their airways were completely blocked and you got it out and that was OK.

“Whereas, Roman might have had a moment where he was silent, that I didn’t notice because I was making breakfast for everyone and I think it was almost like it was partially blocked or something.

“And he… it went on for two hours just him bringing up saliva and phlegm and being sick and then being fine and then started gagging again and bringing it up.”

She continued: “Finally, after ages took some water and breast milk down so that made me worry less and I put him down for a nap and have been checking on him every 15 minutes. He’s been napping for ages I think he’s worn out, bless him.

“But, yeah it was scary and I am worried about how he’s gonna eat now because I put lunch in front of him and he had a bit and he just gagged and spat it out – he’s such an amazing eater so I’m just concerned he might be off his food and it might now go through another process in weaning that I didn’t think I would have to worry about because he’s always eaten everything and anything.

“So I am slightly worried but the main thing is he’s OK.

“I’m hoping when he gets back from his nap that he’s back to his old happy self and it’s always the way.

“We got to the doctors, he was sick on the way, he wasn’t himself and as soon as we walked in the doctor’s surgery he smiled at everyone.”