Antibiotic introduced in year First resistant bacterial strain found in Penicillin introduced in 1940 Penicillin-resistant staph – 1940 Tetracycline introduced in 1950 Tetracycline-resistant shigella 1959 Erythromycin introduced in 1953 Erythromycin-resistant strep – 1968 Methicillin introduced in 1960 Methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) – 1962 Levofloxacin – 1996 Resistant bacteria emerged in – 1996 Linezolid –…

A recent article highlights for example the danger of artemisinin-resistant bacteria emerging in Cambodia. Currently, these bacteria have been restricted to the East of the Moei river which separates Burma and Thailand. But once these cross over to India and Bangladesh and then to Africa, the problem will become difficult to contain. Artemisinin is often…

Drug resistance, especially to antibiotics, is becoming a serious problem for public health policy makers the world over, both in developed as well as developing countries. Common causes of increasing antibiotic resistance are: 1. Self-medication by patients for a variety of common diseases 2. Using antibiotics as a first line of defence, instead of as…

Dynamic Techno Medicals was the Diamond Sponsor of the Annual Conference on Trauma (Traumacon 2014) . About 350 doctors attended the event. The Organizing Secretary was Dr. Rajesh Simon of Lakeshore Hospital. TRAUMACON 2014 Annual Conference on Trauma 2014 Starts: 2014-02-06:00.000 Ends: 2014-04-27:00.000 Hotel Crowne Plaza Cochin, Kerala India

In August 2012 at the Clinical Infectious Diseases Society conference in Chennai, a road-map was laid out to tackle the problem of increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. This is popularly known as the Chennai Declaration. It envisages that within 5 years, 90% of all antibiotics should be included in Schedule H1 and be sold…

Section H1 Drugs and Cosmetics Rules In September 2013, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 was modified. A section H1 was added to specify certain 3rd and 4th generation antibiotics in addition to some anti-TB drugs and addictive drugs. For the drugs under Schedule H1, pharmacies are required to retain a copy of the prescription…

The nationwide AIOCD (All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists) set for March 28 has been postponed until after the General Elections. But it still continued in some states like UP and Bihar. The main demand is to empower retail shop owners with more than two years of experience to dispense drugs. This is in…

The government has lifted the ban on Analgin (a brand of Metamizole Sodium) on March 19th 2014. Analgin is a a pain-killer and anti-pyretic introduced in 1920. It is banned in more than 30 developed countries including the US which banned it in 1977. Even developing countries like Nepal have banned this product. India had…

ET has an interesting article by Karan Singh, a partner in the Healthcare practice at Bain. He estimates that by 2020, there will be 450 million people in the Urban Mass Market (other than the urban affluent). The estimated healthcare spend of this urban market is Rs 200,000 crores. He also recommends a less stringent…

The Government is trying to pass the Disabilities Bill in the winter session of Parliament. In 1997, India became the 7th nation to ratify the UNCRPD  (United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities). This shifts disability from a medical perspective to a human-rights approach. This includes disability in seeing, hearing, movement and mental…