Archive for category: News

New Delhi: Taking suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report about a 12-year-old boy who was critically injured and was denied admission to government hospitals due to the unavailability of ICU beds, the Delhi High Court directed a private hospital, where the boy was eventually admitted despite his family’s poor financial condition, to provide treatment under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category and refrain from demanding any payment from his parents.

A division bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet PS Arora further ordered that Shree Aggrasain International Hospital may make its submissions on the next date of hearing, but, in the meantime, must continue to provide all necessary and adequate treatment for the child’s recovery without charging the parents.

On being informed about the need to broaden the eligibility criteria for the EWS category, since many private hospitals fail to extend mandated facilities despite being under a binding obligation, the bench directed that this issue too shall be taken up on the next date, and counsels for all parties, including the Delhi government, should make their submissions.

Also read- Paramedical staff crucial for health management: Delhi HC directs immediate recruitment

The case concerns a 12-year-old boy who sustained severe injuries after he slipped from the first floor of his house on 19th August, 2025, as reported by TOI on August 29. The boy’s father is a daily wager and faced enormous challenges in finding a ventilator bed at any government hospital in the capital, following which the minor was taken to the Shree Aggrasain International Hospital, Rohini, New Delhi.

The news report also states that the parents of the child were looking for an ICU bed in various hospitals across Delhi, including the Safdarjung Hospital and other Delhi Government hospitals. However, due to their inability to find any ICU bed in any government hospital across the city, the child had to be admitted to a private hospital.

The Bench, which spoke to the child’s uncle over a phone call, was initially considering moving the boy to a government hospital. However, noting the progress in the child’s medical condition, the court decided not to shift him from the current facility.

The court further made it clear till the next date, the hospital will not demand money and continue to treat the child properly.

“The child shall be considered in the EWS category, and no payment shall be demanded by the hospital from the parents of the child till the next date of hearing. Issue notice to the hospital. On the next date, the hospital may make its submissions,” the bench said, posting the matter for September 2. The order would be communicated to the head of the hospital.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, who was appointed amicus curiae by the court in another case relating to the implementation of the Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), said in the EWS category, the criteria deserve to be increased in the case of hospitals, for most private hospitals did not properly extend medical facilities to the category, though under a binding obligation.

The news report claimed that a few days into his treatment at the government hospital, the child complained of severe headache, nose bleeding and vomiting and was rushed to the private hospital. The report said the family tried to get an admission in Ambedkar Hospital but was turned down twice and was asked to go to hospitals such as G B Pant or Safdarjung.

The child’s father was caught between mounting medical bills and the absence of support in government hospitals. He said he earns a few thousand rupees a month and has already spent Rs 2 lakh on his son’s treatment after borrowing money.

Recently, the Delhi government health secretary informed the high court that once the HMIS was fully implemented, ICU bed availability would begin in real time, reports PTI.

To view the official order, click on the link below: 

Also read- Doctor challenges ‘arbitrary’ revaluation clause in DNB exam- Delhi HC issues notice to NBE, Centre

New research has found that the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists*, a class of medications commonly prescribed for patients with obesity and diabetes, reduces the environmental footprint of healthcare and clinical outcomes when used to treat heart failure.

Treatment of heart failure patients with these therapies led to fewer hospitalizations and lower calorie intake, which together translated into decreased greenhouse gas emissions, less medical waste, and reduced water usage.

The study is one of the first to quantify the environmental co-benefits of pharmacologic treatment. The findings are being presented today at the 2025 European Society of Cardiology Congress in Madrid, Spain.

The healthcare sector is responsible for nearly 5% of greenhouse gas emissions globally (1), highlighting the need for interventions to reduce the environmental footprint of clinical care.

Patient level meta-analysis of four randomised controlled trials, SELECT, FLOW, STEP HFpEF, and STEPHFpEF DM, was conducted. All the trials involved patients with a type of heart failure, called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, who had been treated with GLP-1 receptor agonists or a placebo. Estimates of mean inpatient days, ICU admissions, emergency department and ambulatory visits per event of heart failure, and related greenhouse gas emissions were obtained from previously published literature.

A total of 54 worsening heart failure events were reported among 1,914 patients receiving GLP1-receptor antagonist treatment, compared to 86 events among 1,829 patients receiving placebo.

Those receiving the treatment were estimated to have 9.45 kg CO₂-equivalent emissions per patient per year, compared to 9.70 kg CO₂-equivalent emissions per patient per year among placebo users. The differences were predominantly driven by emissions arising from inpatient stays and outpatient visits due to worsening heart failure events.

The study was led by Dr.Sarju Ganatra, Director of Sustainability and Vice Chair of Research at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in the US and the President of Sustain Health Solutions, a non-profit organization that helps healthcare organizations integrate sustainability in care delivery. He explained, “The magnitude of the potential environmental emission savings found in our analysis was striking.”

“0.25 kg of CO2-equivalent per person saved annually from reduced hospitalizations might sound small. However, when this figure is scaled up to the millions of patients eligible for these therapies, it adds up to over 2 billion kilograms of CO2-equivalent saved. Similar-scale reductions were observed in waste generation and water use. This research highlights how even modest incremental individual gains can result in significant collective impact,” Dr Ganatra continued.

2 billion kg of CO2 is approximately equivalent to 20,000 full capacity Boeing 747 long-haul flights, or city-wide emissions from Brussels over 3 months. Around 30 million trees grown over 10 years would be needed to offset 2 billion kg of CO2.

The analysis also showed that those taking the GLP1-receptor antagonist treatment had approximately 695.33 kg CO2-equivalent lower emissions per patient per year due to a reduction in daily calorie consumption compared to placebo.

“By combining clinical trial data with environmental life cycle assessment metrics, we offer a new lens to evaluate the full impact of prescribing decisions. We also show that it is possible for medical treatments to deliver dual benefits-better health for patients and a healthier planet,” Dr Ganatra added. “We hope that in the future, policymakers will integrate sustainability metrics into health technology assessments, drug coverage decisions, and procurement frameworks.”

Each worsening heart failure event was assumed to involve one inpatient admission and a round trip to the hospital. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of a GLP1 receptor agonist were obtained from a leading pharmaceutical drug manufacturer.

The study used modelling data from prior trials and established environmental life cycle assessment emissions data sets, rather than direct measurements. It could not take into account patient-level variability such as behavioural differences, and the research used mean values for hospital-related emissions.

“The next step for this research is to validate our modelling with real-world emissions data and clinical outcomes. In the future, we hope that environmental impact will be integrated into clinical trial designs, drug regulatory processes, and formulary decisions to ensure health systems align with planetary health goals,” Dr Ganatra concluded.

The findings from this study also support previous research that found that treatment of patients with GLP-1 receptor agonists reduced hospital visits for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Researchers have found in a phase 3 trial that toripalimab combination therapy without cisplatin proved feasible, offering high failure-free survival and low toxicity in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study was published in JAMA by The DIAMOND Study Group.

New research has found a more effective way to conduct cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in microgravity,* which causes the weightlessness astronauts experience in space.

The study found that a type of automatic chest compression, carried out by a standard mechanical piston device, reached the depth needed to be effective, while the current CPR methods recommended for space travel are undereffective regarding this depth criteria.

Treating cardiac arrest during spaceflight is challenging because both the rescuer and the patient are floating due to microgravity. The current NASA emergency protocol for the International Space Station recommends the hand-stand method of CPR, where the rescuer performs a handstand on the patient’s chest with their legs pressing on the side of the spaceship to create the pressure needed for chest compressions.

“We tested different ways of giving chest compressions aboard a ‘flying laboratory’ which recreated the microgravity conditions that astronauts experience in space. Use of a particular type of automatic chest compression device was the only method that gave the depth that is recommended by international resuscitation guidelines to keep blood flowing to the brain in a real life cardiac arrest. We hope that our findings will be incorporated into the next guidelines (1) for treating cardiac arrest in space,” Explained Nathan Reynette from the Cardiology Department at Université de Lorraine – CHRU de Nancy.

The research was conducted in a ‘flying laboratory’ onboard a modified civil aircraft, the only one of its kind in Europe, called the A310 Air Zero G at the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, the French space agency. Freefalling phases of parabolic flight were used to accurately recreate microgravity for 22 seconds during each parabola, with around 30 parabolas per single fight. The experiments were conducted over three flights. Chest compression depths and rates were monitored by a high fidelity CPR training manikin.

Earth-based chest compressions during CPR are based on the rescuer’s weight, which does not exist in microgravity. As a result, over the last 30 years, researchers have searched for alternative methods, such as the Handstand method, Reverse Bear Hug method and the Evetts Russomano method. Until now, despite numerous trials, none of the proposed methods were shown to reach the depth standards needed for effective chest compressions.

Three types of automatic chest compression devices were tested. Automatic chest compression devices are routinely used on Earth by doctors in restricted environments such as emergency helicopter, or where prolonged CPR needs to be carried out over a longer period of time, such as refractory cardiac arrest which can last for more than 40 minutes. This type of CPR is not considered to be superior to manual CPR in normal conditions but has been proven to be effective when chest compressions are challenging.

Three types of automatic chest compression devices were tested; a standard mechanical piston device, a compression band device, and a small-sized piston device. Best practice guidance, such as advice given by the European Resuscitation Council (2), suggests that to be effective chest compressions must reach a depth of between 50 to 60mm.

Of the three automatic chest compression devices tested, the standard mechanical piston device had the highest median compression depth. The median compression depth of the standard mechanical piston device was 53.0mm, which was considerably more than the other two automatic chest compression devices, that both had median depths of 29mm, and the manual handstand method of CPR which achieved a depth of 34.5mm.

Reflecting on whether future space missions will take automatic chest compression devices in their emergency medical kit, Mr Reynette said, “It will be up to every space agency whether they want to include automatic chest compression devices in their emergency medical kit. We know they have other considerations beyond effectiveness, such as weight and space constraints.

“While cardiac arrest is a high danger event, that could even terminate a space mission, it is a relatively low risk for now. Most astronauts are young, healthy and physically fit individuals who have intensive medical monitoring, including scanning for chronic heart disease, before going into space. Nevertheless, longer lasting space missions in future and space tourism could increase the risks of a medical emergency occurring.” He continued.

The research project was a collaboration between clinicians from the CHU de Nancy, medical researchers from University of Lorraine and University of Paris, engineers from the Laboratoire Georges Charpak of the Ecole Nationale des Arts et Metiers Paris Tech and from the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, the French space agency and Novespace.

“This research highlights once again the usefulness of automated chest compression devices to perform CPR in challenging environments. Space medicine often provides transferable lessons for emergency procedures in isolated environments on Earth, where space and clinical experience are also limited. Further research could explore whether automated chest compression devices could prove useful to carry out CPR in environments such as submarines and artic bases.” Mr Reynette concluded.