Health Bulletin 9/January/2024

Here are the top health stories of the day:

NBE official website suspended amid uncertainty over NEET PG 2024 exam date

Amid the uncertainty regarding the date for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) examination, the official website of the National Board of Examinations (NBE) got suspended by Google.

The website of nbe.edu.in read, "This Account has been suspended. Contact your hosting provider for more information." Although there was no official statement on the suspension, several aspirants and doctors took to X (formerly Twitter) and started speculating on the reason for this development.

For more details, check out the link given below:

Amid Uncertainty Over The NEET PG 2024 Exam Date, NBE Official Website Got Suspended

Kalwa Hospital doctor sent on 30-day leave for allegedly slapping junior resident doctor

During a period when resident doctors in the state are actively opposing workplace harassment by their seniors, a case of alleged physical assault and abuse has emerged where a senior doctor at civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa reportedly slapped a junior resident doctor over admission-related queries of a patient.

Consequently, the senior doctor has been placed on compulsory leave for 30 days following the allegations of assaulting and abusing his junior colleague at the hospital.

For more details, check out the link given below:

Kalwa Hospital Doctor Sent On 30-Day Leave For Allegedly Slapping Junior Resident Doctor

Write medical prescriptions, postmortem reports in legible handwriting: Orissa High Court to doctors

The Orissa High Court has instructed the Odisha Chief Secretary to mandate all doctors to write medical prescriptions and medico-legal documents in legible handwriting. Justice SK Panigrahi emphasized that the current trend of "zigzag handwriting" among doctors has become a "fashion" and is unreadable by the common man or judicial officers. The court directed the Chief Secretary to issue a circular to medical centers, private clinics, and medical colleges and hospitals, urging them to write prescriptions and medico-legal reports in proper handwriting or typed form.

Paxlovid does not reduce the risk of long COVID, potentially linked to rebound symptoms: study

In a recent study published in the Journal of Medical Virology, researchers from the University of California–San Francisco found that Paxlovid, the first FDA-approved antiviral pill for mild and moderate COVID-19, did not prevent long COVID. The study included over 4,600 vaccinated individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 between March and August 2022. Around 20 percent of patients took Paxlovid, while 80 percent did not. The study revealed that there was little difference between the two groups in terms of long-COVID symptoms, with approximately 16 percent of Paxlovid users experiencing long-COVID symptoms compared to 14 percent in the non-Paxlovid group.

The research also highlighted that just over 20 percent of individuals who took Paxlovid experienced rebound symptoms, with 10.8 percent reporting one or more long-COVID symptoms after rebound. Retesting positive after initially testing negative was common among rebound patients, affecting 25.7 percent of those who took Paxlovid.

This study adds to the growing body of research on the efficacy and limitations of Paxlovid, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of its impact on COVID-19 outcomes.

Reference:

Matthew S. Durstenfeld, Michael J. Peluso, Feng Lin, Noah D. Peyser, Carmen Isasi, Thomas W. Carton, Timothy J. Henrich, Steven G. Deeks, Jeffrey E. Olgin, Mark J. Pletcher, Alexis L. Beatty, Gregory M. Marcus, Priscilla Y. Hsue, Association of nirmatrelvir for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection with subsequent Long COVID symptoms in an observational cohort study, Journal of Medical Virology, https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.29333