Is India Winning the War Against Rising Non-Communicable Diseases? The latest health statistics paint a concerning picture: diabetes, heart disease, and cancer rates are climbing, impacting millions across the country. From rural healthcare access to the burgeoning urban health crisis, challenges remain significant. This week, we delve into the crucial initiatives underway – government policies, technological advancements in telemedicine, and the rising role of preventative healthcare – that aim to address this national health emergency. Experts weigh in on the effectiveness of current strategies and the critical need for increased public awareness campaigns targeting lifestyle diseases. Are these efforts enough? Explore Abtak.com's in-depth coverage on healthcare in India and discover the vital information you need to protect your well-being and the future of public health. Stay informed; stay healthy.
Kochi, July 8 (UNI) The southernmost Indian state of Kerala is bracing for a potential outbreak of Nipah, a zoonotic virus transmitted from animals to humans, and also through contaminated food or direct human-to-human contact. The incubation period for the virus ranges from 5 to 14 days, after which symptoms become visible. The Nipah virus has a high case fatality rate, ranging from 40% to 75% in humans, said Dr Naresh Purohit, advisor to the National Communicable Disease Control Programme. The recent death of an 18-year-old girl from Chettiyarangadi in Malappuram was confirmed by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) as caused by Nipah infection, while a 38-year-old woman from Thachanattukara in Palakkad district also tested positive for the virus. In the wake of the virus resurfacing in Kerala, the Health Minister stated that 383 people are on the contact list of the two individuals infected with the Nipah virus in the state. Of those, 12 are undergoing treatment in Malappuram district, with five in the ICU, while four others are being treated in isolation in Palakkad district." Since there is no vaccine available, netizens are urged to take precautions to ensure that food is not contaminated by bats, said Purohit, principal investigator for National Integrated Disease Surveillance Control Programme. The first Nipah outbreak in Kerala was in 2018, during which 17 deaths were reported and 18 cases were confirmed as Nipah. Symptoms of Nipah are similar to those of the influenza virus, which include fever, headache, fainting, and nausea. In some cases, symptoms like choking, stomach pain, vomiting, fatigue, and blurred vision could also be there. The patient can possibly go into a coma just two days after the symptoms begin. The chance of contracting encephalitis that affects the brain is also high. The renowned epidemiologist averred that direct contact with infected pigs, other infected animals, contaminated fruits (such as half-eaten fruits left by fruit bats), and even direct contact with sick individuals have been the underlying causes of Nipah virus outbreaks in recent years. "Take precautions to ensure bats don't eat the food or drop feces on it. Do not eat fruits that may have been bitten by bats. Do not drink toddy that is brewed in open containers near palm trees." he added. Dr Purohit emphasised that it is also important to safeguard oneself after coming in contact with someone who has contracted the virus. It is important to maintain a distance from the patient and to sanitise and wash hands thoroughly. Clothes, utensils, and items typically used in the toilet or bathroom, like buckets and mugs, should be cleaned separately and maintained hygienically. Hands should always be kept clean using soap or alcohol hand rubs. Hands should be washed with soap for at least twenty seconds. UNI DS ARN
New Delhi, June 8 (UNI) Active Covid-19 cases in India have crossed the 6,000 mark following a surge of nearly 400 new infections reported in the past 24 hours. The country also recorded six Covid-related deaths during this period, with three fatalities reported from Kerala, as per the data available from the Union Health Ministry. As of now, India has 6,133 active cases and a cumulative death toll of 65. Kerala continues to report the highest number of active infections, nearing the 2,000 mark, making it the state with the largest current caseload. In the last 24 hours, 378 new cases were r ...Read More >
Imphal, June 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) The northeastern state of Manipur has crossed the 200 mark in the cumulative active cases of Covid-19 with with 13 more new cases reported on Thursday from four districts, officials said. State Health department officials said that 40 samples were tested on Thursday and 13 samples were found positive for Covid-19 in four districts - Imphal West (6), Imphal East (5) while Bishnupur and Thoubal had one case each. Of the total positive cases of 202 on Thursday, 137 were reported in Imphal West district, 48 in Imphal East district, eight in Thoubal district, five ...Read More >
Rajouri: State Health Department teams are continuing door-to-door surveillance in Badhal village as the mystery illness in Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir continues to claim lives. This after an 'unidentified' disease has claimed 16 reported fatalities and 38 affected individuals According to reports, NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control), ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) teams have been deployed for investigation as 16 deaths have been reported in Budhal village since December 2024 due to a 'mysterious illness.' Dilmir Choudhary, ADC Kotranka said, "Since December, we h ...Read More >
Haridwar: A woman politician has been arrested for allegedly letting her boyfriend and others repeatedly rape her 13-year-old daughter in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The horrifying crime, which occurred between January and March, was exposed when the minor bravely confided in her father, prompting a police investigation that led to the arrest of the accused. The accused was arrested with her boyfriend and one more. According to police reports, the minor was gang-raped multiple times, often in the presence of her mother. The minor, who had been living with her father following her parents' separat ...Read More >
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], June 6 (ANI): Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday attended a 'Kisan Chaupal' event at Pav Wala Soda village in the Raipur block of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The programme was held as part of the 'Developed Agriculture Resolution' campaign aimed at strengthening the agricultural sector in the state. During the event, Chouhan interacted with local farmers and praised the success stories shared by them, especially in the areas of organic farming and coarse grain production. He also showed strong support for promoting Uttarakhand's organic produce at both n ...Read More >
During a raid conducted on Thursday in the presence of members from the Uttar Pradesh State Women Commission and the State Welfare Department, the old-age home in Noida was found in a deplorable condition. Forty-two elderly people were rescued from an "illegal" old-age home after a police raid at the institution found some women tied up, many residents without clothes and others in "basement-like" rooms, officials said. During a raid conducted on Thursday in the presence of members from the Utt ...Read More >
Hyderabad, July 1 (SocialNews.XYZ) The death toll in the explosion in a pharmaceutical unit at Pashamylaram near Hyderabad mounted to 36 on Tuesday. With some of the injured succumbing at hospitals and rescue workers recovering more bodies from debris, the death toll rose sharply since Monday. The toll in the worst industrial disaster in Telangana may go up further as the rescue workers continued searches for the bodies in the debris of a three-storey building which collapsed under the impact of the blast. A massive explosion had rocked Sigachi Industries Limited's pharmaceutical factory at ...Read More >
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy instructed officials to provide compensation of ₹1 crore to families of the workers who died in the blast at Sigachi Industries Pvt. Ltd. in Pashamylaram of Isnapur, Sangareddy. Directions were issued to give ₹10 lakh to those several injured. He said that the State did not witness an incident which claimed so many lives and action would be taken on those responsible. Of the 143 people who were working there at the time of the explosion, 44 were declared dead as of Tuesday (July 1, 2025) early afternoon. The Chief Minister said that directions were is ...Read More >
RAIPUR: A furious sloth bear attack left a father-son duo dead and injured two others, including a deputy forest ranger, in Korar forest range of Kanker Forest Division in Chhattisgarh. The disturbing live video of the attack, which was captured by some journalists/villagers present at the site during the sloth bear's second attack went viral on social media. The sloth bear, believed to be infected by rabies, made the first attack on 45-year-old Sukhlal Darro around 11 am on January 18, said Divisional Forest Officer, Kanker, Alok Bajpai. Darro and another person identified as Ajju Kureti, ...Read More >
Srinagar, June 7: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, on Saturday, congratulated the University of Kashmir for getting an A++ grade in the NAAC inspection. The Lt Governor extended his heartiest congratulations to the Vice Chancellor, faculty, staff, and students of the University of Kashmir for attaining the prestigious A++ Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and securing an outstanding Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.68 on a seven-point scale. Calling it a proud moment for J&K UT, the Lt Governor said, "The A++ Grade places the Un ...Read More >
DHARMAPURI: For the third time in the past two months, a wild leopard wandered into a private farmland near Valaithottam village near Palacode and hunted chicken raised by a local farmer. Locals are increasingly distressed and urged the forest department to take steps to relocate the leopard. Over the past few months, there have been several reports of leopard sightings in forest areas near Palacode, particularly in Valaithottam village, near the forest's fringe. There have been two instances when the leopard attacked farmlands, taking away a domestic dog and a chicken. On Saturday, the leop ...Read More >
Bhubaneswar, May 22 (UNI) An elderly person with comorbidities who recently returned from New Delhi has tested positive for COVID-19, an official source said on Thursday. The 75-year-old patient has been admitted to a private hospital in the state capital. His family members have been instructed to remain in quarantine as a preventive measure. According to Health Department sources, the patient's blood sample will be sent to the Institute of Life Sciences for genome sequencing to determine the COVID-19 variant. Odisha Health Secretary S. Aswathy informed the media that the situation is bein ...Read More >
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 7 (ANI): Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on Saturday noted that the state is fully prepared for COVID-19, with all arrangements including beds, ventilators, and ICU facilities in place, adding that the current Omicron variant is not very serious and does not seem to cause significant harm or death. Speaking to reporters, Minister Rushikesh Patel said, 'This Omicron virus is a virus of the Covid family, but it is not so serious. Varieties of this virus do not seem to cause any harm or death. But we have made all our arrangements, all beds, ventilators, ...Read More >
Gurgaon: Two days after a law student died and his friend suffered critical injuries when a car knocked them down as they stood near railing on the service lane of Delhi-Jaipur highway in the early hours of Tuesday, a civil engineer was arrested on Thursday.Mohit (31), an employee of a private company in the city, told police that he got drowsy while driving. He is staying at a PG facility in Sector 14.The student who died, Harsh Singhal (25), was a resident of Om Nagar colony. His friend Abhishek Kumar (23), who is from Shanti Nagar in Sector 11, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram: Ravada A Chandrasekhar took charge as the new State Police Chief on Tuesday. He succeeds Shaik Darvesh Saheb, who retired on June 30. His tenure will run until July 1, 2027. A 1991-batch IPS officer currently serving as Special Director with the Intelligence Bureau, Chandrasekhar is on central deputation. He was selected over Nitin Agarwal, who topped the official list of probables. The appointment order, issued by Kerala Chief Secretary Dr A Jayathilak on behalf of the Governor, was released soon after a cabinet meeting held on Monday. Hailing from Andhra Pradesh's Godav ...Read More >
The Bihar government on Thursday (June 5, 2025) sanctioned compensation of ₹8.25 lakh under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to the family members of the 11-year-old Dalit girl who was raped and brutally assaulted with a knife, and later succumbed to her injuries at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on June 1. The State also announced a monthly pension of ₹7,700 for the victim's family, in addition to the allotment of a house under the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana. According to officials, the girl, who was transferred from Muzaffarpu ...Read More >
Gurgaon: A chemist and a lab operator have been arrested for allegedly selling medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kits illegally. Two separate FIRs were lodged against the accused at Sector 10 and Sector 9A police stations, police said on Friday.The pharmacy was sealed and medical officials have initiated proceedings to cancel its licence. District drugs control officer Suresh Verma said the department received information about illegal sales of MTP kits - also called abortion kits - from Juneja Chemist, located near Civil Hospital. A pregnant woman, who was deployed as a decoy customer, v ...Read More >
BENGALURU, India -- An innovative portable shelter recently exhibited in one of India's largest cities shows how smart, cheap ways to help workers escape the heat are gaining traction in a country that's particularly vulnerable to climate change-driven extreme temperatures. The Neralu shelter, winner of a design contest in the southern city of Bengaluru, was displayed at the Sweat and Concrete 2025 event in late May alongside a theatrical performance about heat impacts on outdoor workers and exhibits on heat-related studies. Organizer Kanishk Kabiraj said the aim of the exhibition is to raise ...Read More >
New Delhi: India registered 8.6 million deaths in 2022, the least deadly year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This represents a 15% decline from 2021, the deadliest pandemic year, with the death rate likely returning to pre-pandemic levels. This suggests mortality was normalising as Covid-19 infections became less severe and vaccines were deployed. However, signs of health system stress persisted due to the virus. Excess deaths, or the surplus over the number of deaths that would have happened at the death rate seen in 2019, were higher than the Covid-19 tally issued by states in 2022. This suggest ...Read More >
New Delhi: India's active Covid-19 cases have seen another surge, with the number nearing the 6000 mark. According to the Union Health Ministry's data, the country has reported 391 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total active cases to 5755 now. As per the Health Ministry's data, four people have died due to Covid-related infection in the past 24 hours. Among the deceased was a 45-year-old pregnant woman in Maharashtra, who was hospitalised and later tested positive for Covid-19. In Kerala, a 59-year-old man with lung cancer succumbed to the virus-related issue. The other t ...Read More >
Pune: Hospitals in Pune have started reporting an increase in dengue cases among children following recent heavy rainfall and intermittent showers. Conditions are now ripe for mosquito breeding, experts said, as they warned citizens to ensure there's no waterlogging or stagnant pools near homes and offices. "Dengue is typically seen first in children as they often play outside," said Dr Sagar Lad, a senior neonatologist and pediatric intensivist at Jehangir Hospital and Sahyadri Hospital, Shastrinagar. Dr Lad said he's seen at least three children admitted for dengue this week, with all of the ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI): BJP MP Gulam Ali Khatana, who was part of the all-party parliamentary delegation to Europe, said that during their recently conclued visit they successfully communicated India's development story and its resolute stand against terrorism, particularly emanating from Pakistan. Highlighting the delegation's key discussions during the tour, Khatana told ANI, 'We discussed how we dismantled the terrorism factory in Pakistan by responding... We also talked about tourism infrastructure, G20 Summit, and projects like the six-lane roads, bridges, solar initiatives, our ...Read More >
Haridwar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sakshi Maharaj on Sunday demanded that hotel, dhaba and eatery owners on the Kanwar Yatra routes should display their names and identities on boards outside their business establishments. The owners, who hide their identities under fake names, on the Kanwar Yatra routes should not be spared, he told reporters here. "Tampering with faith of the Hindu devotees during the Kanwar Yatra will not be tolerated," said the Unnao MP. The food shops on the Kanwar Yatra routes should have a board outside with the names of their owners clearly written on them, h ...Read More >
The United States congressional subcommittee's final report on the Covid-19 pandemic has pointed to the "lab leak" theory, making it the latest US report pinning the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to the Wuhan lab in China. "Four years after the onset of the worst pandemic in 100 years, the weight of the evidence increasingly supports the lab leak hypothesis," the 500-plus page report said, adding that since they began their work in February 2023, more senior intelligence officials, politicians, science editors, and scientists had "endorsed the hypothesis that COVID-19 emerged as the result ...Read More >
The West Bengal Health Department on Monday (January 13, 2024) admitted to a lapse and said that they will take strict action against anyone found guilty in the administration of expired saline at Medinipur Medical College and Hospital. The government has roped in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the "lapse" which led to one woman's death and three others remained critical. Five women were administered Ringer's Lactate (RL) on the Intravenous (IV) fluid which had allegedly expired. All of them fell critically ill and one of them died after delivering a baby. Three of the ...Read More >
Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday announced an ambitious plan of planting 7.5 crore saplings across the state within a year. Speaking at the state-level celebration of World Environment Day at the OUAT Agriculture Education Hall in city, the CM emphasised the importance of public awareness and collective responsibility in protecting nature and ending plastic pollution. "A healthy environment is essential for a healthy society," he said.Addressing the rising threat of single-use plastic, the CM urged citizens to support a mass movement to eliminate plastic from daily li ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) India's active Covid case tally crossed the 5,000 mark with Kerala remaining the most affected state followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi, according to the Union Health Ministry data released on Friday. In view of the increase in cases, the Centre is conducting mock drills to check facility-level preparedness for COVID-19. All states have been instructed to ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines in view of rising cases of Covid. There are 5,364 active cases in India and four fresh deaths have been reported in the last ...Read More >
Bhubaneswar, June 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amidst reports regarding a spike in Covid-19 cases across the country, the Odisha government has intensified its monitoring and containment measures to ensure public health safety across the state, said an official here on Friday. Referring to latest data released by the Health Department, a statement noted that a total of 755 samples have been tested in Odisha as of June 6, 2025. Of these, 38 samples have returned positive, with 9 individuals already recovered. The remaining 29 patients are in home isolation and reported to be stable. To align state-lev ...Read More >
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 7 (ANI): Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on Saturday noted that the state is fully prepared for COVID-19, with all arrangements including beds, ventilators, and ICU facilities in place, adding that the current Omicron variant is not very serious and does not seem to cause significant harm or death. Speaking to reporters, Minister Rushikesh Patel said, 'This Omicron virus is a virus of the Covid family, but it is not so serious. Varieties of this virus do not seem to cause any harm or death. But we have made all our arrangements, all beds, ventilators, ...Read More >
New Delhi, June 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) Even as the latest Lancet paper marked India among eight countries with a high burden of zero-dose children, those who had never received a routine childhood vaccine, the Union government on Saturday said that the country's large population size, and high vaccination coverage rate must be considered when making such comparisons. The government noted that "India's antigen-wise immunisation coverage surpasses global averages across all antigens". In other words, the vaccination strategy deployed in India is targeted against antigens, which can trigger an imm ...Read More >