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.
Bengaluru: In a first for the city, Apollo Hospitals, Seshadripuram, in collaboration with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and state health authority, Jeeva Sarthakathe (JSK), successfully facilitated the transportation of a donated human heart through the Metro rail network - finding a novel way to beat Bengaluru's traffic woes. The heart, harvested from a donor at a private hospital in Yeshwanthpur, was required to be transported swiftly to Apollo Hospitals, Seshadripuram, for a critical heart transplant surgery. To ensure minimal transit time and avoid traffic delays, the heart was shifted using the routine Metro corridor from Goraguntepalya Metro Station to Mantri Square Metro Station, without causing inconvenience to passengers. With seamless coordination between BMRCL, the city police, and the hospital's transplant team, the heart was moved in just 18 minutes, well within the medically critical 'golden window.' This life-saving effort has given a new lease of life to a 33-year-old doctor from Assam, who had been suffering from heart failure since long. He had been waiting for a heart transplant since 2023, but was unable to get a suitable heart donation. Awareness of organ donation and the tremendous work put in by JSK in co-ordination with expert transplant professionals from across hospitals in the state, has made organ donation a routine, making various organs available for patients desperately awaiting a lease of life. He was recently admitted to Apollo Hospitals, Seshadripuram, where he was listed on an emergency basis. The transplant surgery was successfully completed by 4 AM on Friday. The team of experts from across the Apollo group, collaborated seamlessly to conduct the critical procedure. A senior cardiac surgeon from Apollo Seshadripuram, who was involved in this process said, "Every minute is precious when it comes to organ transplants. The cooperation extended by BMRCL and JSK ensured that the heart reached safely and quickly, saving a patient's life. This initiative not only demonstrates how technology, infrastructure, and medical expertise can converge to save lives, but it also sets a precedent for future organ transport protocols in urban India. This also marks another milestone in Bengaluru's efforts towards strengthening the green corridor and rapid organ transport system." Another senior spokesperson from Apollo Seshadripuram mentioned that, "It takes the seamless coordination of hundreds of people with the right intention, to execute such a feat -- from ambulance drivers, nursing and OT staff, paramedics, healthcare services, security teams, and administrative staff, alongside the surgeons and anaesthetists who play the most vital role. We specially extend our gratitude to the donor family for their altruistic contribution and to all agencies involved in making this mission successful. We are also deeply grateful to BMRCL and Jeevasarthakathe for the smooth and timely coordination. Despite receiving just two hours' prior notice, their teams responded immediately and ensured uninterrupted operation, making this life-saving effort possible."
Jaipur: The 23-year-old patient who received the heart, kidney and lungs of a brain-dead patient -- that were airlifted in the first such instance of organ transport in Rajasthan -- died on Tuesday late night at the SMS Hospital here. The hospital's senior doctor and spokesperson Dr Manish Agarwal said the complicated surgery was successful. Doctors tried hard to save the woman, but could not succeed, after which the patient died. The organs were airlifted for the first time in Rajasthan. The heart, kidney and lungs of Vishnu Prasad, a brain-dead youth in Jhalawar, were transported to Jaipur ...Read More >
CHITTOOR (Andhra Pradesh): The Apollo University, Apollo Hospitals and University of Leicester, United Kingdom, have partnered to establish the Centre for Digital Health and Precision Medicine (CDHPM) at The Apollo University campus in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. The advanced research center will bring together the expertise and resources of both institutions to create a global hub for digital health and precision medicine. The CDHPM will be the hub in Chittoor, India. The hub at the University of Leicester will be based at the BHF Cardiovascular Research Centre at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester ...Read More >
Finding a suitable kidney donor is still the biggest obstacle, even though Prabhas' support has given the family hope. Telugu actor Prabhas has come forward to show support for veteran comedian Fish Venkat, who is receiving treatment in the intensive care unit and is in critical condition. The well-known philanthropist actor has promised to pay for Venkat's urgent kidney transplant. Sravanthi, Venkat's daughter, confirmed in an interview with One India that Prabhas' team has committed to paying ...Read More >
CHENNAI: Two hospitals in Coimbatore collaboratively performed the country's first inter-hospital swap liver transplant on two patients suffering from end-stage liver disease. The complex procedure was executed between GEM Hospital and Sri Ramakrishna Hospital in Coimbatore. The patients, a 59-year-old man from Salem admitted in GEM and a 53-year-old man from Tirupur in Sri Ramakrishna, were both in need of liver transplants. Their wives were willing to donate, but blood group incompatibility ruled out direct donation. In a rare stroke of opportunity, doctors identified that a 'swap transpla ...Read More >
Bengaluru Power Cuts: Citizens of Bengaluru brace yourself for long hours of power outages from June 29 and June 30. More than 100 areas will be impacted as BESCOM undertakes its quarterly maintenance work in various of its division. Bengaluru Power Outages June 29: According to the update by BESCOM on its X handler, there will be power outages in Kittaganahalli, Palasandra, Saptagiri, Maruthinagar, Sankapur, Raghavendra Nagar, Goolarivee, Baddihalli, Kesaramadu, C.M Badawan, Kalalli and SKS village on June 29 from 10 am to 5 pm. BESCOM's executive engineer has appealed to consumers to coop ...Read More >
TURA, July 1: In a first-of-its-kind surgery at Baghmara Civil Hospital, a 25-year-old woman underwent an emergency lower segment caesarean section (LSCS) on Tuesday due to foetal distress, resulting in the successful delivery of a baby girl weighing 2.6 kg. Both the mother and the baby are in stable condition, sources confirmed. This marks the first surgery of its kind at Baghmara Civil Hospital following the completion of the new operation theatre. The LSCS was conducted by Dr Susan Sangma and Dr Presiana Shira, both trained in Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care (CEmOC), with assistan ...Read More >
Chandigarh: Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday said the state govt was consistently working to provide better resources to the doctors and quality healthcare services to the citizens.He mentioned that medical colleges were being established in every district.While there were only six medical colleges in 2014, the number has now increased to 15, and nine new colleges are under construction. As a result, MBBS seats in the state increased from 700 in 2014 to 2,185, at present. The state govt aims to increase the MBBS seats to over 3,400 by 2029, said Saini.The CM was addressing a ...Read More >
Kottayam: A woman died after a portion of a building collapsed at Kottayam Medical College, officials said on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as 54-year-old Bindu, a resident of Thalayolaparamba, they said. Officials said the incident took place at around 10.45 am when Bindu went to use the bathroom on the third floor of the old 14th ward building. "A section of the unused toilet area suddenly collapsed. Bindu and two others, including a five-year-old child, were trapped under the debris," they added. Bindu and her husband Visruthan had come to the medical college on July 1 in co ...Read More >
Shimla, Jul 3 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday directed the Labour and Employment Department to develop a dedicated website and mobile application to empower youths seeking employment opportunities abroad. The digital platform will compile comprehensive data of aspirants, ensuring better transparency, accessibility, and protection while securing overseas jobs, he said and also instructed the department to develop a database of NRIs from the state. He instructed the officials to study the overseas employment models of Kerala and Telangana to draft an ef ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jul 6 (PTI) The Delhi government on Sunday appointed over 1,300 new nursing officers and launched Ayushman Bharat registration vans to strengthen the healthcare system in the national capital. The event was attended by BJP president J P Nadda, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Health Minister Pankaj Singh, and other senior ministers. Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Gupta sharply criticised the previous government, alleging that it had allowed the capital's health infrastructure to deteriorate significantly. "In the past, Delhi's healthcare was in such a poor state that t ...Read More >
New Delhi, July 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Health Minister JP Nadda on Sunday urged all stakeholders to work dedicatedly towards implementing PM-ABHIM (Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission) in Delhi, and fulfil the target of opening 1,100 Ayushman Arogya mandirs by March 31, 2026, with an outlay of Rs 1,700 crore. The minister distributed appointment letters to Delhi nursing officers and paramedical staff and flagged off Ayushman Bharat Registration Vans, in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at Vigyan Bhawan here. "This is a momentous occasion as today, after 15 years, our nursing ...Read More >
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 10 (ANI): In a strong message to private nursing colleges, the Karnataka government has announced that there will be no fee hike for nursing courses this academic year, reiterating its commitment to protecting students from economically weaker sections. Karnataka Medical Education and Skill Development Minister Sharanaprakash Patil made this clear during a meeting with the Association of Nursing Colleges held at Vikasa Soudha on Thursday. Also Read | Patna Murder Case: Days After Industrialist Gopal Khemka's Killing, Sand Trader Shot Dead by Unidentified A ...Read More >
Panchkula: The Haryana health department is accelerating efforts to improve the healthcare infrastructure and services, and enhance the workforce across the state. Altogether 720 new doctors have been hired and the dept is actively working to fill the remaining vacancies in hospitals.All such govt plans and more were shared by health and family welfare minister Arti Singh Rao during a press conference held here Tuesday. She said 785 medical facilities across the state -- including PHCs, CHCs, sub ...Read More >
Hyderabad: Swetcha Votarkar, a 40-year-old Telugu television anchor, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her residence in Hyderabad on Friday night. The incident came to light after her neighbours alerted the police around 9:30 PM. "When we entered her room, she was found hanging from the ceiling fan," said the Chikkadpally police inspector. An ambulance was called immediately, and paramedics confirmed her death at the scene. While initial reports suggest suicide, police stated that no suicide note was recovered. A case of suspicious death was registered based on a complaint filed by Swe ...Read More >
Srinagar- Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said foreign countries were told clearly during the post-Operation Sindoor diplomatic outreach that in case of a fresh provocation, India would repeat its action. Speaking at a discussion at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Tharoor said Indian delegations which visited foreign countries in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor managed to convey that India acted with restraint and responsibility. "In other places, we actually were able to get some very high-placed people to say not only that they respected and supported India's right of self- ...Read More >
Chennai: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, controlled by the Prathap Reddy family, has announced a significant reorganisation where its pharmacy distribution and digital health operations will be carved out into a separate entity. This new entity, Apollo Healthtech, will seek listing on stock exchanges over the next 18 to 21 months, with current Apollo Hospitals shareholders receiving proportionate shares in the new company. The deal will create a leading omni-channel pharmacy distribution and digital health platform in India with revenues of Rs 16,300 crore ($1.9 billion), Apollo Hospitals said in ...Read More >
Gorakhpur: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday announced that every district in UP will soon have a 100-bed AYUSH Health & Wellness Centre to provide comprehensive healthcare through traditional systems like Panchakarma and Ksharsutra.Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Mahayogi Guru Gorakhnath AYUSH University, Yogi said govt would also establish AYUSH colleges in six divisional headquarters.Yogi highlighted how traditional Indian medical systems received global attention only after 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi created ministry of AYUSH, integrating Ayurveda, Yoga, Un ...Read More >
New Delhi: An Infosys employee in Bengaluru was arrested for secretly recording videos of his female coworkers in a restroom at the company's Electronic City office. The man, 28-year-old Swapnil Nagesh Mali from Andhra Pradesh, was caught on June 30. A female employee noticed a strange reflection on the restroom door. When she looked closer, she found Mali hiding and trying to record her with his phone. When she confronted him, he apologized right away. Infosys HR checked his phone and reportedly found over 30 videos of different women recorded in the same way. Even though this was a serious ...Read More >
HYDERABAD: A probationary sub-inspector (SI) suffered a leg fracture when a DCM van collided with an ambulance at an accident scene. The incident occurred while the police officer was transporting a road accident victim's body to the morgue in the ambulance. Other cops managed to move to safety just in time.At around 3am on Tuesday, PSI S Venkatesham and a team of Balanagar police officers went to the Balanagar flyover after being alerted about a road accident. At the accident spot, they found the body of an unidentified man estimated to be around 40 years old. The police arrested a car driver ...Read More >
The Delhi government on Sunday (July 6, 2025) handed appointment letters to 1,388 nursing officers and 41 paramedical staff, and flagged off Ayushman Bharat registration vans to help eligible residents, especially from the weaker sections, to enrol for the Ayushman Bharat and Vaya Vandana Yojana schemes. At a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda called the appointments a "historic initiative" that bridges a 15-year gap in Delhi's healthcare recruitment. "This is not j ...Read More >
POONCH, June 29: To strengthen their campaign to aware the common populace about the ill effects of cardiovascular diseases, Head Department of Cardiology GMCH Jammu in collaboration with management of Gurudwara Sant Bhai Bahadur Singh Ji held a day long cardiac awareness cum health checkup camp at Dharamsal Khari Poonch. The camp was inaugurated by SSP Poonch Shafket Hussain, Dr Sushil Sharma along with ADC Tahir Mustafa, Harcharan Singh, Hardev Singh, Sunil Sharma (president Bar Association Poonch ) , Naresh Chander Raj (Ex Councillor MC), Mohinder Singh (Ex Councillor MC) and others promin ...Read More >
Jammu, Jul 17 (PTI) Asserting that doctors must never bear the brunt of violence, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that strict action has been directed in the recent case of assault of a female doctor at a government hospital in Jammu. Irate over the death of a patient at the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu, his attendants allegedly assaulted a female doctor on Wednesday, triggering protests and a strike by junior doctors. The Doctors Association Jammu (DAJ) ...Read More >
Biocon Biologics, in collaboration with Diabetes Africa and St Paul’s Hospital in Ethiopia, has launched the Embedding Specialist Nurses in Diabetes Care project. The initiative focuses on training nurses to become diabetes specialists to address the country’s growing diabetes crisis. With Ethiopia ranking among the top countries in sub-Saharan Africa for diabetes prevalence, this project aims to integrate diabetes care into primary healthcare, enhancing accessibility and care quality. By upskilling nurses and establishing a structured pathway for them, the program seeks to improve diabetes ma ...Read More >
Lucknow, June 6: A man accused of abduction and rape of a three-year-old girl in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, was killed in an encounter with police on Friday. The accused was identified as Deepak Verma by the police after scanning CCTV footage that showed him with the child. The officials said he was a habitual offender with criminal cases lodged across the city police stations. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) Ashish Srivastava said five police teams were formed immediately after the incident was reported, and a reward of Rs one lakh was announced for his arrest. Police, after identi ...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 >
Srinagar, July 8: In a significant departure from its traditional investment-linked residency system, the United Arab Emirates has launched a nomination-based Golden Visa scheme, allowing eligible Indian nationals to obtain lifetime residency by paying a one-time fee of AED 100,000 (approximately ₹23.3 lakh). The new model eliminates the need for property or business investments. Previously, Indian citizens could access the UAE's Golden Visa primarily through substantial investments, including a minimum of AED 2 million (around ₹4.66 crore) in real estate. Under the revised framework, applica ...Read More >
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 10 (ANI): In a strong message to private nursing colleges, the Karnataka government has announced that there will be no fee hike for nursing courses this academic year, reiterating its commitment to protecting students from economically weaker sections. Karnataka Medical Education and Skill Development Minister Sharanaprakash Patil made this clear during a meeting with the Association of Nursing Colleges held at Vikasa Soudha on Thursday. The government will not allow any fee increase. Most nursing students come from rural and economically disadvantaged ba ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], July 11 (ANI): A man died after a three-storey shop building collapsed near Pul Mithai in North Delhi's Lohia Chowk area early on early hours of Friday. The collapsed building, located at Tokri Walan in Pul Mithai near Bara Hindu Rao, had three shops on the ground floor and godowns on the first floor. The shops were part of the Azad Market area and dealt in bags and canvas cloth. The deceased has been identified as Manoj Sharma, also known as Pappu, aged 45. He was an employee at shop number 7A, owned by Gulshan Mahajan, and had been working there for the past 30 years. T ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Despite India making progress in organ transplantation, and being a sought-after transplant tourism destination for patients from abroad, the country still faces challenges in achieving equitable access for all its citizens, especially those living in remote areas, said a latest Lancet study. The study stressed that India needs stronger government investment, better data collection, improved public sector capacity, and policies to reduce financial and geographic barriers. India, placed in Category 4 along with South Africa, witnesses most transplants in private hospitals concentrat ...Read More >