Global warming or cooling?

The climate change which we are witnessing today is presumed to be due to the global warming caused by man-made activities and resulting emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide. Billions of US dollars were spent on the so-called research in the field of climate change supposed to have caused by global warming.

World over, winter in 2007-08 was very severe. China had its coldest winter in 100 years. Bagdad saw its first snow in all history. North America had the most snow cover in 50 years. The normally warm city like Mumbai in India witnessed record low temperature for the month of February this year. Northern India is under the spell of record low temperatures and snow-falls.

There was a news flash in the Indian daily ”The Times of India”, which I quote here: “Wither global warming? New data challenges theory”. It is reported that the data released by four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadleys, Nasa’s GISS, UAH and RSS) show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously. The total amount of cooling, over the period under consideration, ranged from 0.65 degreeC up to 0.75degreeC – a value, an expert says, large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. Hundreds of people might have died, not by global warming, but from cold weather hazards.

The so-called highly developed countries are using the gimmick of “greenhouse gas” to thwart the efforts of some developing countries to industrialize and come in par with the developed countries, and threaten their own position globally. Ultimately, it will be proved that the climate changes witnessed in the recent past are not due to the global warming, but simply natural cyclic events which will pass off.

Suicide figures alarming

Stress has become a fact of life. However, stress beyond a certain level is harmful. Suicidal tendencies, over aggressiveness of youngsters and road brawls are witnessed almost everyday. Unreleased stress, over period of time causes psychosomatic diseases like diabetic, hypertension, skin ailments, etc.

It is reported that Maharashtra State in India ranks among the top two or three among all 28 states in suicides by house-wives, students, jobless youth, farmers and even pensioners. The suicide figures for the year 2006 in the state are: Framers in debt – 4453; Housewives – 3653; Students – 883; Jobless youth – 944 and Pensioners – 140. A total of 15,494 persons have committed suicides in a year! The male to female ratio is 2:1. More than 100,000 persons committed suicides in India in the year 2006.

High aspirations, increasingly materialistic life style in the cities, economic and health-related problems, non-availability of adequate number of psychiatrists, societal stigma attached to psychiatric treatment in the country are some of the reasons attributed for the rising suicide rates. Early consultation with psychiatrics would have saved lot of lives.

Yoga and meditation are the simple techniques by which one can control the unavoidable stress level. The techniques develop a person as a whole, body and mind. Yogic postures keep your body healthy and meditation control the thought process of the mind and keep the stress level under check. There are Yoga Schools and consultants who impart yogic knowledge for the needy. There are also many meditation techniques available. Most of the meditation techniques can be practiced at home after initiation. It is reported that even a brief meditation can boost concentration and curb stress level.

Thalassemic kid faces cure or kill treatment

It will be bio-tec’s biggest breakthrough if the cord blood transplant treatment which began in Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital on a Thalassemic (a genetic blood disorder) 4-year old child Damini Mhatre. This could be the first patient in India to be cured of the genetic condition. The hospital stay for the treatment is going to last for about 2 months. The treatment is very expensive, may cost a few lakhs of rupees.

Generally, thalassemias are prevalent in populations that evolved in humid climates where malaria was endemic, but affects all races. Thalassemic conditions are particularly associated with Arab-Americans, people of Mediterranean origin, and Asians.

The usual treatment for thalassemia is a bone marrow transplant from a donor or stem cells. There are only two hospitals in India which use unrelated cord blood cells to treat leukemia and aplastic anaemia. This may be the first time that it is being used for thalassemia. It is reported that the condition may be cured and Damini will be able to live normal life. However, the parents of the child are also being cautioned about the high chances of rejection/infections occurring in the treatment.

It is the responsibility of all to ensure that the high-tech treatment is encouraged in all the major hospitals in the country and put in place the necessary regulatory framework for the stem cell research. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should ensure availability of adequate funding for the research and subsidize the treatment for economically poor children. Can one expect to see the thalassemic patients living the normal life again in the near future?

Kidney Racket

An international kidney racket was busted at Mumbai by the police. Many surgeons are found to be involved in the intercity racket. Since August 2003, five kidney rackets were busted in India. The kidney racket kingpin (so-called Dr. Amit Kumar) is absconding and international alert has been issued to track him down. It is also reported that he was arrested in 1994 and jumped bail and absconding since and operating under different names in different states in collusion with the local doctors. These surgeons are extremely skillful, but the greed for more and more money is driving them into this criminal activities. Often, poor patients who are admitted for some other ailments are operated upon to retrieve their kidneys. In some cases, poverty drives the poor to sell their kidneys for money. It is estimated that about 1.5 lakh patients have kidney failure every year in India. Only about 3500receive an organ for transplantation. Similar disparity is seen in cases of other organs such as cornea, liver, etc. Virtually there are no donors. The gap between the supply and \demand is too high and hence the organ trading rackets are mushrooming everywhere. The donor rates have to be increased. There is no centralized registry that can connect potential donors and recipients.

It is time that the government should felicitate establishment of donor centres. One has to sensitize the ICU doctors in hospitals to encourage organs donation of brain-dead patients and victims of road accidents. Laws need to be appropriately amended to facilitate this. One cadaver can benefit 10 patients by retrieval of heart, liver, kidney, cornea, pancreas, lungs and intestine. There were only 700 cadaver donors in India in the last 14 years. Public awareness programs with respect to organ donation should be shown as audio-visuals to clear many doubts such as medico-legal issues in the minds of the public with regards to the organs donation. Online registration with all the relevant details and establishment of central registry will immensely help in availability of organs for transplantation.