— By Dr KK Aggarwal
1. We have got an answer to pollution health emergency: Lock down for a week. In and Vihar we are seeing PM 2.5 levels of 24 -50.
2. In Nigam Bodh Ghats: number of deaths 21 on 24th
In a strike in Los Angeles County, California in January 1976, doctors went on strike in protest over soaring medical malpractice insurance premiums. For five weeks, approximately 50% of doctors in the county reduced their practice and withheld care for anything but emergencies. One analysis, quoted by Cunningham and colleagues, found the strike may have actually prevented more deaths than it caused.
The study entitled, “Doctors’ strikes and mortality: A review,” suggests that it’s the fact that elective, or non-emergency surgery, tends to stop during a doctors’ strike, which seems to be the key factor. It looks like a surprising amount of mortality occurs following this kind of procedure which disappears when elective surgery ceases due to doctors withdrawing their labour. Mortality declined steadily from week one (21 deaths/100,000 population) to weeks six (13) and seven (14), when mortality rates were lower than the averages of the previous five years.
3. TB notification will increase. During next three months all cases of cough will go for testing and more TB will be detected. In Initial phase there will be drip as patients may like to self-isolate for two weeks for any cough
4. Long term reduction in typhoid diarrhoea and jaundice illnesses due to hand washing.
5. Long term reduction of flu season in the coming months.
((The writer is President, CMAAO, HCFI and Past national President IMA))
