City's first medical genetics dept. set up in LNJP Hospital; CM inaugurates unit
While inaugurating the department on Thursday, CM Rekha Gupta said, 'There are lakhs of parents scrambling to save their children who are born with genetic disorders. They do not know where to go. This department will treat those children who are born with such disorders.'
Ms. Gupta also inaugurated a Lactation Management Unit (LMU), and Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAT) Lab in the hospital.
Regarding the Lactation Management Unit (LMU), she said that the unit is designed to serve preterm, low-birth-weight, and critically ill new-borns. It will offer breastfeeding counselling, safe milk collection and storage, and hospital-grade breast pumps for mothers.
'Our goal is to ensure accessible, high-quality, and timely medical services for every citizen—regardless of age, background, or region. A healthy Delhi is the foundation of a developed Delhi. With this vision, three highly advanced health services have been launched, setting a new milestone in the city's medical infrastructure,' Ms. Gupta said.
This is the first Delhi government hospital to have a NAT Lab, she said, adding that screening reports, which used to take 45 days, will be available within two days here. The NAT is a highly sensitive diagnostic method capable of detecting viral infections like HIV, Hepatitis B, and C at an early stage.
The CM also criticised the state of the healthcare infrastructure that the BJP government inherited from previous government, calling it 'deeply concerning.' She added that while the World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of two beds per 1,000 population, not even one bed per 1,000 citizens is available in the Capital. She said that the Delhi government aims to ensure at least three beds per 1,000 people within the next five years.
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Mint
6 hours ago
- Mint
When an HIV Scientific Breakthrough Isn't Enough
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Consider the typical day of a mom with a newborn and it's easy to understand how six months of protection could make a real difference in lowering HIV cases in women and infants. Some experts have even suggested lenacapavir is our best chance of wiping out new infections in children. That was before the Trump administration abruptly shut down USAID, the lead agency behind Pepfar. The global initiative to combat HIV/AIDS is credited with saving an estimated 26 million lives since its inception in 2003. Although the administration granted a limited waiver to allow some HIV services to continue, funding is significantly restrained. As health workers grapple with fewer resources, their focus has shifted to people living with HIV. 'When the chips are down, you safeguard treatment because those people will die if they don't get their antiretroviral,' says Linda-Gail Bekker, director of the Desmund Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town. 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The nurse she'd been seeing was let go as part of the funding cuts, and no one was available to do a blood draw at her last visit, Davey says. If the people who, in theory, should still be benefiting from global aid are falling through the cracks, what hope do we have for prevention? Prevention efforts have already been severely disrupted in some countries. Supply is responsible for some of the upheaval, but the more complicated problem is getting the drugs to the people who need them most. 'We need low-cost product and also a low-cost delivery mode,' says Carmen Pérez Casas, senior strategy lead at Unitaid, a global health initiative hosted by the World Health Organization. The situation for the latter 'has changed radically,' she says. HIV prevention is not as simple as just handing out a prescription. It's first identifying those most at risk of infection, getting them tested to confirm they are negative, and offering counseling about their options. It's ensuring they return for more testing and the next dose of their medication. That requires a vast support network ranging from doctors and nurses to counselors, pharmacists, lab technicians, data scientists and more. Pepfar supported all of that infrastructure. In South Africa, for example, cuts have resulted in lost jobs for some 8,000 health workers focused on HIV. Aid groups are doing their best to ensure the breakthrough's promise is not entirely lost. Their first hurdle is bridging the gap to the arrival of low-cost generic lenacapavir, which isn't expected until sometime in 2027. (Gilead is allowing a handful of drug companies to make and sell generic forms of lenacapavir in the countries most heavily impacted by HIV.) Global health agencies are anxiously awaiting the company's price tag for those countries to understand how far their funding can be stretched. Then they need to get the drug to patients. Experts tell me they've scaled back their expectations given the upheaval with Pepfar. The Trump administration's termination of National Institutes of Health grants to foreign countries has created additional hurdles. It's been particularly devastating in South Africa, where the NIH supported a significant chunk of research related to HIV. That means less money to conduct so-called implementation studies for lenacapavir, which are crucial for understanding how to improve the drug's use in the real world. One simple thing the Trump administration could do is free up funding for prevention. Pepfar continues to operate under a waiver that only allows PrEP money to be spent for those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Groundbreaking science alone won't end HIV. It must be paired with affordability and access. The Trump administration's callous cuts to global health efforts put all of those things at risk — including the promising future where HIV is brought to heel. More From Bloomberg Opinion: This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News. More stories like this are available on


India Gazette
8 hours ago
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Union Health Minister JP Nadda, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta distribute appointment letters to 1400 nurses
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Business Standard
9 hours ago
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