Kidney racketeers made a fool-proof case

The kidney racketeers who got a transplant operation done in a city hospital apparently presented a fool-proof case to the hospital authorisation committee.

TOI had disclosed on Sunday how an unrelated donor had given his kidney to a Delhi-based patient for Rs 2 lakh and operation was performed in city.

The racketeers presented the donor as brother of the patient while in reality he was a criminal. They even got "an English-speaking woman" to pose as donor's wife. These people were interviewed on video and passed muster with the committee.

Still, the disclosure of the racket has rattled the medical fraternity of the city--specially nephrologists and urologists--who say the episode would be a setback to kidney transplant programme in city.

One section of practitioners feels for no fault of theirs the doctors who did the transplant in Nagpur have been linked to the racket. Another section does not rule out the possibilities of involvement of hospital administration and doctors.

Dr Raju Deshmukh, director of Suretech Hospital where the transplant was done, says he and his hospital were cheated by Sunil Deshmukh, its former hospital administration officer and one of the accused.

Food majors go for image makeover to stay healthy

This may not be walking the talk, but food companies, including McDonald’s, KFC, Nestle, Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are increasing the use of social and health-related messages in their advertising and packaging.

Facing heightened pressure from weight gain and anti-obesity campaigns, health activists and nutritionists for selling products that aid weight gain, these companies are trying hard to create a healthy image.

Burger and fries chain McDonald’s India plans to introduce its global ‘balanced active lifestyles’ programme in the country over the next few quarters and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is evaluating associating with cricket to ‘promote healthy lifestyles’, while world’s largest foods company Nestle’s advertising for its Milkybar white chocolate brand shows mothers urging kids to ‘go out and play’ (with the tagline “dum hai to bahar nikal”).

“Our balanced active lifestyles programme underscores the interplay between eating right and staying active,” said a McDonald’s India (North & East) spokesman.

The restaurant chain has already started providing nutritional information about its food items. The other two aspects of the initiative — offering wider menu choices and promoting physical activity — are being studied for future rollout, he said.

The Indian arms of Unilever, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have their tasks cut out in line with global commitments.
Unilever is working on a global salt reduction strategy covering 22,000 products by 2010-end. The consumer goods giant says it will reduce salt in its products to target a dietary intake of 6 g of salt per day and take it further to 5 g per day by 2015-end.

Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo says it will remove sugary drinks from schools by 2012 — a move it hopes will spruce up its image as a beverage company that does not aid unhealthy diet habits.

Rival Coca-Cola is working on plans to put nutritional information of product front packs by 2011-end. It’s not easy to buy credibility though.

Last week, for example, beverage and snacks foods major PepsiCo’s plans to pay for blogging on nutrition on science-based blog ScienceBlogs.com were rejected, and within two days of announcement the partnership was called off.

But then, these initiatives may be the only way forward for these firms, as they are facing a backlash not only from nutritionists but are also under the regulator’s lens, in India as well as the rest of the world.

The upcoming integrated food law under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is putting in place a series of mandatory guidelines for companies against promoting ‘unhealthy’ food habits.

The new guidelines will put under scanner claims about ingredients used in foods or ‘health benefits’, foods marketed as substitutes for meals, portion sizes, communication aimed at children and labelling on food packs.

“The authority has restricting and penalising powers for unfair claims made by foods companies. All foods, for example, have to comply with nutritional stipulations and recommended portion sizes,” FSSAI chairperson PI Suvrathan had recently told ET.

According to Unnat Varma, director marketing, KFC, upcoming sports-related associations with the chain will directly promote healthy lifestyles. In many global markets, KFC is a sponsor of NBA and ICC.

“Plans to associate with these sports are under evaluation though a definite timeline has not yet been set. But we have started declaring the nutritional value of products through leaflets across KFC stores — consumers are free to make informed choices,” he said ITC Foods, which prints nutritional labelling on front packs of its Bingo chips, says the move is a key differentiator between packaged branded and unbranded foods. Said ITC Foods division’s GM (marketing & exports) VL Rajesh: “Declaration of detailed nutritional information upfront is the primary medium of interaction with the consumer and we are there.”

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) too has been printing a ‘Healthy Choice’ logo on its Knorr and Bru products. But not all such moves work, as has been the case with PepsiCo’s blogging experiment.

BASF and Monsanto broad alliance of plant biotechnology

BASF SE and Monsanto want to expand their cooperation in biotechnology increase yields of crops and invest in expansion of cooperation in addition, more than 1 billion USD.

The common plant biotechnology pipeline, to be developed on the basis of yielding and stress tolerant crops would be supplemented by wheat, shared the two companies on Wednesday. The Ludwigshafen-basedBASF and Monsanto Mutual Group , based in St. Louis , United States justified the project with the successfully identified genes and the commercial earnings expectations.
BASF and Monsanto have been working together in 2007 on corn , soybeans , cotton and canola. Originally, the joint budget that includes about 1.5 billion USD.

The cooperation between the plant biotechnology company BASF Plant Science and Monsanto to the further particulars that may continue under the original conditions. Each company is working on to independent programs to discover novel genetic characteristics known as traits. These programs are called genes , are processed by the most promising candidates further. The projects are jointly funded in each development and then marketing the products of Monsanto. The net income is 60 % Monsanto and BASF holds a 40 %.

In wheat , the partners will first focus on the development of biotechnological products for the North American and Australian market. The first yielding wheat is expected to come from 2020 to the market. Wheat after maize is as the world’s most important crop, with rising demand.
The first joint product, a drought-tolerant corn will , subject to any outstanding permits are introduced on the market in 2012 .

Fortis Healthcare eyes 30 pc jump in medical tourist arrivals

Banking on the country's rapidly-growing medical tourism segment, Fortis Hospitals -- a division of Fortis Healthcare -- expects a 30% jump in patient inflow to over 5,000.

Arrival of patients from countries with advanced medical systems gives credence to the fact that India has good infrastructure and talent. India witnessed around three lakh arrivals last year owing to its unique low-cost, high-value, best expertise and good infrastructure model.

According to a report from management consulting firm McKinsey and Co, medical tourism in India will grow to USD 2 billion by 2012.

As a precautionary measure, several multinational firms have also decided to give an off on Monday and ask their employees to compensate by working on a Saturday.

The nationwide shutdown has been called by the leading opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the ruling party in this southern state for the first time, the Janata Dal-United and the Left parties.

Underage Drinking Sends More Teens to Hospital on Fourth of July

Underage drinking during the Fourth of July Holiday weekend sent more teens to hospital administration's emergency department, according to a government report released on July 1.

The study of data collected in 2008 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found daily hospital emergency department visits due to underage drinking nearly doubled during the holiday weekend compared to that on any average day in July.

Underage drinking during the Fourth of July weekend sent 87% more teenagers on days of the Fourth of July weekend to hospital than on any other average day in July.

The daily hospital administration's emergency department visits for the three day Fourth of July weekend were 938 compared to 502 on an average day in July.

Underage drinking is not a harmless right of passage. It has far-reaching consequences. In addition to emergency department visits, injuries, arrests and embarrassment, 5,000 deaths in people under age 21 are linked to alcohol each year. Parents are a leading influence in their children’s decision to avoid alcohol.

The legal drinking age in the United States is 21. Prior to the effective date of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, the legal drinking age varies from state to state. Drinking is harmful. The National Toxicology Program has classified alcoholic beverages as cancer-causing agents.