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Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts

questions for candidates

Posted by Aldie at 11:34 AM | 0 comments

From the Canadian Breast Cancer Network: Questions to ask your local candidates during the election campaign
 
Question 1: The Financial Impact of Breast Cancer
  
In May 2010, the Canadian Breast Cancer Network released the research report entitled Breast Cancer: Economic Impact & Labour Force Re-Entry, which firmly positioned breast cancer as an economic as well as a healthcare issue.
  
The economic impact of breast cancer is significant, and in many cases devastating for patients and their families. 80% of respondents experienced an economic impact following their diagnosis, often with distressing long-term financial consequences.
  
Some report findings:
  • Average decline in household income was $12,000 or 10% of family income
  • 44% of respondents used savings, while 27% took on debt
  • One fifth of respondents returned to work before they were ready because of financial pressure
  • Those who had chemotherapy had a greater loss of household income and were 49% more likely to take longer than 16 weeks off work
Survey respondents reported that the average duration of their breast cancer treatment was 38 weeks, and two-thirds of the respondents took 16 weeks or more off from work. Because Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits last for a maximum of 15 weeks, there was an average gap of 23 weeks during treatment without coverage.
  
If elected, will your government:
  
A. Lengthen Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits for Canadians undergoing treatment for breast and other cancers as well as other illnesses and chronic diseases that require long periods of treatment so that no one who is ill is penalized by the current limit of 15 weeks of sickness benefits?
  
B. Cancel the two-week waiting period for EI Sickness Benefits so that sick Canadians are not penalized?
  
C. Immediately extend the Employment Insurance Compassionate Care Benefit to cover family caregivers providing care to those with breast cancer, other cancers and other long-term conditions?
a. Increase the benefit to 75% of workers' earnings?
b. Increase the benefit period to a maximum of 52 weeks?
c. Allow partial weeks of compassionate care leave over a longer period?
d. Expand the eligibility criteria beyond imminent death within 26 weeks?
  

Question 2: Drug Approval Process in Canada
  
The drug approval process in Canada is lengthy and complex. Currently the performance targets as outlined on the Health Canada website is 300 days for "non-priority" drugs and 180 days for "priority" drugs.
  
Once drugs are approved by Health Canada, cancer drugs pass through the Pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR), formally the Joint Oncology Drug Review (JODR).This process can take up to a year for recommendation to be made. Provinces and territories may then either confirm or disagree with pCODR's recommendations, often resulting in further significant delays and an uneven patchwork of drug coverage across Canada.
  
Cancer patients in Canada face unduly long waits for much-needed drugs, and medications available in one province or territory may not be available in another. But when it comes to cancer treatment, especially for advanced or metastatic cancer, time is of the essence.
  
If elected, how will your government:
  
A. Ensure that the approval processes for new treatments are shortened to permit timely access to new treatments for those who need them

B. Ensure that no cancer patient in Canada goes without internationally recognized gold standard treatments
  

Question 3: Wait Times 

The Canadian Breast Cancer Network's 2008 Breast Cancer Wait Times in Canada Report Card showed that not all Canadian women are receiving equal access to breast cancer treatment. The project was undertaken in order to gather information about what happens across Canada in terms of wait times in four important areas: from abnormal screen to diagnosis, from diagnosis to surgery, time to radiation, time to chemotherapy.
  
We found some outstanding examples of best practices and much evidence that many jurisdictions across the country are working on innovative solutions to the wait time issue. However, the most disconcerting finding was that there are no national benchmarks for wait times and no standards for wait time reporting systems across the continuum of care. The data reported are calculated differently across jurisdictions making it impossible to compare wait times. This has not changed since 2008.
  
In the absence of comprehensive and consistent wait times data, there is no certainty that people diagnosed with breast cancer are receiving optimal care.
  
This is a complex issue. There needs to be national benchmarks for maximum wait times for diagnosis and treatment. Electronic health records must include consistent reporting of wait times across jurisdiction. Best practices must be shared and implemented across the country. Access to timely cancer care cannot depend upon ones postal code.
  
If elected, how will your government:
  
A) Provide the infrastructure necessary to ensure comprehensive and consistent standards for wait time reporting for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment across Canada

B) Ensure that national benchmarks are established for wait times associated with surgery and chemotherapy

C) Ensure the adoption of electronic health records
  
  
Join our survivor advocate campaign and make canada's decision makers aware of the issues that are important to you. Contact khurley@cbcn.ca for more information on how a little bit of your time can make a big impact.

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Community Care for Mentally Ill in Bekasi

Posted by Aldie at 3:16 AM | 2 comments

Jakarta Globe, Ulma Haryanto | March 26, 2011

While Bekasi hospitals and police have supported the Galuh Foundation,
it has come under fire from medical practitioners for its use of physical
restraints. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

Pak Gendu, I really like what you are doing! It is just too sad to see and hear consistently how the state neglects mentally ill, and also how many families see a mentally ill person in their midst as a stigma which needs to be hidden. A while ago I saw a slide show in an online Australian newspaper which showed terrible photos of mentally ill people in an compound, I think it was in the West Java area, I forgot the exact location and the link to this slides, but what I did not forget were the pictures...

He might not have had any formal education, and was branded a Betawi street fighter by many, but Gendu Mulatip saw people being neglected by the state and set out to help them.

Recognizing that the city of Bekasi did not provide any healthcare facilities for the mentally ill, Gendu, with the help of his most trusted friends, set up a foundation to provide care and treatment for the mentally challenged — usually free of charge.

Gendu took his last breath in January, at the age of 95, but the Galuh Foundation, which stands for “ Gagasan Luhur ” or “noble ideas,” remains his legacy. Its traditional methods might not have the acceptance of the medical establishment, but the foundation is convinced it is doing good.

Set up in 1994, the foundation is now run by Suhanda, 58, Gendu’s eldest son, who took over operations when his father died. Suhanda is assisted by 45-years-old twins Suhartono and Suhandoyo, who are the sons of Gendu’s trusted aide, Amir, now in his 60s.

“The treatment for our patients here focuses on how to prepare them for society. That’s why we never confine our patients or shackle them, unless we absolutely have to,” referring to a traditional method of restraint.

Situated in a 3,000 square meter compound in Rawa Lumbu, Bekasi, the foundaiton has plenty of space for its 245 patients.

“What we have now is a significant improvement on our previous facility,” Suhandoyo says. “We were overburdened with patients before we purchased a bigger property.”

Family

When Suhandoyo says patients are prepared to live with mainstream society, he really means it. The patients at Galuh Foundation live side-by-side with the families of their caretakers.

“For married workers we provide living quarters in the compound,” Suhanda says. “The employees here are social workers. They only get Rp 400,000 [$46] a month.”

Despite the meager pay, Suhandoyo, who was deeply inspired by Gendu, says he learned a great deal from working at the foundation.

“Gendu taught me about patience and to care and love our patients,” he says. “Living here means that we don’t have to worry about accommodation and food, and when it comes to the education of my children, most schools, when they know we work at the foundation, are willing to make exceptions.”

Suhandoyo says about 40 staff help to care for the patients. An additional 15 people — ex-patients — had decided to stay and help.

“Patients who are more stable and can follow instructions are asked to carry out daily chores such as going to the neighborhood shops,” he says. “We usually rotate their chores once in a while.”

The compound has a field where patients can walk around. A large fenced-off building serves as the living quarters for the male patients, while the female residents live in a more closed off area at the back of the facility.

“We have more male patients here. More than 70 percent,” Suhandoyo says.

The foundation does not charge for its services, only asking for a meal fee of Rp 20,000 to Rp 25,000 per patient per week.

“It is up to the patient’s family how much they would like to contribute,” Suhandoyo adds.

Traditional Approach

None of the caretakers at the foundation has a medical degree or background. Gendu never went to school and used to be known as a Betawi street fighter.

“Suhanda is an elementary-school graduate. The only person with a degree here is my father,” Suhandoyo says.

Gendu believed that mental illness could be cured. He said he received the knowledge to cure mental illness from his parents, and he passed this knowledge on to Suhanda.

“Here we use prayers, traditional herbs, counseling, and sometimes, exorcism,” Suhandoyo explains.

“We believe too many foreign chemicals are bad for you,” he says. “That’s why each patient has to undergo a purification process using herbs, followed by a vegetarian diet, no carbonated drinks or sugar and no red meat.”

Suhandoyo adds that general hospitals in Bekasi and even the police have handed over mentally ill patients to the foundation.

However, the traditional methods used at the Galuh Foundation, including the use of physical chaining instead of sedatives, are largely frowned upon by medical practitioners.

Conflict

Dr. Gregorius Pandu Setiawan, a leading mental health expert, points out that the herbs used in the foundation’s treatments are not clinically proven, and therefore it can be hard to judge the real effect on patients’ bodies.

“They use physical restraint with shackles and chains, doctors use sedatives,” he says.

Gregorius views such methods as “an embarrassment,” especially since Bekasi is located so close to Jakarta.

“The hospitals and police officers who send people to the foundation are foolish,” he says

Meanwhile, Dr. Irmansyah, the director of mental health at the Health Ministry, says he regrets that the foundation is not considered a formal health-care facility by the state.

“The ministry and other health institutions such as Soeharto Herjan Mental Hospital, Duren Sawit Hospital and Bekasi Health Office visited the facility a couple of times to check the conditions,” he says.

However, offerings of medical assistance were rejected by the foundation. “Every individual suffering from disease should be treated, the state should provide medical facilities, including for those with mental illness.”

Irmansyah says he does not have anything against traditional medication, “as long as it does not make someone worse.”

“We realize that there are places that medical science has not reached yet, such as Galuh, but we hope this would not last for long,” Irmansyah says.

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giving in to the monkey brain

Posted by Aldie at 10:33 AM | 0 comments

Herceptin

I think I'm happy with the outcome of the brouhaha over Herceptin in Ontario. For those of you outside the province or outside the loop. Jill Anzarut, a 35 year old woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer made the news last week when she announced that the province had to pay for Herceptin because her Her2+ tumour was less than one centimetre (that's about 1/4 inch) in diameter.

The province initially refused to budge but eventually caved after a massive campaign played out in the social and traditional media. Access to Herceptin will now much more room for discretion when it comes to providing access to the drug.

I feel good about this. It's not that I think that every drug should be funded for every person. Her2+ cancers are very aggressive and, as best put by Stephen Chia, chair of the British Columbia breast-tumour group, “In HER-2 positive cancers, it’s not the size that drives it; it’s the HER-2 gene that drives it.” 

Election

Canadians are once again going to the polls. I am not happy about this. 

I'm sad that the long overdue Bill C-389 protecting the rights of transgendered people will die before it gets the chance to be thrown out by the Senate.

I'm worried that we will end up with a Conservative majority.

I have election fatigue. There was a time in my life when an election would make me feel excited and hopeful. Now I just think, "Ugh."

Presents in the mail

Did you see my scrabble pendant in yesterday's post? My friend Leslie sent it to me after I told her I'd like to have on with my initial on it. It made me very happy to open the envelope that held my surprise.

The bad with the good

Last week, I received my author's copy of the current issue of Canadian Woman Studies. The theme this quarter is Women and Cancer and I have a poem that is part of a piece called "Seven Reflections on Breast Cancer by Seven Women Who Worked Together." I'm happy about that.

I'm far less happy about another piece I stumbled on when I was leafing through the issue. It's called "The Private/Public Split in Breast Cancer Memoirs." It was written by a woman who came to my book launch in Toronto and asked for permission to speak in order to seek contributions - something to which I readily agreed. She also asked me to contribute to the issue, which prompted me to reach out to my writing group.

I had no idea that she planned to write a scathing deconstruction of my book - but that's what she did. I know that all writers get bad reviews but I found her comments to be very critical of me as a person (I guess you can't seperate the analysis of a memoir from its author) and quite unfair. 

I'm sure how to respond or react, or whether I should do so at all. I've actually been unable to finish reading the article. With a distinct lack of maturity, I threw the journal onto the living room floor and it stayed there for several days. I only just picked it up, in order to write this post.

I'll let you know what I decide to do. Meanwhile, I'm pasting my very own contribution below. It's a very small part of a greater whole (and not the strongest piece by the seven of us by any stretch) but it's mine and, like all my writing, expresses a little bit of what has been in my heart.


Snap shots
December 2nd, 2005.
When I close my eyes, I see myself as I was then.
Short dark hair and boots with heels.
Irritable and excited in equal measure.
I knew big change was coming. And it did. But it was not what I expected.
I was getting undressed when I found the lump.
July 1st, 2006
I close my eyes and see myself as I was then.
Round, bald and bloated. But happy.
Chemo is behind me. Or so I expect.
I am self-conscious but also hungry.
I eat two burgers at the barbecue.
December 24th, 2006
I close my eyes and see myself as I was.
I rallied for Christmas Eve but in the end the pain got the best of me.
My liver was riddled with tumours. And I had waited too long for the morphine.
My mother had to put me to bed. That comforted me.
And so did the drugs.
June 25th, 2007
I close my eyes and I can taste
The strawberries on my tongue
The sensual pleasure of the whipped cream
And the Niagara ice wine as it slid down my throat.
I knew I would soon have something to celebrate.
December 16th, 2009
I close my eyes so I can think.
I have now been in remission for 30 months.
And I will be in treatment for the rest of my life.
Some days I wake up celebrating.
Some days I grieve for what I have lost.
Today is a sad day.
Tomorrow will be better. Or maybe the day after that.

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Traditional herbs to be recognized in medical practice

Posted by Aldie at 5:18 AM | 0 comments

Antara News, Mon, March 21 2011

Related News

Surabaya (ANTARA News) - A discourse is going on in the Indonesian medical world to recognize traditional medicinal herbs as legal medicine which doctors can include in their prescriptions, the head of East Java`s health office. Dr. Dodo Anondo, said here Monday.

Herbal medicines.
"The idea was also discussed at a health ministry national working meeting in Batam a few days ago. however, many things still need to be considered before it can be implemented," he said.

The Indonesian health ministry had put the matter on its agenda since 2010 but its realization until recently had remained uncertain, he added.

He said there were still several things that should be considered before doctors could actually include herbs in their prescriptions although research conducted by the health ministry`s health research and development agency had found herbs to contain real medicinal properties.

Besides, certain regulations were needed to endorse the use and distribution of herbs as legal medicines in medical practice. Therefore, Dodo said, the health office in each province should take over the control of the distribution of medicinal herbs.

Meanwhile, polyclinics of traditional herbal medicine which existed in hospitals or community health centers should have a legal license to operate. The legal permits would be issued by the health minister as the government agency overseeing hospitals and community health centers in Indonesia.

Dodo said the preparation of implementing herbs as legal medicine for medical practice was aimed to encourage Indonesia to become a center of herbal medicine. Even more, Indonesia is a plentiful herbs country which most of the herbs can be used as medicine.

"Later on, the traditional herbal medicine can be applied in state and private hospitals in Indonesia," Dodo said.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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Nuke radiation test for Indonesians arriving from Japan

Posted by Aldie at 9:25 AM | 0 comments

Antara News, Sat, March 19 2011

Related News

Tabanan, Bali (ANTARA News) - Health Minister Endang R Sedyaningsih said all Indonesians who have returned home from Japan would be examined to ensure that they were free from nuclear radiation.

Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih.
(ANTARA/Rosa Panggabean)
"I think the examination is important. Indonesian officials and citizens will be tested with special equipment before departing to Japan and on their return in Jakarta," she said here Saturday.

The Indonesian Nuclear Supervisory Agency (Bapeten) had even conducted a scanning test for Indonesians in Japan who would return home.

Head of Bapeten As Natio Lasman said 174 Indonesian who arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from Japan on March 15 were free from radiation leak of the country`s damaged nuclear power plant.

He said in Jakarta on Friday that they were "negative" from being affected by the radiation leak.

"The scanning results of 174 evacuees have shown that they are all not contaminated by radiation substances as we have previously expected," he said.

Besides holding a scanning examination, the Bapeten authorities had also started observing the air quality of northern parts of Indonesia to ensure that it was free from the radiation.

Japan was rocked by a devastating earthquake with its subsequent deadly tsunami on March 11. The disasters had reportedly killed at least 5,000 people and caused almost 10,000 others go missing.

As a result of its nuclear plant crisis, Japan has asked Indonesia to increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to help the country deal with the power crisis.

Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Makiko Kikuta met with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economy Hatta Rajasa in Jakarta on Thursday.

Makiko told him that the 9-magnitude quake and tsunami had damaged his country`s nuclear power plant.

The supplies of electricity had drastically declined. In response to the scarcity, the Japanese government had minimized power consumption, he said.

Makiko said Japan`s power consumption is now equal to that for the entire Java Island.


Related Articles:

WHO: Radiation in Japan food 'more serious' than thought

Taiwan finds radiation on imported Japanese beans

Japan Finds Contaminated Food Up to 90 Miles From Nuclear Sites

Fukushima Water Tested Above Safe Limit 2 Days Ago

Traces of radioactive iodine found in tap water in Tokyo


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Report: Alzheimer's caregivers number 15 million

Posted by Aldie at 2:08 AM | 0 comments

SFexaminer, by: The Associated Press 03/14/11

Far more people than previously believed are providing billions of hours of unpaid care for Alzheimer's patients, highlighting the growing impact of a graying population.

Nearly 15 million caregivers — most of them family members but also friends — provide care for people with dementia, says a report being released Tuesday by the Alzheimer's Association.

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have the mind-destroying disease. That it takes so many more people to care for them reflects the burden of an illness that not only robs its sufferers of the ability to do the simplest activities of daily life — but that patients can survive in that increasingly incapacitated state for years, even a decade or two.

"It's too much of a job for any one person," said Dr. William Thies of the Alzheimer's Association. "Even Superman can't do it."

Those caregivers provide 17 billion hours of unpaid care, valued at more than $202 billion. Previously, experts had used a count about a decade ago to estimate that about 10 million caregivers provided 8.5 billion hours of unpaid care for Alzheimer's patients.

Moreover, the time and stress of caring for an Alzheimer's patient takes a physical toll, translating into nearly $8 billion worth of extra health care costs for caregivers, the report says.

There is no known cure, and today's treatments merely help symptoms for a while. While Alzheimer's can strike the middle-aged, it mostly is a disease of older people and thus is expected to skyrocket as the population ages.

Despite all the behind-the-scenes unpaid care, health and nursing home expenditures for dementia patients will reach $183 billion this year, much of it paid by Medicare and Medicaid, the report says.

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org

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scoped

Posted by Aldie at 12:37 PM | 0 comments

I once had a colleague who was a former Fleet Street journalist. I can't remember his name but I do remember a story he told over a particularly boozy dinner.

"The worst kinds of press releases," he said, "keep all the best bits for the end. That's just not how it should be done. It's like reading a news story that says 'A crowd gathered at Buckingham Palace today. There were also fire engines and ambulances. The corgies were brought out to safety. The Palace burned to the ground. The Queen is dead."

As I went on to work in communications, I kept that anecdote in mind and tried to make sure that the most important facts were kept in the lead of my news releases.

But this is not a news release and I can tell my story in way that pleases me.

I had an endoscopy yesterday.

I wasn't terribly worried when the secretary at reception couldn't find any record of me. I credit the Ativan for that. You still feel the anxiety but it's further away. Almost like it's someone else's anxiety.

She must have found me in the end, because I was called into the endoscopy unit, given an id bracelet and told to change into a robe.

The endoscopy unit at the Civic Hospital could use a facelift. The paint was peeling off the walls in the waiting room and the beds in the prep and recovery area are separated by curtains. My neighbour and I learned a lot about each others' medical histories and bowel movements.

Every nurse I spoke to was very taken aback that I should have metastatic breast cancer at my age.

Every one of the nurses was really kind.

The nurse who took my history and prepped me for the anesthetic noted my "crappy veins" but she got the vein accessed in one poke, so major kudos to her.

My bed was eventually wheeled into the room where the procedure would be done. At this point, I met Dr. A. for the first time. There was another doctor with him who introduced himself so quickly that I didn't catch his name. This second doctor, who I assume was a resident (why don't they introduce themselves as such? Residents always say, "I work with Dr. So and So." They never say "I am learning from Dr. So and So. Do they think the patients can't be trusted with this information? This really bugs me because I can always tell they are residents and I would be much more forgiving if they were honest with me) began to very rapidly list off all the horrendous risks of the procedure and then handed me a waver to sign. 

It's a good thing that I had done tons of my own research (and that I had taken the Ativan) because I might have demanded that they wheel me out of there.

Dr. A. asked me if I had signed the waiver and if I had any questions. I said, "I just want to get this over with."

I mentioned my strong gag reflex to Dr. Resident. He instructed the nurse (pompously? Am I being biased?) to give me some extra shots of the anesthetic spray for my throat (I had the distinct impression that the nurse was going to do this anyway but perhaps I am biased). Then they hooked me up to the drip, placed a plastic frame with a hole in it in my mouth and shoved a tube down my throat.

I then proceeded to gag, choke and gasp for breath. Tears streamed down my face. 

I'll never forget the nurse who gently held my head and spoke comfortingly to me.

It's amazing how big the endoscopy tube looked to me. There's no way it could have  been that big in real life.

I heard Dr. A. say something about how studies had shown that the gag reflex was greatly diminished when Fentanyl is administered.

I heard Dr. Resident sound surprised.

A nurse administered Fentanyl via my IV. And then I was really, really stoned (I just read that Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and I had a cocktail with other sedatives).

Not sure if I passed out or not but I was pretty woozy. I know they called T. to come and get me. And I know that one of the nurses suggested I try and get dressed.

I sat up and nearly puked. The nurse got me to lie back down again.

Lather, rinse and repeat a few times.

One of the nurses gave me some apple juice, which helped.

I asked what drugs I had been given. A nurse looked that up and said with surprise that I had been given a drug in the Valium family and Fentanyl. She said, "No wonder you're so wasted."

I heard someone mention Gravol (known as Dramamine in the US). I now understand why they give it to me each time they give me Demerol at the cancer centre. They gave me a barf bag.

I texted T. to see why he still hadn't arrived. He texted back that he was in the waiting room. I told him to come get me. He said that the secretary wouldn't let him past the waiting room.

If he wasn't allowed past the waiting room and I wasn't allowed to leave without him (nor could I walk on my own), we were kind of stuck.

One of the nurses went to get him.

Before I left, Dr. A. came to talk to me. He said that I am to come to his office in around four weeks, at which time I will get my results. He also told me that there were no visible tumours (see what I mean about burying the good stuff under a whole pile of details?).

I went home and slept for 6 and a half hours. It would have been longer if T. hadn't come into the room to check on me. I was pretty dopey all evening (giving all my online Scrabble opponents an unfair advantage) and hit the hay before 10.

My throat hurts today and I'm still kind of tired but I did get out for a run (it's 10C here today that's 50F), so I guess I'm recovering pretty well.

In a months time, I'll find out if the biopsies revealed any pre-cancerous cells. Or if I have celiac disease. And Dr. A. promised that if they don't find anyting, he's going to want to do a colonoscopy.

What fun.


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111 charged in Medicare scams worth $225 million

Posted by Aldie at 10:55 AM | 0 comments

AP, KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press,   Feb. 17, 2011

MIAMI (AP) — Federal authorities have charged more than 100 doctors, nurses and physical therapists in nine cities with Medicare fraud as part of a massive bust.

More than 700 law enforcement agents fanned out to arrest 111 people accused of illegally billing Medicare more than $225 million.

The arrests are the latest in a string of major busts in the past two years as authorities have struggled to pare the fraud that's believed to cost the government between $60 billion and $90 billion each year.

Stopping Medicare's budget from hemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Authorities say the scams included billing for toenail removals that were unnecessary and hemorrhoid removals that were never performed.

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Doctors asked to prescribe generic drugs

Posted by Aldie at 1:31 AM | 0 comments

Antara News, Sun, February 13 2011

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono has reminded that doctors in all government hospital and other health care centers should prescribe generic drugs for their patients.

"It has been regulated that doctors at government health facility centers are obliged to prescribe generic drugs for their patients," the coordinating minister said here on Sunday.

With the prescription, patients could obtain generic drugs at pharmacies or at non-government health facility centers, he said.

He said that the aim of generic drug prescription was to alleviate the burden of patients and their families in buying medicines.

The prescription of cheaper generic drugs is also intended to inform people that they should not merely be tempted to purchase expensive drugs which might not be more effective than generic ones.

He said that generic drugs also came from branded medicines whose patent rights had expired so that their production cost was lower.

Therefore, he said, the popularization of generic drugs should be focused not only on low prices but also on their quality which was relatively the same as that of branded ones.

"Therefore, doctors and health workers at government hospitals, including at public health care centers, play a decisive role in encouraging people to use generic drugs," he said.

Editor: Aditia Maruli

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Housewives account for most HIV/AIDS cases in Papua: Govt

Posted by Aldie at 12:15 AM | 0 comments

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/24/2011

Most of the people reporting HIV/AIDS infections in Papua last year were housewives, accounting for 164 individuals, the government says.

Most of these women had contracted HIV from their husbands, Jayapura AIDS Commission secretary Purnomo said Monday in Sentani as reported by kompas.com reported.

“Their husbands were unfaithful,” he said

Official records show there were 609 people living with HIV/AIDS in Papua last year, comprising 242 men and 367 women.

Up to 164 of the women were housewives, and 102 were sex workers. Of the total, 37 were civil servants, 67 were employees of private companies, 41 were high school and college students and 61 were farmers or blue collar or informal workers.

Twelve of the women were under four years old and 44 were between 15 and 19 years of age, while most (285 of them) were in their 20s; 198 were in their 30s and 55 were in their 40s.

Most HIV/AIDS cases were found in the Sentani district, 126 in East Sentani, 26 in Kauran, 20 in Nimboran and 25 in West Sentani.

Four children had contracted HIV from their mothers, seven from blood transfusions and the rest from sexual intercourse.

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50,000 Balinese suffering from cataracts: Health official

Posted by Aldie at 12:17 AM | 0 comments

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 01/21/2011

About 50,000 people in Bali are suffering from cataracts and the number is expected to increase by 0.1 percent annually, a physician says.

Many people suffer from the disease not only because of old age, but also because of poor nutrition, unfavorable weather, diabetes and excessive exposure to sunlight, Indera Hospital chief Dr. Pande Sri Joni said Friday in Denpasar after receiving Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty.

Moriarty visited the hospital in relation to health donations from the Australian government amounting to Aus$3 million, Antara reported Friday.

Joni said cataract patients could get their sight back through operations, adding that despite efforts by the government to prevent the illness, the number of cataract patients continued to increase.

“Every day [we] perform 10 operations. Each year we treat 1,000 patients and the number will increase to 2,000,” he said.

The hospital has five ophthalmologists who perform the eye surgery and also a mobile unit that can travel to villages throughout Bali upon requests from regional administrations.

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Now doctors prescribe herbal medicines

Posted by Aldie at 11:28 PM | 0 comments

Antara News, Andi Abdussalam, Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Since time immemorial, herbal medicines have been used by forefathers in Indonesia to heal different kinds of diseases, yet they have not gained recognition, at least until recently, by the medical world to be recommended in doctor`s prescriptions.

Seeing the healing power and economic potential of at least 3,000 kinds of herbal medicines in Indonesia, the government is now however preparing 12 hospitals throughout the country to open herbal clinic services where doctors can prescribe herbal medicines for their patients.

This is a government effort to promote herbal medicines in Indonesia as a complementary healing to modern medication. "Thus, herbal medicines have now become alternatives at hospitals for the people to cure their diseases," Chairman of the Indonesian Herbal Medical Association (PDHMI) Hardhi Pranata said recently.

The 12 hospitals where the government is now preparing to open clinic services for patients willing to use herbal medication included the Cipto Mangunkusomo general hospital (RSCM), the Dharmais hospital, the Persahabatan hospital in Jakarta, the Sardjito hospital in Yogyakarta, the Hasan Sadikin hospital in Bandung, West Java, the Dr Soetomo hospital in Surabaya, East Java, and the Shangla hospital in Bali.

For this purpose, doctors who are assigned to cater patients at the hospitals` herbal clinics are given education and training on herbal medicines.

"After attending the training, the doctors will get a certificate which authorizes them to provide herbal medication prescription for their patients," Hardhi said adding that the Indonesian Medical Association had also been determined to take herbs as a complementary medicine to modern medication.

Besides training doctors, the government is also trying to promote herbal medicines through a `scientification` process at the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

"Scientification will provide scientific evidence for herbal medicines on their effectiveness to cure a disease," BPPT Head Marzan Azis Iskandar said.

It has so far taken a long time and big cost to conduct a research and clinic test to turn a herbal medicines into a scientific product.

"Now technology has been available that can shorten the process with low cost. But to do that cooperation with all sides from the government, private institutions and the experts is needed," he said.

Technology is important which according to natural medicine researcher Prof Dr Subagus Wahuono of the Yogyakarta-based Gajah Mada University, is needed to enrich the active compounds of herbal medicines.

"There are two important things for the development of herbal medicines, namely to enrich the active compounds and their frames of the a herb material," he said.

He said that although Indonesia had abundant medicinal plants yet their active compounds that could be extracted were relatively low. "For example, from one kilogram of a medicinal plant, only about one milligram active compounds could be extracted," the professor said.

He said that the active compounds provide herbal medicines with the ability to cure a disease. The higher the active compounds of a herbal medicine product had, the higher ability it had to cure a disease.

Subagus said that active compounds and their frames could be enriched with a bio-technology development. "But conducting a bio-technology research will need a high cost," he said.

That is why, only a small number of herbal medicine products in Indonesia have undergone a scientification process.

Head of the Research and Development of Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicines of the Ministry of Health, Indah Yuning Prapti said that of the 3,000 kinds of herbal medicines circulating in the country, only four had undergone a scientification process.

"The four are herbal medicines for inflammation, gout, hypertension and cholesterol.

There are still a lot of ones that need scientification process," she said.

In the meantime, to advance herbal medicine researches in the country, Soegijapranata Catholic University (Unika Soegijapranata) in Semarang, Central Java, and Providence University in Taiwan have agreed to cooperate in herbal medicine research.

"A team from our university currently visiting Providence University in Taiwan reached the cooperation agreement with the hosts," Unika Soegijapranata spokesman Antonius Juang Saksono said recently.

Antonius said Unika Soegijapranata Rector Prof Budi Widiaarko who led the team to Taiwan had reported that the two universities had reached an agreement to cooperate in various fields of research including herbal medicine.

He said both parties would carry out a research on the prospects of herbal medicine industry to go international.

"One of the researches which had been agreed on is about the prospects of herbal medicine in Indonesia and its development in the future," Antonius said.

Indeed, with their economic and healing potentials, herbal medicines promise a good business prospect in Indonesia.

This has led publicly listed state-owned drug and cosmetic firm PT Kimia Farma (KAEF) to consider acquiring a number of herbal medicine companies in East and Central Java worth up to Rp40 billion.

"Herbal medicine business in Indonesia is offering a big chance in the future so that KAEF is considering to acquire a number of herbal medicine companies," KAEF Corporate Secretary Ade Nugroho last week.

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70% poor insurance cardholders denied quality health treatment

Posted by Aldie at 12:50 AM | 0 comments

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 12/24/2010

The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says 70 percent of patients entitled to various government health insurance schemes for the poor have complained about the hospital services they have received.

Citing results of a recent survey by the anti-graft watchdog, ICW’s Febri Hendri said Friday that 70 percent of 986 poor patient respondents still found many things to complain about even though health insurance schemes, including Jamkesmas, Jamkesda, Gakin and SKTM, had been in place for some time.

“The complaints are about administrative services, nurses, doctors, facilities, down payment, costs and other hospital services, among other things,” Febri said in a press release as quoted by Antara.

The ICW’s Citizen Report Cards 2010 surveyed respondents about treatment received at 19 public and private hospitals in Greater Jakarta.

The survey also found that many poor patients were reluctant to use their state-supported health insurance cards for fear of being rejected by hospitals.

Many of the hospitals still reject poor patients, using excuses such a lack of available beds, insufficient medical equipment and a shortage of doctors or medicines to treat the patients, the ICW said.

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