Girls face bias in heart surgery too
NEW DELHI: A study conducted by doctors at the AIIMS has found that among children who require heart surgery, boys have a much better chance of undergoing the procedure than girls.
Even when faced with life-threatening ailments, girls are discriminated against in India. A study conducted by doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has found that among children who require heart surgery, boys have a much better chance of undergoing the procedure.
Published in the medical journal Heart, the study interviewed parents of 405 children aged up to 12 years who had been advised to undergo elective pediatric cardiac surgery at AIIMS. When their status was reviewed after a year, doctors found 44% (59/134) of the girls had undergone surgery against 70% (189/271) of boys.

Bionic boon for the blind
NEW DELHI: For millions of Indians who suffer from loss of vision due to retina damage and age-related macular degeneration , there is now hope. A bionic eye which would help them see is going to be developed indigenously .

The visual device would use eyeglasses fitted with digital cameras and a retinal implant and has been successfully tried on patients abroad. The co-inventor of the global project, Dr Rajat N Agrawal , says he wants to make the implant affordable here and will work to bring down the cost of the implant to Rs 5 lakh from its present cost of Rs 45 lakh (approx).

"We are collaborating with experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and several IITs to indigenously develop a cheaper variant of the eye implant so that people here can afford it. We are also trying to get the central government to fund the research project," said Agrawal, an assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Southern California.