Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN)

About the Organisation

The OAPEN Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, with its registered office at the National Library in The Hague. OAPEN is dedicated to open access, peer-reviewed books. OAPEN operates two platforms, the OAPEN Library (www.oapen.org), a central repository for hosting and disseminating OA books, and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB, www.doabooks.org), a discovery service for OA books. We work with publishers to build a quality-controlled collection of open access books, and provide services for publishers, libraries and research funders in the areas of dissemination, quality assurance and digital preservation. For more details check HERE

National Health policy

The details of major highlights of the National Health Policy, 2017 is given below:

Details of  Major Highlights of National Health Policy, 2017

1.      Assurance Based Approach- Policy advocates progressively incremental Assurance based Approach with focus on preventive and promotive healthcare

2.      Health Card linked to health facilities- Policy recommends linking the health card to primary care facility for a defined package of services anywhere in the country.

3. Patient Centric Approach- Policy recommends the setting up of a separate, empowered medical tribunal for speedy resolution to address disputes /complaints regarding standards of care, prices of services, negligence and unfair practices. Standard Regulatory framework for laboratories and imaging centers, specialized emerging services, etc For more details Read Here
   

Budget 2017-2018: Salient points for Healthcare

·         Action plan to eliminate Kala-Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018 and Measles by 2020; elimination of tuberculosis by 2025 is also targeted. 

·         Action plan has been prepared to reduce IMR from 39 in 2014 to 28 by 2019 and MMR from 167 in 2011-13 to 100 by 2018-2020. 

·         1.5 lakh Health Sub Centres will be transformed into Health and Wellness Centres.

·         Additional 5,000 Post Graduate seats per annum to be created.

·         Steps will be taken to roll-out DNB courses in big District Hospitals; strengthen PG teaching in select ESI and Municipal Corporation Hospitals; and encourage reputed Private Hospitals to start DNB courses.

·         Two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be set-up in the States of Jharkhand and Gujarat.

·         Amendment of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules proposed to ensure availability of drugs at reasonable prices and promote use of generic medicines.

·         New rules for regulating medical devices will also be formulated to reduce the cost of such devices.

·         Structural transformation of the Regulatory framework of Medical Education and Practice in India.

·         Safe drinking water to 28,000 arsenic and fluoride affected habitations in the next four years.

·         Aadhaar based health cards will be issued for senior citizens.

·         Digi Gaon will be launched to promote tele-medicine and education

·         500 rail stations to be made differently abled-friendly by providing lifts and escalators

Full budget speech available HERE

The powerful women..

Dr Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress and the first woman to hold the post, will be our first keynote speaker at the conference. Dr Hayden is only the third qualified librarian in the 216 year history of the Library of Congress and we are looking forward to hearing about her insights and plans for the future.

Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, is the Director of the National Library of Medicine(NLM). The NLM is the world's largest biomedical library .. 

Few Books For Visually Impaired?....

From Huffington Post blog India publishes approximately 90,000 books each year in 24 different languages. We have over 16,000 publishers, and are one of the top nations for English book publishing in the world. Read more HERE

WHO report warns global actions and investments to end tuberculosis epidemic are falling far short

WHO report warns global actions and investments to end tuberculosis epidemic are falling far short: New data published by WHO in its 2016 'Global Tuberculosis Report' show that countries need to move much faster to prevent, detect, and treat the disease if they are to meet global targets.

On new health index, India ranks 143/188

First global analysis assesses countries on sustainable development goal health performance

A new index developed to assess each country’s achievement on a range of health indicators ranks India at 143 in a list of 188 countries, six places ahead of Pakistan and way behind countries like Sri Lanka (79), China (92), even war-torn Syria (117) and Iraq (128).
The first global analysis that assesses countries on sustainable development goal (SDG) health performance was launched at a special event at the UN General Assembly Wednesday and published online in The Lancet.
The study by an international collaboration on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) analysed each country’s progress towards achieving health-related SDG targets by creating an overall SDG Index score. Countries were then ranked by their scores to show which nations are closest to achieving the targets. READ MORE: HERE 

Source : Indian Express

Cabinet approves introduction of the "Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016"

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of the "Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016".

The Bill will regulate surrogacy in India by establishing National Surrogacy Board at the central level and State Surrogacy Boards and Appropriate Authorities in the State and Union Territories. The legislation will ensure effective regulation of surrogacy, prohibit commercial surrogacy and allow ethical surrogacy to the needy infertile couples.

All infertile Indian married couple who want to avail ethical surrogacy will be benefited. Further the rights of surrogate mother and children born out of surrogacy will be protected. The Bill shall apply to whole of India, except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The major benefits of the Act would be that it will regulate the surrogacy services in the country. While commercial surrogacy will be prohibited including sale and purchase of human embryo and gametes, ethical surrogacy to the needy infertile couples will be allowed on fulfilment of certain conditions and for specific purposes. As such, it will control the unethical practices in surrogacy, prevent commercialization of surrogacy and will prohibit potential exploitation of surrogate mothers and children born through surrogacy. Read more HERE

ITU releases ICT Facts & Figures 2016

ICT services getting more affordable – but more than half the world’s population still not using the Internet. Read details HERE

July 5, 1948 –  Birth of the UK's National Health Service NHS 

Since its launch in 1948, the NHS has grown to become the world’s largest publicly funded health service. It is also one of the most efficient, most egalitarian and most comprehensive health system.

The NHS was born out of a long-held ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth – a principle that remains at its core.

Overview of the changes and milestones of the NHS in England from its launch in 1948 to the present day is available HERE.

World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends

World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends

 Harnessing Digital Economy in the World 

by The World Bank. The World Bank, Washington DC, USA. ISBN: 9781464806711.

Summary: Digital technologies have spread rapidly in much of the world. Digital dividends—that is, the broader development benefits from using these technologies—have lagged behind. In many instances, digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved service delivery. Yet their aggregate impact has fallen short and is unevenly distributed. For digital technologies to benefit everyone everywhere requires closing the remaining digital divide, especially in internet access. But greater digital adoption will not be enough. To get the most out of the digital revolution, countries also need to work on the "analog complements"—by strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses, by adapting workers' skills to the demands of the new economy, and by ensuring that institutions are accountable.

Full text available HERE

PubMed Celebrates its 20th Anniversary!

Canese K. PubMed Celebrates its 20th Anniversary! NLM Tech Bull. 2016 May-Jun;(410):e12.

2016 June 21 [posted]

PubMed was first released two decades ago in January 1996 as an experimental database under the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) retrieval system. The word "experimental" was dropped from the Web site in April 1997, and on June 26, 1997, a Capitol Hill Press conference officially announced free MEDLINE access via PubMed.
See an outline of the early years in the article, PubMed Celebrates its 10th Anniversary!
PubMed continued to evolve and, in 2007, the NCBI retrieval engine was completely redesigned to provide a foundation for the discovery initiative. In 2008, highlights included a number of discovery tools such as, an "also try" feature, query terms in article titles display, and a drug sensor. Collections were added to the My NCBI user tools, automatic term mapping was enhanced, an advanced search feature was added, and citation and gene sensors were released. The PubMed citation sensor continues to be one of the most popular discovery features; users love it!
Read more HERE

NIH appoints Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D., to lead the National Library of Medicine

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-appoints-patricia-flatley-brennan-rn-phd-lead-national-library-medicine

Not that everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts - Albert Einstein

The doctors who do not inspire

The absence of research at many private medical colleges in India is embarrassing

• Hindustan Times (Lucknow)
• 23 Apr 2016

That India is a nation of contrasts is also highlighted by the quality of the medical research churned out by its 579 medical institutions. Four medical colleges in India are among the list of top 10 global institutions that published the most research between 2005 and 2014, but close to 60% have published no research at all in a decade, according to a study of peer-reviewed literature. With an average annual research output of 1,100 papers, the AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) ranked third in the world but published less than a third of what Massachusetts General Hospital and Mayo Clinic did, with 4,600 and 3,700 papers respectively. What was shocking was that 332 medical institutions in India published no research in a whole decade. Only 25 (4.3%) of top medical institutions published more than 100 papers each year and, between them, accounted for 40.3% of India’s total research output of a little over 100,000 papers in a decade.

Since all the institutions surveyed were recognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI) or the National Board of Examinations, the two bodies that regulate medical education in India, it’s worrying that young doctors are not being encouraged to develop analytical skills and critical thinking that fuel scientific innovation and lead to better outcomes in disease management and surgery. Almost all the 332 medical institutions with not a single publication in a decade were privately-run medical colleges and hospitals. The states with the largest number of private medical colleges did the worst, with more than 90% of the medical colleges in Karnataka and Kerala having no publication at all. The institutions that did best were publicly-funded teaching hospitals, where each doctor treats an overwhelming number of those ailing each day. AIIMS, for example, treats 12,000 patients in its out-patient department every day, far more than what many private medical colleges do.

Research is indicator of an institution’s quality of education and clinical care. India’s research output is poor because medical education has become a business and there is little interest in research, which is not considered profitable. It has no direct effect on income or promotion, which is based on seniority, clinical practice and often influenced by nepotistic considerations. India needs to incentivise research and the MCI’s 2015 guidelines, which require at least four research publications for associate professors and eight for professors, are not enough. To be global players in medical education, institutions need to offer funds and infrastructure to support research that can be applied to the medical and nursing practice.