Month: February 2025

The number of workers terminated by the Trump administration at the National Institutes of Health has been revised to 1,165, according to an NIH internal email seen by Reuters on Sunday, down from an initial 1,500.

The email, sent to senior NIH leaders on Saturday night, said some names were removed from the list but new ones may have been added. Affected staff will be placed on administrative leave starting on Monday.

They have received termination letters and will be on administrative leave for four weeks before they are officially terminated, an NIH official told Reuters.

The number accounts for around 6% of the 20,000 people employed by the NIH, an agency overseeing 27 institutes and centers and the top public funder of medical research on everything from vaccines for emerging pandemic threats to targets for new drugs.

It has long been in the crosshairs of newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said in November he would act quickly to fire 600 people there and replace them all with new hires.

It was unclear if those terminated this week, most of whom were probationary workers let go as part of President Donald Trump’s overhaul of government agencies, included the 600 employees referenced by Kennedy, an avowed vaccine skeptic and critic of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the NIH, agencies now under his watch.

The Trump administration also terminated employees at the FDA on Saturday night, Stat News reported, citing sources.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many FDA employees were affected nor how many parts of the agency may be involved, the report said, adding that some of those cut worked in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

About 5,200 probationary employees across the Department of Health and Human Services were being let go, STAT News reported, amounting to 6% of its 80,000 employees, including those at the FDA, NIH and the CDC, which saw half of its probationary workers terminated on Friday.

The U.S. government began firing thousands of people at multiple agencies on Thursday as Trump and billionaire Elon Musk accelerate their purge of America’s federal bureaucracy. Reuters

An automated oral biopsy device developed by a professor of SOA University has received a US patent.

The user-friendly automated pen-like device, which is expected to revolutionise oral biopsy procedures, has been developed by SOA’s pro vice-chancellor (research and collaboration) Prof Neeta Mohanty.

The device has simplified the process of biopsy and eliminated the need for extensive instrumentation along with features of tele-screening and fiber-optic light.

“Biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosis and unskilled biopsy often leads to erroneous and delayed diagnosis resulting in life-threatening conditions. This device will benefit the patients immensely with early diagnosis and treatment of oral diseases without compromising on the expert opinion and reducing the burden of oral diseases, specially oral cancer,” Prof Mohanty said.

She had filed for two Indian patents for the same product in 2018 which were granted in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and she got a design patent in 2019. “I filed for the US patent in 2019 which was published in 2020 and the patent was granted a few days ago,” she said.

This innovation had won her the Global Outreach Dental Innovation Award in 2021. It was selected by the Science and Technology Department of the Odisha government for being showcased at the Global Bio India 2024 held at New Delhi.

Prof Mohanty’s research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology for prototype development and approval was received from Startup Odisha for need-based assistance. New Indian Express

Resistance to digitisation of patient health records by many healthcare providers is because they do not want to be accountable, said Indu Bhushan, former chairman of National Health Authority and former CEO of Ayushman Bharat.

Speaking at a panel discussion on “Future of Care: Revolutionising Healthcare Through Digital Innovation and Collaboration” at the Global Investors’ Meet on Thursday, Dr. Bhushan cited an example of doctors who prescribe investigation tests and antibiotics unnecessarily. “They also do not want to be accountable, because, in response, there is no benefit. Instead, it increases their workload,” he said.

“There are doctors who prescribe unnecessary antibiotics or unnecessary tests. They do not want to have it on record through digital means, because currently when you do it on paper, it is very difficult to audit that. But through digital health you can see that this doctor always prescribes antibiotics, irrespective of what kind of ailments the patient comes with. So they will be more accountable,” he explained.

He said it also holds good with interoperability of health records. “Many hospitals do not want their patients to leave the hospital and go to another hospital. That is why they would like the patient records to be with them. I am not casting aspersions on all hospitals. But, this is the reality,” said Dr. Bhushan, who was instrumental in rolling out the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM) in the country.

Inequitable technology use
Pointing out that technology use is inequitably distributed, Dr. Bhushan said there are some hospitals where digital technology is working very well. “They send reports on time. They link current reports to the previous ones. But again, there are others who are not doing this, or other patients who are not receiving the same service.”

“However, acceptability will increase in the next five years, similar to digital (UPI) payments. In the initial phases, there will be divergence. But once we have a critical mass, it will be the insurance payers who will insist that we should have digital records because it is easy to monitor. In all countries where digital health has taken root, it is largely because insurance companies and payers have insisted on this because they have a vested interest in ensuring that all the records are digital,” he said.

Public health policies
Asserting that public health infrastructure and the public health policies will drive the digital adoption in the country, Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Managing Director of Fortis Healthcare sought to know why the government has not made ABDM mandatory for all hospitals.

ABDM aims to digitise healthcare delivery by building an ecosystem that rides on collaboration between the government and the private sector. However, it is optional.

“Public sector is much more organised because repetitions do not happen. So the wastage is minimal. But in the private sector, the patients go to one place, do some set of investigations, then go to another place, do another set of investigations. By the time the patients come for the procedure, they have self exhausted all their financial resources. So I think there are a lot of challenges,” he said.

Sonal Asthana, Programme Director of Liver Transplantation at Aster group of Hospitals, who moderated the session, sought to know from the panelists the challenges faced in digital adoption. “What are the specific security needs we should think about in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven world for healthcare?” he asked.

Shashank N.D., CEO of Practo, emphasised the importance of anonymisation in technology, particularly in FinTech and HealthTech to protect personal information without compromising on functionality.

The panelists also discussed the crucial aspect of slow adoption of healthcare insurance in India and if digital innovations can help in creating novel financial models for payment. The Hindu

Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Monday, February 17, that the government will increase the payment being made to paediatricians, gynaecologists and anesthetists working at government hospitals.

Speaking at the quarterly meeting of Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) Review Committee the Minister said that the decision to hike the payment is to attract those doctors to work at government hospitals to meet the dearth of doctors.

Earlier, Dhananjaya Sarji, MLC and also a doctor, suggested the Minister that authorities of all government hostels in Dakshina Kannada should get the students tested by dermatologists at least twice a year. It is because many students at government hostels faced skin infections.

“Girls at hostels do require the guidance of gynaecologists to create awareness on female health issues. The government should do the needful for the same. In addition, as Dakshina Kannada is facing drug addiction issues hostel students should get counselling service from clinical psychologists or psychiatrists,” he said.

Water contamination
Drawing the attention of the meeting Dr. Sarji said that farmers should be guided on the proper use of fertilisers, particularly related to quantity. If more aluminium content joined water bodies consumption of those water can cause severe health issues, including brain disorders, and liver and bone damages, he alerted.

Bharat Mundodi, chairman of Dakshina Kannada committee for implementing the guarantee schemes, and Bhagirathi Murulya, MLA, Sullia said that arecanut growers affected by Yellow Leaf Disease and Leafspot Disease should get a package from the government for growing alternative crops.

U. Rajesh Naik, MLA, Bantwal said that some farm land have submerged due to storing of water in the newly built vented dam (across the Netravathi) at Jakribettu up to five metres high. Some people have complained that water has entered into their dwelling premises. The engineers concerned should address the issue by reducing the storage level at the dam.

There were heated arguments between the Minister and D. Vedavyasa Kamath, MLA, Mangaluru City South over the inauguration of Jeppu enclave in the city recently and over the adherence to protocol. The blame game lasted for some time and subsided later. The Hindu