Shortage

Shortage of MMR vaccine

The vaccine that protects children against measles, mumps and rubella is in short supply. The MMR vaccine joins a growing list of scarce drugs, with shortfalls caused by production problems, fewer drugmakers// and pharmaceutical companies choosing to stop making some products. The situation is so bad that 8 of the 11 recommended childhood vaccines are in short supply, including tetanus...

Shortage of funds for providing AIDS drug in Africa and India

The number of people on antiretroviral therapy has doubled to 1 million worldwide and tripled in Africa and Asia. Asia and Africa are two regions which are hit greatly by AIDS. Though, there is a immense increase in antiretroviral // treatment, it is still far less than the requirement, and the WHO goal to treat 3 million people by 2005, will never happen world wide critics say. Repor...

Tamiflu Shortage Can Be Better Handled By Combining It With Probenecid

Drug Synergism refers to the enhancement in action or effect of a particular drug than the individual effect of both the drugs combined. The phenomenon could be exploited in the present scenario where the avian bird flu is posing a serious threat across different regions of the globe. // Tamiflu is a prescribed drug for seasonal flu, because it will be a first line of defense if the H...

Acute Shortage Of Neurosurgeons In India: One Surgeon For Every 1 Million!

India has a severe shortfall of neurosurgeons with only one surgeon for every one million population. There is hence a greater need to build up trained manpower in the country. This is comparatively lower when compared to the situation in US and Japan where the ratio is 100,000 // and 6000 for every one million population respectively. Dr.A.K. Mahapatra, professor in the Department of...

Doctor Training Undermined In Britain Due To Shortage Of Cadavers

Lack of dead bodies is affecting the training of new doctors in Britain. According to the Department of Health, two courses had been cancelled this year because of a lack of cadavers and experts said more would be hit if the // fall in body donations were not reversed. The government has blamed rising medical student numbers, TV shows and the Alder Hey scandal for the problem. In the...

British medical education suffers shortage of bodies

London:Britain has long suffered from a shortage of medical professionals. But now the lack of dead bodies is affecting the training of new doctors. According to the Department of Health, two courses had been cancelled this year because of a lack of cadavers and // experts said more would be hit if the fall in body donations was not reversed. In the last five years, the num...

Shortage Of Funds In Primary Care Trust In UK

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has urged hospitals to delay operations until the new financial year in April to help manage the prevailing situation regarding financial deficit in U.K.// The following move is expected to improve or rather eliminate all forms of financial shortcomings in the years to come. Ms Hewitt said: "I understand the anxiety patients will feel if they are living...

Acute Shortage Of Dentists in UK: Oral Care for Elders To Suffer A Setback

With the increasing number of aged individuals in UK, dentists are having a tough time trying to fix crowns and bridges to help preserve their dental health. The reluctance of many// such old people to compromise on dentures has resulted in an increased work pressure among members of the dental community. However, it is believed that the existing situation will become more manageable...

Scotland faces shortage of dentists questioning the dental facilities

Scotland stated that it would provide free dental service to all the people, but this statement was questioned when statistics revealed that not enough dentist were available at the NHS.// More than a million Scots have not registered with an NHS dentist because they don’t have any access to one. Statistics reported that 41% of children are not registered with an NHS doctor in Grampian...

School Children Put To Risk Due To Shortage Of Nurses

The schools in the US appear to be suffering from an acute shortage of nurses, with some schools having a single nurse only. There are about 56,000 nurses working across the country in schools on a fulltime basis.// This amounts to one nurse for every 950 students, while the federal guidelines call for a nurse for every 750 students. The nurse to student ratio is the worst in Utah, when compared...

UK Committee Warns on Food Shortages Due to Flu Epidemic

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has issued a warning that if a bird flu pandemic were to hit Britain, there would be a severe shortage of food. // The Committe has called on ministers to step-up efforts to collaborate on an international level and has asked the Government to prepare alternative plans to combat an epidemic should the need arise. As staff continue to...

Zimbabwe Faces Shortage Of AIDS Drugs

A Summary Report by Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, HIV-positive Zimbabweans are having limited// access to antiretroviral drugs, owing to rising prices, dearth of foreign exchange to import drugs and President Robert Mugabe's drive on Urban Evictions. A report by the United Nations states that, hyperinflation in the last quarter has...

UK Doctors Fear Shortages Could Hit Public Health Drive

The drive to boost public health in the UK could be hit by a shortage of doctors. Public health trainee doctors say government primary care reforms mean stalling of their careers and withdrawal of consultant posts. // The uncertainty surrounding primary care trust mergers in England under Commissioning a Patient-led NHS has prompted some primary care trusts to freeze public hea...

'Silent Shortage' Of Psychiatrists growing in the U.S.

Reflecting the frustrations of modern medical practice, a full quarter of psychiatrists said they would not choose medicine if they could decide their career paths// all over again. The web-based survey was conducted in 2005 by physician recruiting firm LocumTenens.com. Compared to locum tenens industry studies asking the same question of physicians across a range of specialties, LocumT...

UK Facing Shortage of Radiotherapists Delaying Cancer Treatment

A British Medical Journal report says that staff shortages in radiotherapy units across the country are delaying vital treatment to cancer patients// and thus reducing their chances of surviving the condition. "Radiotherapy services in the UK are inferior to those in most developed countries and indeed many poorer countries," said David Dodwell, a clinical oncologist and author of the...

Shortage of NHS funds: Many Couples Denied Infertility Treatment

Infertility treatment is being denied to thousands of couples, currently on the NHS, despite the government guidelines that call for equality in access to related health care services. //This could be partly attributed to stringent criteria for the provision of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other modalities. A majority of the primary h...

Shortage of services forces delayed hospital treatment for patient.

Due to shortage of services in a hospital at Brisbane a patient had to be referred to a hospital 30 minutes away. Although he was attacked and was in serious condition, attention could not be paid. The hospital in question is // the Caboolture Hospital, where emergency services are scarce due to shortage of doctors. While the emergency ward closed briefly, it is presently operational fro...

Shortage of dentists in Scotland

Statistics show that there are relatively a very small number of dentists who graduate from the dental schools stay in Scotland to treat the patients. // This trend is on the rise and the health officials fear that his is due to the National Health Service (NHS) funding for the dental services. Many dental graduates are out of job due to this activity of the NHS. In 2003 it was only 1...

Doctor Shortage Affects Women And Babies' Health

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has said that there is a severe shortage of specialist doctors and this is putting women and babies' health in jeopardy. // The report also called for 1,000 consultants to be appointed so that this shortage can be overcome. The report said that the problem was that O&G was becoming unpopular because doctors were not sure if their car...

Oxygen Shortage Causes Panic Among Patients

Regular oxygen supplies are facing a setback, after four private companies took over the reins of the contract, from NHS Service, in February, this year. This has created huge problems for patients for whom oxygen supply can mean the difference between life and death. //It is estimated that about 60,000 people are in need of oxygen at home for various life threatening problems. Home de...

Double Kidney Transplants to Solve Organ Donor Shortage

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina found that a 100% survival rate among 19 patients who had double transplants of kidneys// earlier rejected for having limited function. They said that this is one of the simple way by which one can solve the problem of organ donor shortage. The results of this US short term study is to prove that it is bett...

Food Shortage Hits Southern Africa Hard

The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday that as many as three million people are suffering due to acute food shortage in Southern Africa. //WFP executive director James Morris said that despite having good harvest in recent years, there was a distribution problem. "Good harvests do not necessarily mean people have enough to eat," he said. "Food and good n...

Jharkhand Faces Acute Shortage Of Life-saving Drugs

Jharkhand is facing scarcity of life saving drugs as most companies have stopped supply citing 'anomalies' in the Value Added Tax (VAT) system// implemented since April 1. 'The companies have withdrawn the supply of drugs due to confusion over the VAT', said Deepak Sinha, a chemist. The shortage has put patients in a difficult situation as medicines for heart ailments, blood pressur...

Doctor Shortage in St Helens Hospital

The increasing shortage of doctors in St Helens Hospital, Tasmania have been blamed on issues within the north-east Tasmanian practice//. Excessive workload was the reason given by most doctors for quitting. According to Government health adviser Dr George Cerchez there have been more doctors recruited to St Helens than any other hospital in the state and blamed the hi...

Chronic shortage of GPs in Australia, Need for Immediate Intervention

Health experts in Australia have warned that the chronic shortage of general practitioners in Australia could lead to a health care crisis if appropriate steps are not taken to improve the situation, at the earliest. // Increase in the number of university medical places is the only sure shot way for long term management of the current trend. Immediate establishment of medical workforce...

Shortage Of Faculty Members At AIIMS

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here is running short of faculty members and its current strength is much less than sanctioned//, Rajya Sabha was informed Friday. Replying to a question, minister of state for health and family welfare Panabaka Lakshmi said that the AIIMS was running with just 479 faculty members as against its sanctioned strength of 543....

Scotland Faces Shortage Of GPs

Chronic shortage of GPs in Scotland makes the condition worse and it is in a position to recruit foreign doctors and attract more men into the profession// to makeup the shortfall. Most strugglers were the remote and rural area peoples. Report says ‘Population increase, rise in female part-time GPs, more workloads and immence retirement of a large number of doctors are the result of suc...

Acute Shortage Of Surgeons In East Cape

Surgical services in the Eastern Cape is heading for a collapse if the shortage of general surgeons continued, Dispatch Online quoted on Tuesday//. It reported Dr Sats Pillay, chairman of the Association of Surgeons in SA (ASSA) as saying: "I have nobody to train as surgeons." Pillay, who is chief of surgery, Port Elizabeth's Living stone Hospital, remarked that ASSA had ra...

Ontario Addresses Shortage of Transplant Organs

Ontario will soon become the first province in Canada to start accepting transplant organs from people who have died of heart failure//. The provincial agency in charge of organ and tissue donations announced that changes in guidelines that allowed accepting donation after cardio-circulatory death (DCD) could potentially expand the potential donor pool by hundreds. This move t...

Shortage Of Flu Vaccines In UK

The UK government has warned that a shortage in flu vaccines will mean a delay for many people. Doctors have been asked to give preference to pensioners// and people with heart problems this autumn when the annual flu shots are meant to be taken. However the government has assured people that a shortage of jabs was unlikely to result in an epidemic. The Department of Health said manuf...

Klebsiella Outbreak In Durban Blamed On Staff Shortage & Overcrowding

The national director general of health had stated on Friday that the precedent conditions of staff shortages and overcrowding had led to the Klebsiella// outbreak at Durban's Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, which had killed 22 babies early in 2005. Thami Mseleku said, “Nobody needs to communicate these problems. We are looking at a historical issue from before 1994. It's (overcrowd...

Shortage Of GPs In Australia: Govt Cautioned

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has cautioned the Federal Government about the impending shortage of general practitioners.// AMA president, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said that almost 30 per cent of the country’s GPs are 55 years or older, and a good many of them are due for retirement over the next few years. Dr Haikerwal pointed out that the Government must strive to ex...

Shortage of donors at sperm bank clinics

An investigation today revealed that there is a “crisis” over lack of donors at sperm bank clinics. According to the BBC, with some of the clinics being totally out of stock//, women and couples wanting to have children were facing a major problem. In 1990s, the highest number of donors was 459. Ever since, the number had been decreasing. To make it worse, last year a new law was passed...

NHS Dentists Shortage worsens over New Contracts

Official figures released have shown that over 1,600 dentists have quit the NHS rather than sign new contracts. Around one in 10 has rejected Labour's reforms//, which has left around one million patients without an NHS dentist. Besides this another lot of dentists are still "in dispute" over the changes. If their issues are still not resolved, they will be forced to leave the Health...

Queensland Staff Shortage Crisis Escalates

100 health professionals put their heads together to thrash out the burning issue of dwindling staff numbers, which is weakening the healthcare system in Queensland. The// representatives speaking for nearly 800 radiographers, radiation therapists, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists in state-run hospitals has warned that the crisis may result in mass resignations of staff, in the ab...

Flu Vaccine Shortage In Britain Causes Anxiety

In Britain, Flu killed about 12,000 people last winter and the number is expected to be greater this year, due to a shortage in vaccines.// This year due to an acute shortage in the availability of the vaccine millions of elderly and vulnerable patients are still waiting for a jab. The Department of Health had ordered for 15.2 million doses of the vaccine but only nine million have be...

Canada Faces Skin Donation Shortages

Canada: Doctors are experiencing a nationwide shortage of donated skin, causing concerns as Christmas holidays arrive.// Earlier this month, due to shortage of skin at Sunnybrook health sciences center in Toronto, more skin had flown from Calgary for treating a man with severe burns in more than 80% of his body. Skin, one of the body’s largest organs, protects us against infe...

Osteopathic Medical Education Will Help With Shortages

First-year enrollment at the nation’s colleges of osteopathic medicine is projected to increase// to more than 4,474 in 2011-12, a 45.3 percent increase since 2002-03. With the addition of COM Mesa of AT Still University of Health Sciences, in Mesa, Arizona; the Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine of Lincoln Memorial University, in Harrogate, Tennessee; and the TOURO College of Os...

Is Presumed Consent the Answer to Organ Shortages?

The supply of organ donors cannot keep up with demand. Two experts in this weeks BMJ debate whether presumed consent assuming people want to donate unless there is evidence to the contrary is the answer. Surveys show that 90% of the UK population support organ donation, yet only 23% have registered their wish to donate, writes Veronica English, Deputy Head of Medical Ethics at th...

Shortage of Human Cadavers for Medical Training

The Royal College of Surgeons have expressed concern about the paucity of donor bodies, which is a setback to medical teaching//. Nearly 1000 bodies are required annually to teach anatomy to medical students. In the present academic year, the college has already predicted a 30% shortage in the number of bodies. The Chief Medical Officer has urged doctors to encourage their...