In today's newspapers here in the UK.The Daily Mail and The Guardian. Articles on Medical Tourism and and a new strain of bacteria that will make anti-biotics mostly redundant in 10 years.It goes on to say that the new strain appeared in the UK a year or so ago and has been directly linked to Medical Tourism in India and the over usage of anti-biotics.I always thought that this practice of taking pills in India for anything from a mild cold to in growing toe nails would eventually lead to super bugs.Well its happened.The NHS has been on red alert for months over this family of bugs.Its only just getting to grips with MRSA and now it has to deal with another horror story.The Guardian article is very technical but The Mail is more readable and gets to the point around MT and patients dying in foreign hospitals from post operative infections directly linked to unhygienic conditions in so called super hospitals offering packaged deals.The only problem with MT is that if something goes wrong after the op, the deal doesn't cover it because insurance companies wont touch it.They end up in NHS hospitals who have to deal with it,often putting other patients at risk.

Hi prestonjohn,

I saw a little of this story on the BBC today. Here in India onthe news it is playing in a slightly different way. The Lancet medical journal who did the research on this new super bug is being accused of a propaganda campaign against medical tourism in India. The Indian media have said that the Indian Govt. will complain about this 'smear campaign'.

I thought it quite strange that they did not think of invesigating the prevalence of this bug in hospital in India as presumably it does not discrimate by race and will also effect Indians.

The other big story at the moment in India is the Commonwealth Games corruption. I just wonder if there is an atempt to divert the focus away from the major scam with the commonwealth Games and blame a scientists in the UK who are doing good research and reporting their findings. I can not for one minute imagine that the aim of their research was to discredit Health tourism in India. The scientists are simply presenting their findings. Should they pretend that the bug has not been traced in some cases to India. In fact the scientist did name Pakistan as well as a potential source.

I am sure the superbug story will develop further as well as the Commonwealth Games scandel. There is a rise in Swine Flu here in Goa too. Apparantly 2 family members of a heavy weight MLA in South of Goa have contracted it too! ( courtesy todays Herald).

Keep healthy avoid corruption,

r

The only thing bothering these people is damage to the growing medical tourist "industry."

I wont bore you with details, but the surgeons response to me, after a botched up operation, was " Take me to court" I`ve been in court for ten years on a simple property matter, how long would a complex case take?

Allow me to sell my home, when I get it, and I`ll get to f*** out of this shithole.
Wally

I have just read the reaction from Delhi and to tell you the truth, it was entirely expected.Politicians in Delhi are not noted for their intelligence or acumen.Most of them should be committed to a Mental Health Institution for treatment.The fact the bug has been given a name NDM1 and that ND stands for New Delhi is to them a slander on the cleanliness that exists there (sic).I entirely agree that its a very convenient way of directing attention away from the fact that money donated by the British Government, to alleviate the conditions of the poor in the Delhi, has been appropriated by the Common Wealth Games Committee.Its a well known fact that over usage of Anti-Biotics leads to drug resistant strains of diseases.TB is one in particular.Its a known fact that in general,Indian hospitals at the local level, are unhygienic and breeding grounds for bacteria.The whole place is a Petri dish for germs and disease.I can remember Jungle Barry singing the signature tune for Bombay." Every little breeze seems to whisper disease...." But seriously i am amazed that the Delhi Mafia are trying this one on.India is dirty.Sanitation is non existent in most urban environments. Thats a fact so why all the hot air ? Remember the BJP last year objecting to the plans to build a bridge from India to Sri Lanka along the Adams Bridge route because it was originally constructed by Ram, so Hanuman could pop over without getting his feet wet ? That says it all to me.

That was an argument as to whether the 'bridge' was natural sand formation or not, and whether ancient mythology had truth or not. (A little like the arguments over the 'Virgin Birth Stories'. May I enquire what this has to do with hospital infections?

This does seem a very typical reaction from the Indian Government, and similar to the reaction given when they were recently caught out on large scale pilfering of monies from the UK aid fund.
Instead of investigating this matter and trying to identify where and how this superbug developed, then finding methods to try and halt it, they respond by complaining of their reputation being affected. I find this quite astonishing when this superbug could result in mass deaths.
It is well documented that health and dental tourism in India is growing and becoming a great moneymaking opportunity for them. Worryingly, I feel that this upturn in medical tourism could encourage unqualified and inexperienced people to jump on the bandwagon, unless some serious and binding restrictions and regulations are put in place - and adhered to. Such restrictions, as well as esuring that those practising medics are fully qualified and capable, should also include rigid hygeine measures.
The news of a new superbug does not surprise me - after all it was only last season that 3 people died having contracted Hep B and C from dirty needle procedures at a well known hospital in Mapusa. Many of us on here have also witnessed lacklustre hygeine standards in the hospitals.

My advice to anyone is to ensure that if you are admitted to any Hospital in Goa or India, ensure you take your own medical supplies, preferablyones brought from the UK.

Dread - staying safe
x

If you can fly, and have the money, get your ass over to Bangkok,the medical is very, very, good, Goa is very hit and miss.

Dear Bipat, I was just demonstrating that the lines between religion and politics and nationalism are completely blurred in modern India and that politicians take advantage of this situation.As for the Virgin Birth in Christianity, aside from the usual American evangelical nut-cases, i don't know any one who believes in this myth.The RSS and the BJP thrive on myths, they promote them in their drive for political power. But whether they actually believe in them is another matter entirely.The fact the NDM1 was isolated by medical researchers attached to the NHS, who have no political bones to grind, should point to the impartiality of the results.Indian Medical Authorities will have taken this matter very seriously because quite a few of them will have done part of their training in the UK under NHS supervision. Its the stupid politicians in Delhi who are jumping up and down and shouting to get their names in the papers as loyal supporters of India against the evil machinations of the ex-colonial power, the UK.The real villains are the Khaki Knicker Wallahs, The RSS-an ageing nest of Vipers who model themselves on Hitlers Brown Shirts......

prestonjohn, I think who believes what in any religion is too complex a subject for this forum. Also I think the Lancet study is a little more complex particularly as much of the funding came from drug manufacturers with their own interests.

This is easy to dismiss as some drug company conspiracy, but somehow I don't think anyone will think this if they or one of their relatives gets infected with this new bug !!!!

Dread - proceeding with caution
x

I didn't say this was a drug company conspiracy; that would be foolish. I was trying to make the point that the issue was more complex than the press reports. The interests of the funding drug companies (that sell antibiotics) is just one aspect. The difference in resources between Indian Gov. hospitals and the top private hospitals is another aspect, among others.

There is no conspiracy involving drug companies in The Lancet Report on NDM1. There are no ulterior motives behind the research that led to the discovery of this particular bug.Do you think medical scientists came up with this discovery just to embarrass the Indian Government ? I find it extremely worrying that any one would go down this road of thought.The research was based on case studies of persons arriving back from the Indian sub-continent with persistent infections that did not respond to ordinary anti-biotics.It was done under NHS scrutiny, not MI6.

prestonjohn, I repeat nobody has suggested a conspiracy, I merely mentioned it as one of the issues surrounding the antibiotic problem.
Have you read the research report? It was mainly done in 2 hospitals in India which are not associated with so-called 'medical tourism'. Of the patients from the Uk studied those who had recently visited India or Pakistan had been admitted with a variety of problems both emergency and planned procedures. If anything the authors at the conclusion were having a stab at the UK government's plan to send more NHS patients abroad. With the valid reason that it may not be cost-effective. It is the British press who have turned this into much more and creating a response from India.

Yes I did (much of it is quite dense, have sent it for an epidemiologist friend for further comment)

Yes, some of the authors are sceptical of NHS's intent to send patients abroad.

I concur; however there are strains of this kind class of infections worldwide so no postulate is going to cohesively tie in to form a theory, till then

There are 31 authors to the study, affliated with 13 medical and research institutions from UK,India,Pakistan,Australia & Sweden. The primary/lead author of the study is from University of Madras, Chennai. Incidently he is the only author who does not hold either an MD or a PhD (which means nada as far as I am concern)

blaNDM-1 was not isolated by any single researcher, and furthermore It has nothing to do with New Delhi. The hospitals studied in India were in Haryana and Chennai a.k.a Madras.

According to the authors -
"Typing did not identify common strain types of E coli or K pneumoniae between the Indian subcontinent and the UK or between north and south India."



It is true that Wyeth funded some portions of the study - Primary author got funding from Wyeth, and another author holds shares and interests in many pharmaceuticals.

I do think that the popular media cannot digest a medical article withot having inhouse medical journalists NYT's Science Division it aint.

Key finding -

"The 21 Klebsiella isolates from the UK had different PFGE profiles and were typed to 19 distinct groups with only two related pairs, both of which included isolates from epidemiologically linked patients, probably representing cases of cross-infection. All the UK E coli isolates were different. The Chennai isolates were also very different, with none similar to each other. By contrast, the 26 NDM-positive K pneumoniae isolates from Haryana belonged to a single PFGE profile suggesting clonal spread. We could not prove statistically significant strain relatedness between the Indian and UK isolates."

Hi John, this is nothing to do with the thread but it's the only way I can see of sayng hi to an old mate from the BIG TABLE!!!
The last time you saw me I was been escorted onto a plane from Dabolim airport in 2002!!
It's Wayne from Bob's Inn Old friends of Barry, Tommy, Birmingham Paul, Alan, Paddy and the good old gang!!
Nice to see your around, what news of everyone. Is Tommy gone?
I am settled in Beverley Eastriding of Yorkshire with my wife Agnes sge was with me at the airport if you remember. We have a 5 yr old boy called Shayne.
Would love to get incontact with any of the old guys. Havent been to Goa since 2002.
Take care mate.
Wayne