New Delhi (The Hawk): The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India supports ‘Free Diagnostics Service Initiative’ (FDSI) programme under National Health Mission. The programme was launched in July 2015 with the aim to provide accessible and affordable pathological and radiological diagnostics services closer to the community which in turn reduces the Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE). A minimum set of essential diagnostic tests has been recommended as per the Essential Diagnostic List at each level of public health facility.A guidance document for implementing laboratory services has been shared with all states and UTs. The guidelines also recommend expanded range of diagnostics at all levels of public health facilities (14 tests at Sub Centres (SCs), 63 tests at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), 97 tests at Community Health Centres (CHCs), 111 tests at Sub-District Hospitals (SDHs) and 134 tests at District Hospitals (DHs).Under NHM, ‘Free Diagnostic Service initiative’ is delivered through in-house, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Hybrid mode by the States/UTs in the country. Free Laboratory service is operational in 33 States, out of which 11 States/UTs (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tripura, and Uttarakhand) are providing the services through PPP/hybrid mode and 22 States/UTs (Andhra Pradesh, A&amp;N Island, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, D&amp;N Haveli-Daman &amp; Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Puducherry, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal) provide the services through In-house mode.Further, free Tele-Radiology (Tele-reporting of X-rays) service is operational in 13 states/UTs (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, Tripura). Free CT Scan service is operational in 27 States/UTs out of which 17 States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal) are providing it in PPP mode and 10 states (A&amp;N island, Bihar, D&amp;N Haveli-Daman &amp; Diu, Goa, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana) provide through In-house mode.The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India supports ‘Free Diagnostics Service Initiative’ (FDSI) programme under National Health Mission. 

Update On Free Diagnostics Service Initiative’ 

Dehradun (The Hawk): Redcliffe Labs, India’s fastest-growing diagnostics service provider and drone delivery logistics company, Skye Air Mobility began Long term Drone Pilot Flights from the remote hills, Uttarkashi to Sahastradhara, Dehradun, on December 6th. The Redcliffe test samples from their collection centre in Uttarkashi, are sent to the Dehradun Redcliffe Labs in just 90 minutes via drone delivery.
Bringing further relief to the residents of Uttarkashi, Redcliffe Labs will be daily operating flights for both routine and specialized tests sample collection in an attempt to provide affordable &amp; high-quality diagnostic services. Being the first diagnostic company in India to transport samples via drones, Redcliffe Labs is ensuring that people living in smaller towns or remote areas get access to high-quality, affordable diagnostics.
To eliminate challenges like poor accessibility to locations, drones have an important and rising role. The Drone Pilot Flights from Uttarkashi Skye Hub to Dehradun Skye Hub will reduce the delivery time which takes 6-8 hours by road and 12 hours during a landslide to only 1.5 hours.
This will be first of its kind end-to-end delivery via connected Skye Hubs at both ends relaying real-time flight information to the Skye Air’s Central Command Centre, Gurugram. The real-time payload health monitoring shall also be there. Commenting on starting the drone pilot flights in Uttarakhand, Dheeraj Jain, Founder, Redcliffe Labs, said "Given Uttarkashi's hilly terrain, the region has limited connectivity that consequently acts as a barrier to accessibility of high-quality diagnostic services. On this front, our goal in undertaking the drone pilot flight from Uttarkashi Skye Hub to Dehradun Skye Hub is to effectively connect every part of the state to a high-quality diagnostic centre. Our team is overjoyed to connect the residents of Uttarkashi with our lab services in Dehradun. The residents will no longer need to travel to the larger cities for their diagnostic needs thanks to easy and reliable access. Significantly, with the help of drone delivery the turnaround time (TAT) for these samples can be maintained within the same day of receiving the sample, which usually in a place like Uttarkashi used to take more than 24 hrs.”&nbsp;
“The current form of logistics simply does not work for the healthcare industry in such a terrain geography. The need is to have a solution which is providing a faster, sustainable and scalable supply; drones rightly fit into elevating delivery, the Skye Air way. We are enthused to take our partnership with Redcliffe Labs to the next level of beginning long term flights helping the residents of Uttarkashi to get advantage from such services. Skye Air is working together towards a mission to impact lives at large and with our partners here, we are one step ahead in that journey” said Mr. Ankit Kumar, CEO of Skye Air Mobility.
It is noteworthy to mention that the Long-term Drone Pilot Flights are also a part of the Redcliffe and Skye Air tie-up. Over the past few months, they have done 50+ successful trial flights in North India.&nbsp;&nbsp;
"Redcliffe Labs is planning to expand its operations in the country through a series of upcoming initiatives in the next 12 months. By leveraging drone technology, Redcliffe Labs makes diagnostic care accessible to the remotest areas of the country. Using drone technology to collect test samples is one such initiative. The idea is to reach 500M+ Indians by 2027." further said Dheeraj Jain&nbsp;
"This is a remarkable day giving pace to the Drone Delivery ecosystem in India to rise. Our core aim is to enable change, bring the much-needed disruption in the first &amp; last mile logistics industry to move faster and more efficiently. Skye Air is proactively working in the healthcare, quick commerce and ecommerce verticals enabling solutions for faster and cost-effective deliveries” further added by Ankit Kumar

 Redcliffe Labs, India’s fastest-growing diagnostics service provider and drone delivery logistics company, Skye Air Mobility began Long term Drone Pilot Flights from the remote hills, Uttarkashi to Sahastradhara, Dehradun, on December 6th. 

Test Samples Delivered Via Drone In Just 90 Minutes, U'khand Has Improved Access To High-Quality Diagnostics

Washington: According to a new analysis, current approaches can significantly overestimate the rates at which malaria parasites multiply in an infected person's blood, which has critical consequences for figuring out how damaging they might be to a host.  The findings also have implications for determining how medication resistance features evolve, how quickly a parasite may spread throughout a community, and the efficacy of new vaccines.  The article, titled ‘Extraordinary Parasite Multiplication Rates in Human Malaria Infections,’ was published in Trends in Parasitology's August issue. The researchers created a mathematical model of infection dynamics to identify that blood sampling biases and false inferences in previous computer models were leading to large overestimates. “The inability to accurately measure those rates is concerning,” said Megan Greischar, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and corresponding author on the paper. Lauren Childs, associate professor of mathematics at Virginia Tech, is a co-author. “We had a very simple model for how you infer multiplication rates that didn’t work, so now we know we need something more robust,” Greischar said. This study explains how the problems in accurately measuring multiplication rates arise, she said.  Some candidate malaria vaccines act during a stage in the parasite’s life cycle when it replicates in the blood, so knowing its multiplication rates is key to evaluating a vaccine’s efficacy. Infected mosquitoes pass the malaria parasite into a human host during a blood meal. The parasites then multiply first in liver cells before moving into red blood cells. There, in synchrony with each other, parasites replicate inside the red blood cells and burst out into the blood, killing the cells. The daughter parasites then continue the next cycle and invade new red blood cells. This cycle repeats about every 48 hours. When it comes to measuring multiplication rates, clinicians take blood samples from infected patients and count the number of parasites observed. Timing is important, as young parasites that are early in their life cycle after bursting from red blood cells are easy to see. But as they age, later in the cycle, they become sticky, attach themselves to blood vessel walls and do not circulate. Since the cycle repeats again and again, the samples’ timing determines whether high or low numbers are observable in the blood. Sampling bias increases when samples are taken later in the cycle when observable parasites are low, versus early in the cycle when counts of young parasites are high.  Previous models used for estimating parasite multiplication rates tried to correct for this sampling bias by inferring how many parasites might exist later in a parasite brood’s life cycle, when they can’t be directly observed. This study suggests that those methods were insufficient to determine how fast parasites actually multiply. Previously published studies measured the maximum number of offspring produced by a human malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) within a single 48-hour cycle of replication in artificial culture. “They should only be able to multiply at most 32-fold, which is quite large already,” meaning a single parasite could create 32 daughter parasites, at most, with a median of about 15 to 18, Greischar said. Using a mathematical model, combined with both modern and historical data from people infected with malaria, the researchers were able to identify that inferences made in previous models of parasite counts led to parasite multiplication rates that were orders of magnitude higher than what was possible. “We were seeing thousand-fold growth,” Greischar said. “That would mean that the parasites were making more than 1,000 parasites from a single red blood cell, repeatedly, which does not match with our understanding of the biology of these parasites.” (ANI)

According to a new analysis, current approaches can significantly overestimate the rates at which malaria

Study finds ‘concerning’ flaw in malaria diagnostics

New Delhi: At the G20 Health Ministers' Meeting, participants reached an agreement on the importance of providing low and middle income countries, as well as small island developing states, with equitable access to safe, quality-assured, and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures. All 25 paragraphs of the outcome document addressing the geopolitical situation in Ukraine were approved by all G20 delegations with the exception of paragraph 22, which deals with the chair's summary.
According to the document released after the 19th of August meeting in Gandhinagar, a consensus was reached on establishing a platform for making open-source and inter-operable digital solutions readily available, as well as establishing a research and development and manufacturing network for vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. The health ministers also hope that by May 2024, negotiations in the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) for a legally binding World Health Organisation convention, accord, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, readiness, and response would have resulted in a positive resolution. According to reports, health ministers agreed to make climate-resilient health systems development a top priority in order to reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change. They also pledged to work towards creating low-carbon/low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission health systems and healthcare supply chains that provide high-quality care.
By bolstering multi-sectoral governance, coordination, research and development, infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), awareness of AMR, responsible use of antimicrobials, and preservation of existing therapeutics across human, animal, and plant sectors through antimicrobials, the G20 members committed to tackling AMR (antimicrobial resistance) comprehensively following the One Health approach. Also, according to reports, they acknowledged the potential importance of traditional and complementary medicine (T&amp;CM) based on evidence and noted WHO's initiatives in this respect, such as global and collaborating centres and clinical trial registries.—Inputs from Agencies

At the G20 Health Ministers' Meeting, participants reached an agreement on the importance of providing low and middle income countries, as well as small island developing states, with equitable access to safe, quality-assured, and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures. 

G20 Health Ministers call for building resilient, equitable access to affordable medicines in developing world

Thiruvananthapuram: The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) in Kerala on Thursday rolled out a fully-equipped mobile virology testing laboratory, strengthening the efforts to contain the Nipah virus infection reported from parts of the state's Kozhikode district. Health, Woman and Child Development Minister Veena George flagged off the Mobile Virology Lab in front of the Kerala Assembly complex here. Lauding the RGCB for stepping in to significantly help the Nipah containment efforts by rolling out such a critical facility, she said more samples can be tested with the mobile lab reaching in Kozhikode later in the day. "Biosafety Level 2 (BSL) plus Level 3 practices can be done in the lab where two machines will be working simultaneously. At any given point of time, each machine can handle around 96 samples and a total of 192 samples can be tested in the two machines," George said. She also informed that a mobile lab from National Institute of Biosciences (NIB), Pune, has already reached Kozhikode. RGCB Director Prof Chandrabhas Narayana said the services of a group of six experts have been made available in the mobile unit, which can give results within six hours after testing the samples. "The mobile lab will be deployed right at the containment zone. Any small number of samples can also be tested to provide prompt results to the public," he said. Narayana also said like a BSL 3 facility, the mobile lab has a double airlock system and features onboard decontamination and biological waste processing capabilities. It can perform testing for bacteria, fungi, and other pathogenic organisms, as well as assess food quality. The unit is developed by the Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Diagnostics (LMMD) division of the RGCB. It is equipped with cutting-edge machinery and operated by highly experienced staff with expertise in molecular diagnostics. It can be powered directly from standard domestic outlets and function seamlessly using its onboard diesel generator. The equipment inventory includes PCR machines, gel documentation systems, workstations, high-speed refrigerated centrifuges, minus 80 degree freezers, refrigerators, DNA/RNA extracting machines, and an autoclave, among others. It serves as a self-contained and fully functional diagnostic laboratory. The lab is tethered through the internet to the RGCB for speedy data analysis and dissemination of results immediately upon authorisation. The mobile facility can collect samples in a designated area accessible from the vehicle's rear. These samples are transferred through a UV-illuminated pass box to maintain a controlled and safe environment.
—IANS

The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) in Kerala on Thursday rolled out a fully-equipped mobile virology testing laboratory

As Nipah strikes Kerala, RGCB rolls out a mobile virology laboratory

Jodhpur (The Hawk): Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur researchers have developed a nanosensor that helps in the quick detection of Cytokines, a group of proteins that regulate various cells. This development aims to reduce the mortality rate occurring due to delayed diagnosis and a lack of early warnings. Moreover, the technology has immense potential to be used as a rapid and point-of-care technique for health monitoring, disease diagnosis, prognosis, and immune response tracking.   Cytokines are one of the many biomarkers of inflammation that are used for diagnosing diseases and tracking their progression. They play an important role in tissue damage repair, cancer development and progression, and modulating immune reactions. This is why they are important for developing precision medicine and targeted therapeutics for various conditions like oncology, infectiology and in rheumatological diseases, among others.   The work was published by Ms. Akilandeshwari B, Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Mr. Sarvar Singh, Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Ajay Agarwal, Head, Department of Electrical Engineering, and Prof. Sushmita Jha, Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering at IIT Jodhpur as a conference proceeding of 2023 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference (APSCON).   Talking about the developed technique and its future scope, Prof. Ajay Agarwal, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Jodhpur, said, “This technique which is currently in its development stage has provided exciting and encouraging results for three biomarkers i.e. interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-β (IL-β), and TNF-α which are key pro-inflammatory cytokines, released by inflammatory cells. As of now, the testing is done for controlled samples, but the team aims to take the technology to clinical trials soon. The group is also using this technique, to develop detection protocols for the early-stage and quick diagnosis of Sepsis and Fungal infections.”  This novel sensor developed at Indian institute of Technology Jodhpur uses Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy to detect analytes even at low concentrations, is based on semiconductor process technology and works on the principle of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS).   Hence, it makes this technique powerful and capable of detecting trace-level molecules with high precision and selectivity.   The most widely used techniques currently for cytokine detection are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These methods are reliable but highly time-consuming, requiring trained personnel and a long sample preparation or analysis time of over 6 hours. However, the sensor developed by IIT Jodhpur takes only 30 minutes in comparison and is also cost effective.   The developed sensor, a rapid and selective diagnostic technique, is used in conjuncture with AI for quick and accurate data processing and analysis. By getting a faster and more robust diagnosis of a person’s autoimmune diseases and bacterial infections, this sensor possesses the capability to transform a patient’s medical treatment. This way, a patient’s disease can be diagnosed and tracked promptly to guide the future course of treating them.

Discover IIT Jodhpur's revolutionary nanosensor for fast cytokine detection, aiding early diagnosis and tailored treatments.

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Tag : diagnostics

Update On Free Diagnostics Service Initiative’

Inam Ansari

The Hawk

Tag : diagnostics

Update On Free Diagnostics Service Initiative’

Inam Ansari

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