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Editor's Picks
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Constitution to set healthcare standards in England
England's National Health Service has established its first constitution that will set out the rights and responsibilities linked to entitlement to NHS care. The Bill places a duty on all providers and commissioners of state healthcare to take it into account. The NHS constitution is expected to enshrine a universal right to approved treatments if clinically appropriate as well as measures to end the "postcode lottery" where some patients have been denied access to drugs by NHS trusts while others have not, according to this article in The Independent. The Bill also includes plans to force all hospitals to publish quality accounts of the care they provide in the same way they publish financial accounts. [Read More]
Hospitals become involved in Mexico's drug war
Mexico's violent drug war is finding its way into the nation's hospitals, leaving healthcare workers fearing for their lives while trying to save the lives of others. This New York Times article describes hit men pursuing rivals into intensive care units and emergency rooms; shootouts in hospital lobbies and corridors; and doctors kidnapped and held for ransom, or threatened with death if a wounded gunman dies under their care. The violence is already affecting service, as hospitals armor themselves with more police officers and guards. Tijuana clinics are also closing earlier on a regular basis, with more and more doctors shunning late-night medical care because it is too risky. [Read More]
Health groups: Unknown thousands dying in Zimbabwe
Thousands of Zimbabweans are dying, uncounted and out of sight in a silent emergency as hospitals shut, clinics run out of drugs, and most cannot afford private medical care, health groups say. Rachel Pounds, Zimbabwe director for Save the Children, said the United Nations reported that 700 women were recently turned away from hospitals in Harare that are no longer able to provide maternity services, and last week Health Minister David Parirenyatwa appealed for help from international organizations. The British charity Oxfam agreed with estimates of thousands of unreported deaths due to the collapse of the health system and says the situation will get worse with the onset of the rainy season, which lasts until February. [Read More]
Spike in deliveries strains maternity hospital in Haiti
On any given day at the three-story Doctors Without Borders Jude Anne Maternity Hospital in Haiti, women give birth on the floor because the delivery ward is so crowded that some women don't even make it onto the sheetless plastic cots. Despite the conditions, the maternity hospital is the latest international effort to help Haiti reduce its exorbitant maternal mortality rate. Paul Farmer, MD, a world-renowned American physician and longtime advocate of the right to safe motherhood for poor Haitian women, says there is no indication that the country's maternity problem is worsening. If anything, he says, the frenzy at the hospital shows what happens when "deadly user fees," which keep poor people out of hospitals and leads to 76% of women delivering at home, are removed. [Read More] |
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Global Health Headlines
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UK health service wants no products of child labor
AP/Yahoo News - December 8, 2008
Medical tourism trends will have increasing impact on healthcare
Market Watch - December 8, 2008 |
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From HealthLeaders Magazine |
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What's Your Brand?
| Is YOUR organization ready to deliver on its brand promise? [Read More] |
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Audio Feature
India's Growth Story: Sangita Reddy, executive director, Apollo Hospitals Group, talks about Apollo's expansion and ability to provide care to local and international patients. [Listen Now] |
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