Wockhardt Hospitals Blog

An US Pastor from Norwalk,Connecticut, shares his experience at our Mulund Facility at Mumbai,Wockhardt Hospitals.

I had hip resurfacing surgery at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai .My surgeon there was Dr. Malhan. What a great doctor. I am so happy with the treatment and the nurses and the hospital and the outcome of my surgery.

I am probably your greatest fan and advertisement. I get calls and emails and people asking me how it went all the time. Just this week, I did a radio interview, and also I did a "testimonial" this evening for some new company just starting up trying to send Americans overseas for Medical treatment.

It just hit me that I should probably become an agent for you guys, setting up some websites, and getting on the phone, helping patients who need your services, but don't know what to do, and who to trust. I am not a medical doctor, nor am I in that field. Rather, I am a very respected, satisfied customer. There is no greater advertisement in the world.

It is quite a scary thing for an American to send several thousand dollars to an overseas medical facility. When I had my surgery, the most frightful moment was when I sent the check to pay the bill in advance. It sure helped knowing the people I was dealing with here in the US.

The people that helped me were from Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina. IndUSHealth. They walked me through every step of the process. They helped me get the x-rays, the doctors here, and the doctor over there. They helped me with the "business" of traveling overseas: visa, passport, cell phone, airfare, etc. Etc. It really was quite daunting for someone who never had traveled much before. They held my hand and made me feel confident.

The World Breast Feeding Week is observed this year from August1st to August,7th.The theme for the 18th Annual World Breast-feeding Week (WBW) celebration is “Breast-feeding: A Vital Emergency Response Are you ready?” This year’s theme emphasizes the need to consider breast-feeding as a life saving intervention before and during emergencies.

The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) was formed in 1991 to act on the Innocenti Declaration (1990) to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. As part of its action plan to facilitate and strengthen social mobilisation for breastfeeding.

This has become to be known as World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) celebrated every 1-7 August to commemorate the Innocenti Declaration. World Breastfeeding Week was first celebrated in 1992. Now it involves over 120 countries and is endorsed by UNICEF, WHO and FAO

Babies, who are breastfed have a secure and safe food supply, they are not exposed to disease-causing bacteria and parasites that can contaminate water supplies, and they receive antibodies and other disease fighting factors that help prevent illness.

Breastfeeding is a life saving intervention and protection is greatest for the youngest infants. Even in non-emergency settings, non-breastfed babies under 2 months of age are six times more likely to die.

According to recent analysis of Cancer cases conducted across the 4 metros at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore between 1982-2005 (24 years) by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) shows that while cervical cancer cases dipped, in some cases by almost 50%, breast cancer cases during the same duration has doubled. And, the trends contained in ICMR's yet-to-be-released report `Time Trends in Cancer Incidence Rates (1982-2005)', were universal in all four cities.

In 1982, Bangalore reported 32.4 new cases of cervical cancer in women per 100,000 population every year. The number dipped to 27.2 in 1991, 17 in 2001 and 18.2 in 2005.

At Delhi since 1988,there were 25.9 new cases of cervical cancer per 100,000 population, which dipped to 19.1 in 1998 and then to 18.9 in 2005.


While Bangalore saw breast cancer cases more than double since 1982 - 15.8 in a population of one lakh in 1982 to 32.2 in 2005 - Chennai recorded 33.5 new cases of breast cancer in 2005 against 18.4 in 1982.

Delhi recorded 24.8 new cases of breast cancer a year per 100,000 women which rose to 32.2 in 2005. Mumbai recorded 20.8 new cases of breast cancer per 100,000 population in 1982 which increased by almost 10% in 2005.

However experts believed that breast cancer rate in India was much less than that in the West which records around 100 new cases per 100,000 population every year.


source:Timesofindia

A new government data on shows that U.S. spending on mental illness is soaring at a faster pace than spending on any other health care category.

The cost of treating mental disorders rose sharply between 1996 and 2006, from $35 billion (in 2006 dollars) to almost $58 billion, according to the report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

At the same time, the report showed, the number of Americans who sought treatment for depression, bipolar disorder and other mental health woes almost doubled, from 19 million to 36 million.

The new statistics come found that antidepressant use among U.S. residents almost doubled between a similar time frame, 1996 and 2005.

According to the report, spending on heart disease rose from $72 billion in 1996 to $78 billion in 2006; cancer care rose from $47 billion to $58 billion; asthma costs climbed from $36 billion to $51 billion, and expenditures for trauma-related care rose from $46 billion to $68 billion.

In terms of per-patient costs, cancer led the way at $5,178 in 2006 (up slightly from $5,067 in 1996), while costs for trauma care and asthma rose sharply -- from $1,220 to $1,953 and from $863 to $1,059, respectively.

On the other hand, average per-patient spending for heart conditions fell, from $4,333 to $3,964. And spending on mental disorders declined from $1,825 to $1,591.

source: MSNHealth.com