Good morning. If you operate, scope, stent or dialyse, read the lead first. After that it gets quicker: a pill, a chair, a rank list and the air outside. Reply and tell me which one you want followed up.
— DR. ADITYA SETH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
01 · THE LEAD
POLICY
Why an ₹85,000 heart-surgery stabiliser must now be thrown away after one patient
On 16 October, the Directorate General of Health Services told every hospital in India, government and private, to stop reusing anything its manufacturer labelled for one use. Guidewires, introducer sheaths, laparoscopic trocars, blood tubing and orthopaedic drill bits are all on the list. DGHS cited cross-infection, devices that malfunction during a procedure, and patients billed full price for a device already used on someone else.
Within two weeks, Narayana, Medanta, Fortis, Manipal and KIMS asked the Centre for regulated reprocessing instead, with validated sterilisation, a cap on reuse cycles, audits, written consent and bills that say what was reused. Device makers want the ban enforced, plus one thing put in writing: who carries the liability when a hospital reuses a device against its label. The Centre has not replied, and the order stands.
WHY IT MATTERS
It applies now: the order sets no deadline, and state drug controllers have been asked to inspect.
Dialysis units face two instructions at once, because the PM National Dialysis Programme still allows a dialyser to be reused for the same patient.
Scheme packages are fixed, so the extra cost lands on insurers and cash patients, or decides whether a hospital keeps offering the procedure at all.
02 · EXAMS & ADMISSIONS
Anaesthesia has 3,532 Round 1 seats and no top-500 taker. Last year, more than half its Round 1 seat holders walked away.
Why an ₹85,000 heart-surgery stabiliser must now beThose seats came back in Round 2, which moved Anaesthesia more than any other branch we have checked: the government Open closing rank went from 19,028 to 24,796. This year Round 1 alone reached 24,614, and Round 2 opens on 6 November. The piece runs last year's swing through this year's list, category by category, so you can see whether your rank is back in play.thrown away after one patient
Also before Round 2: Orthopaedics · General Surgery · Radiology · Dermatology
03 · PHARMA
Sun Pharma's semaglutide tablet is cleared in three strengths. Before it reaches a chemist, it has to go back to court.
The approval covers type 2 diabetes only, for tablets made in Assam from Chinese raw material. Semaglutide lost its molecule patent in March, but the patent on the absorption enhancer that lets a swallowed peptide be absorbed runs to 2031, and Novo has taken Sun to the Delhi High Court over it. Torrent launched by keeping that enhancer below the range Novo's patent claims. Whether Sun's tablet does the same, and what it will cost next to Dr Reddy's ₹99 tablet, is still open.
04 · DOCTORS
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Doctors
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HOD posts may rotate every five years, and only professors would get a turn
The May 2025 draft said every three years, by seniority, with eligible associate professors in the queue. Feedback ranged from five years to scrapping rotation altogether. A pharmacology professor in Hubballi asked under RTI what the board made of it and was told only that the matter is under consideration; the note itself was withheld. The NMC says the revised draft moves shortly and needs six weeks once it does. Whether faculty get another say first, nobody will confirm.
06 · AIR QUALITY
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LIVE AQI · 2 NOVEMBER Delhi didn't even make the top five Haryana and Punjab held seven of the nine worst spots on AQI.in's live ranking. In Rohtak, PM2.5 was 29 times the WHO guideline.
Other metros: Kolkata 181, Ahmedabad 178, Pune 173, Mumbai 165, Chennai 94, Bengaluru 78, Hyderabad 71. Anything above 300 is hazardous. At that level the US EPA advises everyone to avoid outdoor exertion, and people with heart or lung disease to stay indoors. Readings are on the US EPA scale used by AQI.in, which runs past 500; India's CPCB index stops at 500. |
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