Health related information and news from around the world.

The last five years has seen an expansion of the private sector in terms of health care of the elderly that few would have predicted. The main reason for this rapid growth had been the government led inducements for elderly people to enter private homes, the government paying a substantial proportion of the bill via [...]

Gastroenterologists Gastroenterologists are physicians who have specialized in disorders of the digestive tract. Their interests range from Hepatitis and disorders of the oesophagus to ulcerative conditions of the rectum. The invention of the endoscope allows such wondrous achievements as the simultaneous photography of the colonoscope’s working parts by the working parts of the gastroscope and [...]

A number of babies have these episodes, which in the past have sometimes been called ‘near miss SIDS’. The baby is found limp, sometimes blue, sometimes unconscious or unresponsive and not breathing. Varying degrees of stimulation seem necessary to revive him, ranging from noise or gentle movement of a limb to full blown resuscitation including [...]

We strongly advise that throughout the course of your pregnancy you have regular antenatal (before birth) check-ups, to monitor that all is going well. These are usually routine and involve physical examination as well as blood and urine tests and ultrasound. The advantage of regular check-ups is that if any problems arise during the pregnancy, [...]

Well, as far as I’m concerned, we will never have sex again. You know why? Because we aren’t. I mean, we don’t exist. There’s no us. The insurance company says so. I wrote to them and they said we never were insured with them. I guess I have been sending bills to outer space for [...]

A stethoscope is placed over the artery at the elbow. As the pressure in the cuff is reduced, it will fall below that in the artery and a sound as the blood pulses through is heard through the stethoscope. This records the systolic pressure. The same measurement can be taken by feeling the pulse at [...]

So what do we do? Throw up our hands and say it is designed by fate? No. Not every man, whose father gave him a certain set of genes, will develop alcoholism and neither does every child who inherits an allergic tendency develop asthma. Some alcoholics drink that way right from the beginning and get [...]

The major organs of the urinary system are the kidneys and the bladder, attached to each other and the outside of the body by tubes. Strictly speaking, however, the process of urination, the removal of wastes from the body, begins at cellular level. As all cells function, converting food into energy and repairing body tissue, [...]

The bleeding from an injured tongue, even when it merely results from an accidental self-inflected bite, is often prolonged and alarming. Usually though, such bleeding can quickly be brought under control, without stitches or help from a doctor, if the victim firmly holds something over the site of bleeding to compress it. A wet handkerchief [...]

Symptom: Pain in legs or feet occurring only while the child is resting or sleeping Home care: Massage or apply heat to painful muscles. Give aspirin or paracetamol for pain. Having the child wear sturdier shoes may reduce the frequency or severity of the pains. Growing pains can be quite severe and it’s important to [...]