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Alliance News Digest

Week of 15 April 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Ethical recruitment protects health workers’ rights and promotes quality services - Public Services International – (4/07)
  PSI recognizes that a strong workforce is key to ensuring quality public health services.
• IND 2011: Closing The Gap: Increasing Access and Equity - International Council of Nurses – (4/07)
  The International Nurses Day kit 2011 contains educational and public information materials, for use by nurses everywhere.
• Lao People's Democratic Republic to Implement Health Worker Retention Tool - Capacity Plus – (4/06)
  The tool is a powerful, quantitative method used to determine health workers’ preferences regarding different employment options….
• A month at Merlin: March 2011 - Merlín, UK – (4/08)
  With Merlin working in 14 countries around the world, there is always something new to share with readers.
• 2.6 million babies stillborn in 2009 – WHO – (4/14)
  These deaths are directly related to the lack of skilled care at this critical time for mothers and babies.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• LES MÉDECINS RÉSIDENTS: «Nous sommes outrés et dégoûtés» - L’Expression, Algeria – (4/12)
  Après plus d’un mois de grève, le problème des résidents en sciences médicales est loin de connaître un dénouement.
• Benghazi Hospitals Struggle to Treat War-Wounded – IRIN – (4/13)
  Although doctors are coping, many foreign nurses working in eastern Libya have fled, leaving gaps in many health facilities.
• Ministry of Health to Spend U.S.$30 Million on Medicines - AIM, Mozambique – (4/12)
  The decision comes in the context of the recent find of large quantities of expired medicines.
• Mobile Phones to Offer Health Sector the Kiss of Life - Daily Nation, Kenya – (4/09)
  Studies have shown that mobile phones can improve efficiency in the delivery of health care, disease prevention and well-being.
• The Nation in Need of Systemic Implementation of Healthcare Interventions - Osotimehin - The Daily Independent, Nigeria – (4/06)
  Recently appointed Director General of the UNFPA spoke on developmental issues including girl-child education and healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
• Ministry to combat apathy and brain drain among health workers - Ghana News Agency – (4/05)
  The Ministry of Health and the National Health Award Project, have launched a Project to fight apathy and the brain drain among health workers.
• The nation needs new Nightingales (Editorial) - The National, UAE – (4/10)
  The plan to recruit nurses from overseas is only part of the solution.
• No to private health care (Editorial) - Haaretz, Israel – (4/11)
  Israel's health care system is a good one, but it suffers from a shortage of doctors and resources, and it must be shored up.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• EDITORIAL: Many a slip - Daily Times, Pakistan – (4/09)
  The longest strike in the country’s history by doctors in Punjab came to an end but the judgement on this seemingly happy outcome must be reserved.
• New MCI rule bars 6000 doctors from teaching - Times of India – (4/10)
  According to the new rule, DNB degree-holders are required to undergo an additional year of senior residency in a teaching medical institution.
• Challenges facing the health sector (Editorial) - The Financial Express, Bangladesh – (4/08)
  Bangladesh has a staggering shortage of over 60,000 doctors, nearly 0.3 million nurses and 0.5 million technologists, report says.
• Chinese doctors prefer public to private hospitals - Shanghai Daily – (4/07)
  It is because their professional rankings can only be enhanced by their performance at the public hospitals.
• Number of neonatal intensive care units falls short in Korea - The Korea Times – (4/11)
  The decrease of medical facilities for preterm infants is attributed to the fact that many hospitals suffer from a shortage of human resources and prolonged deficits.
• Can India prevent 200 children dying every hour? - The Hindu – (4/14)
  India will not be able to achieve the MDG 4 target by 2015.
• Australia needs physician assistants. So why aren’t we getting them? - Crikey, AU – (4/12)
  Why a number of groups are opposing or raising concerns about the introduction of PAs?
• Nurses allowed to prescribe medicine for diabetics - Radio New Zealand – (4/11)
  With growing health workforce shortages, smarter ways of doing things are needed, says Health Minister.

NORTH AMERICA

• Medical tourism draws growing numbers of Americans to seek health care abroad - The Washington Post – (4/04)
  According to Deloitte consulting services, 875,000 Americans were medical tourists in 2010.
• Community health centers offer model for improving care even as they grow - The Washington Post – (4/11)
  Community health centers serve 20 million people every year, and that number is expected to double by 2015.
• Hospital Is Drawn Into Bahrain Strife - The New York Times – (4/12)
  Doctors and nurses have been arrested and the police trail ambulance drivers, health care workers said.
• The Quality of Medical Care in Low-Income Countries: From Providers to Markets - PLoS Medicine – (4/12)
  While problems of access are certainly salient for particular disadvantaged populations, quality is likely the constraining factor for the majority.
• What ‘Big Medicine’ Means for Doctors and Patients - The New York Times – (4/14)
  Over the last decade, there has been a nearly 75 percent increase in the number of doctors employed by hospitals.
• Critical Shortage of Army Neurologists for U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – ProPublica – (4/12)
  The shortage of neurologists is partly because of recent policy changes designed to improve diagnosis and treatment of mild traumatic brain injuries
• White House targets medical errors - Los Angeles Times – (4/13)
  The campaign aims to cut by 40% over the next three years the number of harmful preventable conditions at Hospitals.
• Congress votes Thursday on cutting billions from budget before moving to larger spending fight – Washington Post – (4/14)
  The bill cuts $600 million from community health programs.
• Many doctors work into their senior years: report - CTV, CA – (4/08)
  More than one in 10 doctors working in Canada are aged 65 or older, says report.

EUROPE

• Health-systems strengthening: current and future activities - The Lancet, UK – (4/09)
  The consensus on the importance of strong health systems is welcomed, however, without clarity on future directions, focus and energy could dissipate.
• Rational reform to medical education in India (Editorial) - The Lancet, UK – (4/09)
  To improve the density and distribution of doctors, the Medical Council of India proposed wide-ranging reforms to medical education on March 29.
• NHS shakeup could be biggest disaster in history of public services, says RCN - The Guardian, UK – (4/11)
  Royal College of Nursing claims standard of patient care is threatened by savings which will remove about 40,000 NHS jobs.
• 'Foreign doctors should have English tests before being allowed to practice in the UK' - Daily Mail, UK – (4/08)
  Some doctors' English is so bad that they need an interpreter to tell them what is going on, the General Medical Council warned.
• Lack of specialist nurses ‘pushes patients into hospital’ - Wales online – (4/13)
  The Royal College of Nursing is worried specialist nurses will bear the brunt of cutbacks in the NHS, impacting on patient care.
• Leading article: The health service needs evolution, not revolution - The Independent, UK – (4/14)
  These reforms are not going to be successfully enacted without the support of health workers
• Finn: wage expectations of Estonian doctors sometimes unrealistic - Baltic Business News – (4/14)
  Estonian medical doctors want to earn to much in Finland that is simply unrealistic.
• Des traducteurs soutiennent les médecins en 12 langues - Swissinfo.ch – (4/08)
  Les immigrants ne parlant aucune des langues nationales n’ont pas la tâche facile lorsqu’ils doivent recourir à un médecin.
• La opinión de los ciudadanos sobre el sistema público de salud mejora – El País, Spain. (4/14)
  Las listas de espera y la desigualdad entre comunidades son las mayores quejas, según el Barómetro Sanitario de 2010.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• La salud en zona rural está en crisis, dijo Médicos Sin Fronteras en Arauca - Meridiano70, Colombia – (4/11)
  El sistema de salud ofrece las mínimas oportunidades a la población más vulnerable.
• Desnutrición ha cobrado vidas en comunidad indígena de Cambalache - Nueva Prensa de Guayana, Venezuela – (4/12)
  Las causas son el olvido por parte del Gobierno, la falta de atención médica y el no ingreso de bolívares fuertes para enfrentar las enfermedades.
• Paro y reclamos - Página 12, Argentina – (4/13)
  Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado reclama “solución integral” al problema de inseguridad en los hospitales.
• ANS proíbe operadoras de premiar médicos que ajudam a reduzir custos - Estadao, Brazil – (4/14) – (4/11)
  A prática, que, segundo profissionais, é adotada por boa parte das operadoras para reduzir os custos, agora é considerada uma infração..
• CDHDF exhorta a mejorar servicios de salud en cárceles - El Universal, Mexico – (4/10)
  El déficit en la infraestructura y la ausencia de insumos y personal condicionan la adecuada prestación de servicios médicos.
• La propuesta de cerrar y crear otra Caja de Salud (Editorial) - Opinión, Bolivia – (4/12)
  El Presidente ha propuesto cerrar esta entidad de salud y crear otra institución en su lugar para que beneficie de “verdad” a los aportantes.
• Muchos órganos se pierden aquí debido al alto costo del trasplante - Listín Diario, República de Santo Domingo – (4/07)
  Muchos órganos captados por un equipo de médicos especializados para ello se pierden debido al costo del trasplante y a la falta de recursos para cubrirlos.