A study to assess vaccine wastage in an immunization clinic of tertiary care centre, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Background: Vaccines are one of the most successful and cost-effective health intervention. It becomes imperative that use of vaccine was done through a proper framework of practical decision-making that confers positive health and economic benefits to the society of which Vaccine Wastage was a key factor. The aim of the study is to assess “Vaccine Wastage Rate” and “Wastage Factor” of different vaccines given to beneficiaries in Immunization Clinic and based on the above data, recommend measures to reduce it in the Immunization clinic  Methods: The present study was a Record Based Retrospective study carried out in Immunization Clinic in Madhav Dispensary of tertiary center at Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The data was collected from 1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016.Results: Immunization Sessions were conducted in Immunization clinic during reference period and 7 vaccines BCG, OPV, DPT, Hepatitis B, pentavalent, measles and TT were given. Among individual vaccines, wastage rate and wastage factor in BCG (20.71 and 1.26), OPV (14.65 and 1.17), DPT (15.6 and 1.18), Hepatitis B (10.56 and 1.12), Pentavalent (5.2 and 1.05), Measles (21.68 and 1.28), TT (7.09 and 1.08), and IPV (10.49 and 1.12) was respectively.Conclusions: Vaccine wastage could be expected in all programmes and there should be an acceptable limit of wastage. Innovative techniques to be developed not only to reduce wastage but also the operational cost for convenience of children who were to be vaccinated and parents who bring their children for vaccination without compromising coverage.

A study to assess the perceptions of first year medical students for choosing medical school as a career

Background: There are more than 44000 seats in over 350 medical colleges in India for pursuing the MBBS course. Yet medicine is not among the top vocation in most career advisories and the best school students do not aspire to be doctors.Methods: The present study was a cross sectional study done on 150 students of first semester of GR Medical College, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India on a predesigned or pre validated questionnaire. Only 104 students participated in the study.Results: A total of 104 students participated in the study. Among them, 68 (65.39%) were males and 36 (34.61%) females. The maximum percentage of students was of the age group of 20 years i.e. 26 (25%). The choice of a career in the medical field is a complex personal decision influenced by a multitude of factors. Career choices are influenced by both graduates inclination before starting medical school as well as any exposure during training in medical school.Conclusions: These data showed that the maximum percentages of the Medical Students were satisfied with the medical school as 95 (91.34%) but still some of them have regrets. In choosing medical school they wants to help poor, earn money and personal development, and influenced by some doctor relative. These were important factors for decision making in medical school.

Geriatric social security and welfare services in Gwalior, India: a cross sectional study of awareness, utilization, concerns and solutions

Background: Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%. In 2050, 80% of older people will be living in low and middle income countries. All countries face major challenges to ensure that their health and social systems are ready to make the most of this demographic shift.Methods: The present Study was a cross-sectional study done for 1 year in 2016 in which 600 households were selected by simple random sampling in Gwalior city in which the knowledge and awareness of various Government health scheme and policies and their day to day utilization in their life were assessed. A predesigned and pretested interview based structured questionnaire was used for data collection. They were analysed and interpreted by appropriate software and various statistical tests were applied.Results: The maximum no. of participants 112 (54.9%) knew about railways/road transport/air travel concessions provided to Senior citizens, 23.04% knew about telephone and postal services, 13.24% were aware of tax exemptions while 9.8% knew about banking and insurance schemes regarding elderly. Males were generally more aware than females. The maximum utilization (59.82%) was found in railways/road transport/air travel concessions while minimum utilization (25.00%) was in Indira Gandhi National old age pension scheme.Conclusions: The system for comprehensive geriatric care to the community was well in place with regular development and growth but there is dearth of awareness and utilization of these services

Go Ark; an ameliorative bio-product (in vitro) on Phenyl induced cytotoxicity

Phenyl (PHY) is one of the chemicals which are used as a disinfectant in the world due to its toxic potential. Cleaning workers are directly exposed to it in institutes, hospitals and houses. Cow urine/Go Ark (GA) has been proved as a bioenhancer in many studies. The present study dealt with the in vitro analysis of PHY induced cytotoxicity (CT) on human peripheral blood lymphocytes and ameliorative potential of Distillate cow urine/Go Ark (DGA) and Fresh Go Ark (FGA) as GA is believed to be an elixir in Ayurved. MTT assay was used to study CT and Cell viability % on Human peripheral blood lymphocytes (HPBL) in vitro. CT of PHY was found to be higher than that of DGA and FGA treated groups. This showed that when PHY induced cells were treated with DGA and FGA, they showed increase in the cell viability %. It was also found that FGA had more potential for enhancing cell viability % of HPBL than that of DGA. We suggest that GA can be used as an ameliorative agent on PHY induced CT. It can be explored by in vivo experiments further for its detoxification properties. Now a day, PHY is used in combination with GA for cleaning purposes as “Gonyl”, it may be safe for cleaning workers to use GA based disinfectants to diminish the CT induced due to PHY exposure at the time of cleaning

In vitro analysis of the effect of Go Ark on Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes

Cow is worshiped in India as “Gomata” since ancient time. Its values have been signified in Vedas, Puranas & Ayurveda. Its urine/Go Ark is used in rituals & medicines traditionally in India. The Significance of Cow Urine has been studied by many workers. Now it is available in the market as distillate. Hence this study was designed to assess the potential of Fresh Go Ark (FGA) and Distillate Go Ark (DGA) on Human Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) in Vitro using MTT Assay. It was found that FGA & DGA both had the potential to enhance the cell viability of Human PBL. FGA showed greater potential towards the enhancement of cell viability on Human PBL than that of DGA. However the difference between the impacts of FGA & DGA was not found to be significant when tested through Two way ANOVA