Health

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS) Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Wednesday reported a 14 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit for the December quarter (Q3) of FY26.The drugmaker said its consolidated net profit fell 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1,209.8 crore in Q3 FY26, compared with Rs 1,413.3 crore in the same quarter last financial year, according to its stock exchange filing.Revenue from operations during the quarter rose 4.4 per cent to Rs 8,726.8 crore, up from Rs 8,358.6 crore in the year-ago period, supported by growth across most key markets.On the operating front, EBITDA declined 10.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,049.3 crore.The company’s gross margins also came under pressure, easing to 53.6 per cent in Q3 FY26 from 58.7 per cent in Q3 FY25 and 54.7 per cent in the previous ...

Davos, Jan 20 (IANS) Amid rising costs and declining quality in healthcare systems worldwide, experts at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 deliberated on the need to find solutions to break the cost-investment paradox.During the session, ‘Healthcare: Cost or Investment’, experts discussed how healthcare systems worldwide face an inescapable paradox: spending rises while quality often declines.Nina Warken, Germany’s Federal Minister of Health, stated that countries must have better healthcare facilities and must also finance them to enable citizens to live a healthy and disease-free life.Stressing the need to gain citizens' trust in public healthcare, she said that “investment into healthcare is an investment into democracy”.Stefanie Stantcheva, Professor of Political Economy at H...

Roorkee, Jan 20 (IANS) A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee on Tuesday announced the development of a next-generation antibody discovery platform that has the potential to transform diagnostics and therapeutics for diseases.The research involves the development of an ultra-large, high-diversity single-domain antibody (nanobody) library.From infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune disorders, and emerging pathogens, the platform enables rapid identification of highly stable and high-affinity antibodies.By significantly reducing discovery timelines, the innovation addresses a critical gap in healthcare response, particularly during public health emergencies.“By developing a universal, high-diversity antibody discovery system within India, we are strengthen...

Davos, Jan 20 (IANS) Despite accounting for almost half of the global population, healthcare for women has chronically been underinvested, which not only undermines their wellbeing but also wastes an enormous economic opportunity, according to a new report launched at the ongoing World Economic Forum’s Annual meeting on Tuesday.The report noted that women receive only 6 per cent of private healthcare investment, of which 90 per cent is allocated only for women’s cancers, reproductive health, and maternal health.This leaves several other high-burden, high-prevalent as well as unique conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, menopause, Alzheimer’s, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and menstrual health, “disproportionally undercapitalised”.While conditions such...

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi has performed over 1,000 robotic surgeries in last 13 months, the Institute said on Tuesday.Robotic surgery was initiated at the Department of Surgical Disciplines, AIIMS, more than a year ago to address intricate surgical challenges.The state-of-the-art surgical robot has to date performed surgeries, including hepatobiliary procedures like pancreatic duodenectomy, gastrectomy, esophagectomy, colectomy, anterior resection for gastrointestinal malignancy, various complex abdominal wall reconstructions for hernias, kidney transplantation, and minimally invasive resection of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and pancreas for endocrine tumours, AIIMS said in an official statement.“This marks a transformative milest...

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) Affirmative action in local government leadership can significantly help improve health outcomes, particularly infant survival and maternal prenatal care, in India, according to a study, led by researchers at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow on Tuesday.The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, offers important insights into how structural interventions can address long-established social and health inequities.The findings showed that village clusters with affirmative action in local leadership recorded significantly better health outcomes.Infant mortality rates were significantly lower in villages led by local representatives.Maternal health indicators also improved, including higher odds of receivin...

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) In a world-first discovery, scientists in Australia have found that the human heart can regrow muscle cells after a heart attack, raising hopes for future regenerative treatments for heart failure.The study, published in Circulation Research, revealed that while parts of the heart remain scarred after a heart attack, new muscle cells are also produced, a phenomenon previously seen only in mice and now demonstrated in humans for the first time, Xinhua news agency reported."Until now we've thought that, because heart cells die after a heart attack, those areas of the heart were irreparably damaged, leaving the heart less able to pump blood to the body's organs," said Robert Hume, research fellow at the University of Sydney and first author of the study."In time, we h...

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) For artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver meaningful public value in a linguistically diverse country like India, it must be multilingual and voice-enabled, ensuring that language does not become a barrier to accessing healthcare services, according to Amitabh Nag, CEO, Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD).Nag said that language AI can significantly enhance citizen engagement, grievance redressal mechanisms, clinical documentation, and the overall accessibility of digital public health platforms.He participated at an event by DIBD in Bhubaneswar which brought together senior officials from the Union and state governments, technical institutions, and implementing agencies to review progress and accelerate the adoption of digital health initiatives across the cou...

Davos, Jan 19 (IANS) India is making best investments in the health sector by strengthening Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and initiating the Future Health Districts programmes, according to experts during the World Economic Forum 2026 (WEF) Annual Meeting. While the ABDM, launched in September 2021, is the government's flagship initiative to create a unified, national digital health ecosystem, the Future Health Districts project has been launched as a collaboration between the WEF and India. It serves as a testing ground for the ABDM.Under the ABDM programme, more than 850 million citizens in India hold ABHA digital IDs, with approximately 454,000 health facilities and 767,000 professionals registered to date. More than 842 million digital records in the country have also been li...

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) In the first-ever study, Australian researchers have demonstrated the feasibility and safety of using stabilised hyaluronic acid (sHA) gel during radiation treatment for gynaecological cancers.The gel is already approved by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration for use in prostate cancer radiation treatment.The team led by experts from Monash University investigated hyaluronic acid gel for the first time in women as a means to gently create more space between the tumour and the rectum during MRI-guided brachytherapy -- a type of internal radiation treatment.By creating this space, clinicians aimed to reduce radiation exposure to the rectum, allowing a higher dose of radiation to reach the tumour with more effective targeting, reducing damage to healthy tissu...