In Focus by The Hindu

India has so far recorded close to 12,000 cases of mucormycosis, or black fungus infection as it is commonly known. The Central government has now declared it a notifiable disease. Mucormycosis was not unknown in India, but it is now, with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rage, that the country has seen a surge in these infections. While the increased use of steroids, needed for the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients is being cited as one possible reason, experts have also said that a majority of cases are seen in those with poorly-controlled diabetes.Mucormycosis can affect many organs in the body, but what is being seen now, is the rhino-orbito cerebral form -- the infection affects the sinuses, nose, eyes and then brain. Doctors have reported that patients come to them a few weeks after recovering from COVID-19, with symptoms of mucormycosis.Amphotericin B is the main antifungal drug used in treatment, though stocks are running low now in the country due to high demand. The Centre recently said five new pharma companies had been approved to produce Amphotericin-B. Earlier, only six firms were manufacturing it.To speak to us about this fungal infection, its link with diabetes and what can be done to prevent it, is Dr. V. Mohan chairman, Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre in Chennai Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we’re talking about the challenges of counting or estimating the death toll from COVID-19 in India. This is, of course, a complicated and polarising subject. Due to a combination of factors such as the size of India’s population, and the lack of good and accessible data in many instances, there is a difference between the officially reported figures for deaths from the pandemic and the actual death count. But to what degree is there under-reporting? This is the cause of much speculation -- the subject of many mathematical models and projections even. As we record this podcast today, the 26th of May, the New York Times has an article that projects a likely scenario in which there are 1.6 million deaths in India as against the reported figure which, as of May 24, stand at a little over 300,000.We're going to take a slightly broader approach to this issue in the podcast today and break down some of the issues with counting deaths in India, the various methodologies that are used, and the challenges of each. We are joined today by Dr. Anand Krishnan, professor at the centre for community medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He has also written two recent columns for The Hindu on counting the COVID 19 toll in India. We go through a lot of technicalities during the conversation about the processes through which mortality, not just from COVID-19 but other causes as well, are calculated. We hope that it will give you a more comprehensive picture on this issue.Episode notes:https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-many-challenges-in-estimating-deaths/article32537264.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/counting-the-covid-toll-in-india/article34582009.ece Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic has now entered rural parts of our country, where 65% of our population lives. Data from May shows that the case load is now 65% in rural and semi-rural areas versus 35% in urban and semi-urban areas. Even as hospital in our cities are towns are overloaded and overwhelmed, our rural infrastructure is in danger of collapsing -- with inadequate testing kits, drugs and trained healthcare professionals. There are reports of village residents having to travel for hours to try and secure a hospital bed and with deaths increasing, images of bodies floating on rivers as the people of India attempt to deal with an unprecedented crisis. The Central Government has released an SOP on Covid-19 Containment and Management in Peri-urban, Rural & Tribal areas, but how much of this is feasible? Were we unprepared for the surge of the virus in rural India? What measures can now be put in place to revamp our primary health systems that have, in many parts, been consistently ignored and under-funded for decades?To speak to us about this, we have with us today, Dr SP Kalantri, Professor of Medicine at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital, SevagramHosted by Zubeda Hamid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we get deep into the use of steroids, in medicine more generally and in the treatment of Covid-19. Steroids like dexamethasone seem to have a very positive effect on people who have COVID that's been proven, but Experts have warned that irregular and overuse of steroids causes severe infections like pneumonia and mucormycosis. The latter disease has just been declared an epidemic in India as several states report cases.In this podcast we try and get to the root of the issue. Is the issue with the use of steroids itself and when? Or is it a problem of how much to give and how it should be carefully calibrated?Guest: Dr Vincent Rajkumar: Professor, Mayo Clinic and Editor, Blood Cancer JournalHosted by Ramya Kannan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Among the key voices of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Soumya Swaminathan with her clarity of thought, articulation and deep awareness of the Indian context, has emerged as a reliable voice amid the covid 19 pandemic maelstrom. In an online interview, she provides detailed responses to a range of topics that are simmering, resolves some doubts, and advocates strategies to adopt gainfully. Investments in health care are crucial, she says, because it is now clear that there is nothing without health and without sufficient physical and mental well being, it would be impossible to take the path to recovery.Host: Ramya Kannan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re talking today about the big international story that’s dominated this week and that's the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Palestine. There is very little that I need to say by way of introduction, even as we record despite some truce efforts the conflict between the two sides only seems to be escalating and there's real danger now that this could be a long drawn-out affair that could spiral out of control. The number of casualties is already high. So, in this episode we’re going to look at the immediate triggers for this conflict, look at where things stand between the two sides now and as we always do on this podcast, we will pan out and look at how various geopolitical factors have brought us to this point. Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The border crisis with China in eastern Ladakh that began in early May 2020 is nowhere near resolution after one year of tensions, even if the stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has faded from newspaper front pages amid India's coronavirus crisis.In this episode, we look at the LAC situation one year on, and ask what it means for relations with China and the broader security challenges it poses for India.What is the state of play now at the LAC? How has the past year and the Ladakh crisis changed how the Indian Armed Forces approach guarding the frontiers and deployments along the border? What are the demands on India's resources? Is India ready to face a two-front challenge as the LAC turns "live" and a deepening China-Pakistan relationship? What options does India have as it seeks to mitigate the two-front threat?Guest: Sushant Singh, Senior Fellow, Centre For Policy Research, New Delhi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we discuss China’s once-in-a-decade population census, the results of which were released today (May 11). The numbers show that China has recorded a slowing population growth rate that will likely see its population peak - and be overtaken by India’s - by as early as 2025, according to experts, with the number of births falling for the fourth consecutive year.This seventh census, released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Beijing, noted 12 million babies were born last year, the lowest number since 1961, a year when China was in the midst of a four-year famine unleashed by Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward policy in 1958 that devastated the farm sector and claimed millions of lives.So there is a lot to breakdown in this episode, to understand how China got to these numbers, what is says now about the changing composition of China’s demographics and what will be its long term economic impact. There is the overarching question also of what this means for the comparison with India and the window of time in which a demographic dividend could come into play. We’re joined by the Hindu’s China correspondent Ananth Krishnan to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted by G. SampathThe Covid-19 crisis continues to dominate our news coverage, as it rightly should, and while we’ve doing many episodes on the pandemic, a couple of deep dives into policy issues, which is a trademark of this podcast, got lost along the way. We recorded this podcast last month, just after former RBI governor M. Narasimham passed away, with the aim of understanding his legacy in the context of the current challenges facing the banking sector.Narasimham is perhaps the most influential banker of post-independent India. The reports prepared by the two Committees that he chaired – the Narasimham Committee on Financial System (1991) and the Narasimham Committee on Banking Sector Reforms (1998) – are still the foundational documents for any discussion on banking sector reforms and banking policy. He is also credited with paving the way for epochal moves such as bank mergers, the emergence of new generation private banks, and asset reconstruction companies.But more than two decades after the two Nararimham Committees gave their reports and recommendations, India’s banking sector remains plagued by a host of problems, from high NPAs to poor governance, and a disconnect from developmental priorities. So what has been the legacy of Narasimham and the two committees that he chaired? How will India’s banking history view his role and contribution to India’s banking sector? To throw light on these questions, we spoke with Amol Agrawal, an economic historian and faculty at Ahmedabad University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is raging in India. Hospitals are overflowing, oxygen is in short supply in some parts of the country, patients are prescribed with a number of drugs and patients' relatives are desperately looking for drugs that are also running in short in some cases. What works in the treatment for Covid-19 and what should our treating protocol be? Does plasma therapy work? Are drugs like Remdesivir useful? And what will happen if the many antibiotics taken now lead to antimicrobial resistance in the future? To speak to us about this, we have Dr. Anup Aggarwal. He is the lead author of the ICMR-led Trial on convalescent plasma (PLACID trial) and is a physician at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital Healthcare Services, Gallup, New Mexico, U.S.Hosted by Zubeda Hamid  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices