Sheikh Mohd Saleem

Early efforts to vaccinate the Indian population were started on 16th January 2021. With this, a ray of hope came as people again starting their livelihoods, roads looked busy again, playgrounds were again full of children. Everything seems back to normal, while the Government was allowing all other activities with the option to follow the COVID appropriate behavior (CAB) keeping a blind eye to whether or not someone follows it. The immediate consequence of this laxity was that people were not following the CAB in particular, and by the end of January 2021, the situation was back to normal, as if there were no pandemics anywhere. While the rate of vaccination was slowly taking pace, the majority population believed that the vaccination may be necessary later, leading to the vaccine hesitancy. The second wave which started in the last quarter of March 2021 and spreader much faster than the first wave, is believed to be fueled by the additional strains of the coronavirus, as stated by many health experts. New coronavirus strains are thought to be more infectious home ground variants found in 61% of samples of genomes sequenced in many states in India. Even such news was reported by media rapidly, the laxity in the CAB and preventive measures, coupled with the presence of new variants, has resulted in a nationwide crisis. What caught the attention of the globe was despite the ongoing pandemic, the Indian Government allowed State assembly elections in the Eastern part of the country, which could have been delayed at this point. The prime Minster led Government faced this Critic from the opposition while the “Maha Kumbh Mela” organized at Haridwar attended by lacs of devotees who believed to bathe in a ritual river to pure themselves for their mistakes of past was also allowed by the Government. It was reported by media that about 7 million devotees attended the event and 1700 tested positive for covid-19 over 5 days period because no such social distancing measures or masks were used during the Maha Kumbh Mela by the attendees. Most of the public health agencies tried their best to dispel the myths and supported the campaigns associated with covid-19 vaccines but turned a blind eye and acted as a muted spectator for the election rallies and Maha Kumbh Mela. Following COB during election rallies and Maha Kumbh Mela will never go easy hand in hand, so the best is to follow the no man’s rule. What we believe the public health professionals of the country followed in deep agony and pressure. As India is engulfed in the second wave of covid-19, the current situation is deteriorated by the presence of counterfeit drugs, lack of human resources, medical supplies, and equipment. There are unique scientific, technical, and logistic challenges which we face in covid-19, we need to take definite steps for fights against this pandemic. Keywords: Covid­19, Health care, leadership

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one among important indicators to evaluate the health status and nutritional status of a family. It is a position attained by any individual within a system of hierarchical social structure. Various attempts have been done in past by eminent scholars and medical scientists to formulate a group of composite indexes to determine SES of an individual or a family living in urban or rural areas. The scales have included various composite indexes to take into account details pertaining to an individual or any family. Among all the available SES, the most widely used and popular scale in our country is “Modified Kuppuswamy SES” which is mostly used for urban areas. In this paper, we have aimed at revising and providing an “Updated Modified Kuppuswamy SES” for the year 2021. The scale was initially developed by Kuppuswamy in the year 1976 including index parameters like education, occupation, and total income which was further modified in later years to include head of families educational status, occupational status and overall aggregate income of the whole family, pooled from all sources. The Kuppuswamy SES has included 3 parameters and each parameter is further classified into subgroups and scores have been allotted to each subgroup which have been defined later in this paper. The total score of Kuppuswamy SES ranges from 3-29 and it classifies families into 5 groups, “upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lower and lower socio-economic class.” Due to limitations, the Kuppuswamy SES needs regular update for income levels which is based on changing CPI values which makes the scale vulnerable to fluctuations over time.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one among important indicators to evaluate the health status and nutritional status of a family. It is a position attained by any individual within a system of hierarchical social structure. Various attempts have been done in past by eminent scholars and medical scientists to formulate a group of composite indexes to determine SES of an individual or a family living in urban or rural areas. The scales have included various composite indexes to take into account details pertaining to an individual or any family. Among all the available SES, the most widely used and popular scale in our country is “Modified Kuppuswamy SES” which is mostly used for urban areas. In this paper, we have aimed at revising and providing an “Updated Modified Kuppuswamy SES” for the year 2020.The scale was initially developed by Kuppuswamy in the year 1976 including index parameters like education, occupation, and total income which was further modified in later years to include head of families educational status, occupational status and overall aggregate income of the whole family, pooled from all sources. The Kuppuswamy SES has included 3 parameters and each parameter is further classified into subgroups and scores have been allotted to each subgroup which have been defined later in this paper. The total score of Kuppuswamy SES ranges from 3-29 and it classifies families into 5 groups, “upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lower and lower socio-economic class.” Due to limitations, the Kuppuswamy SES needs regular update for income levels which is based on changing CPI values which makes the scale vulnerable to fluctuations over time.                                   Keywords: Socioeconomic scale, Kuppuswamy scale, 2019 Update, Economic status.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one among important indicators to evaluate the health status and nutritional status of a family. It is a position attained by any individual within a system of hierarchical social structure. Various attempts have been done in past by eminent scholars and medical scientists to formulate a group of composite indexes to determine SES of an individual or a family living in urban or rural areas. The scales have included various composite indexes to take into account details pertaining to an individual or any family. Among all the available SES, the most widely used and popular scale in our country is “Modified Kuppuswamy SES” which is mostly used for urban areas. In this paper, we have aimed at revising and providing an “Updated Modified Kuppuswamy SES” for the year 2019. The scale was initially developed by Kuppuswamy in the year 1976 including index parameters like education, occupation, and total income which was further modified in later years to include head of families educational status, occupational status and overall aggregate income of the whole family, pooled from all sources. The Kuppuswamy SES has included 3 parameters and each parameter is further classified into subgroups and scores have been allotted to each subgroup which have been defined later in this paper. The total score of Kuppuswamy SES ranges from 3-29 and it classifies families into 5 groups, “upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lower and lower socio-economic class.” Due to limitations, the Kuppuswamy SES needs regular update for income levels which is based on changing CPI values which makes the scale vulnerable to fluctuations over time. Keywords: Socioeconomic scale, Kuppuswamy scale, 2019 Update, Economic status.

Introduction: In healthcare settings, where patient care is carried out, a certain type of waste is generated which has the potential to put humans and environment to the risk of infectious diseases and environmental pollution respectively. Objectives: The present study has been embraced to survey the information regarding Bio-Medical waste among the staff a tertiary care paediatric hospital in Kashmir valley (J&K). Materials and Methods: Paediatric hospital associated with GMC Srinagar was visited by a team of public health specialists. A total of 25 interviews were conducted in which five doctors, five staff nurses, five pharmacists, five laboratory technicians and five sanitary personnel participated. The data was acquired from the respondents through a pre-outlined pre-tested survey questionnaire with respect to Biomedical Waste Management and Handling guideline 2016. Results: The awareness and knowledge about current BMW guidelines 2016 was highest among Laboratory technicians and sanitary personals. The sanitary personals had also better awareness about existing operational guidelines in the hospital and proper waste disposal methods. Conclusion: The sanitary personals and laboratory technicians were seen to be great in theoretical knowledge of rules, legislations and public health importance of BMW management rules 2016. While for doctors and nursing staff, the reverse was true. Keywords: Biomedical waste, Management, BMW Guidelines, Hospital Survey, Waste management in Hospital.

Introduction: The human ear is an important organ that serves as a sensory input for sound and balance. Ear morphology can vary greatly between individuals and can be influenced by various factors such as age, sex, genetics, and environmental factors. This study aimed to investigate ear dimensions and anthropometry of a sample of Indian college students. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 Indian college students were included in this cross-sectional study. Ear measurements including total ear height (TEH), ear width (EW), lobule height (LH), and lobule width (LW) were obtained using digital calipers. Lobule index (LI) and ear index (EI) were calculated using the following formula: LI = LH/TEH x 100 and EI = EW/TEH x 100. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests. Results: The mean values for TEH, EW, LH, and LW increased with increasing age for both the right and left ears. Male participants had significantly greater TEH and EW compared to females for both the right and left ears. There were significant differences in lobule height (right ear) and lobule index (right and left ear) between males and females, with males having slightly larger measurements than females. Conclusion: Our study provides valuable information on ear dimensions and anthropometry in a sample of Indian college students. The findings of our study are consistent with previous studies conducted worldwide, as well as in India. Our study highlights the importance of considering gender and age when investigating ear dimensions and anthropometry.   Keywords: Ear dimensions, Anthropometry, Indian, College students.