The Union Health Ministry implemented a ban on 156 "irrational" FDC medicines, effective immediately. These medicines, including widely used antibiotics, painkillers, and multivitamins, were commonly used to treat fever, cough, and infections. The ban was imposed due to the associated health risks and lack of therapeutic justification for the ingredients in these FDCs.

What are FDC medicines?

FDCs or fixed-dosed combinations, also known as "cocktail drugs," are medications that combine multiple drugs in a single pill. They are designed to treat multiple symptoms or conditions simultaneously. While they offer convenience, they can pose significant risks. These risks include the possibility of overdose, adverse interactions between the drugs, and the development of antibiotic resistance. Additionally, many FDC medicines lack sufficient scientific evidence to support their safety and efficacy.

Expert opinions on FDC medicines

Experts have raised concerns about the use of FDC medicines. They believe that many of these combinations lack sufficient scientific evidence to support their safety and effectiveness. Additionally, the combination of multiple drugs in a single pill can increase the risk of adverse side effects and interactions with other medications.

Experts have also found that FDC medicines may not be as effective as individual drugs in treating certain conditions. It is important to note that safer and more effective alternatives are available for most of the medical conditions that FDC medicines were used to treat. One particular concern is the inclusion of antibiotics in some FDCs. Overuse of antibiotics can contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance, a major public health threat.

The risks of FDC medicines

The use of FDC medicines can lead to adverse effects, including serious ones. Additionally, safer alternatives, tested in clinical trials, are available to treat the same medical conditions. Experts recommend prescribing drugs individually based on a patient's clinical symptoms rather than combining them in FDCs.

The ban on irrational FDC medicines by the Union Health Ministry can be seen as a positive step towards promoting rational drug use and protecting public health. The goal is to eliminate unnecessary and potentially harmful drug combinations. This is a step forward in reducing the risks associated with medication and ensure safer and more effective treatment options for patients.

As the true number of COVID-19 cases and deaths is believed to be higher than reported, a new study suggests that the actual toll of long COVID may also double than the current estimates.

The research, led by Mass General Brigham, found that many long COVID cases remain hidden because current surveillance systems rely heavily on diagnostic codes that fail to capture a large number of patients.

Using a novel AI algorithm, researchers analyzed medical records of nearly 460,000 COVID-19 patients across 58 hospitals in the United States. The findings showed that approximately one in six people — around 16 per cent — developed long COVID, translating to more than 18 million Americans.

The figures are nearly double current estimates and highlight the growing burden of chronic health conditions following COVID-19 infection. The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

“Over 10 million people with long COVID would go entirely undetected by the diagnostic code that health systems and policymakers rely on to track the disease burden,” said corresponding author Hossein Estiri, a faculty member in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine.

“The figures we uncovered are almost certainly an undercount,” he added.

Researchers noted that current diagnostic coding systems, including the ICD code U09.9 for post-COVID conditions, identify fewer than 7 per cent of long COVID patients.

What Did The Study Find?

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The study analyzed electronic health records from 457,950 patients who had previously tested positive for COVID-19 across four US regions — New England, Southeast Texas, Southern California and Western Pennsylvania.

Overall, 16.3 per cent of patients were identified with long COVID, with regional rates ranging from 13.6 per cent to 22.7 per cent.

The researchers also found significant regional differences in long COVID symptoms and related conditions, including varying rates of prediabetes, which is emerging as a possible long-term effect of COVID-19.

The study authors noted that undocumented infections — which became more common after widespread testing declined — were not included in the analysis. Patients without long-term medical records were also excluded, suggesting the actual burden of long COVID could be even higher.

“These patients are not absent from clinical care; they are absent from the diagnostic code that would identify them as long COVID patients,” said lead author Jiazi Tian, a data scientist in the Clinical Augmented Intelligence Group at Mass General Brigham.

“The cardiologist seeing new dysautonomia, the endocrinologist seeing new metabolic disease, the neurologist seeing unexplained cognitive complaints — some of these presentations are long COVID arriving without the label that would connect them to a COVID-19 infection,” Tian added.

What Is Long COVID?

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Long COVID refers to symptoms that continue for three months or longer after the initial COVID-19 infection.

Common symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Brain fog
• Headaches
• Breathlessness
• Altered sense of smell or taste

Researchers say many long COVID conditions are still being studied, and some people may experience multiple symptoms at the same time.

US President Donald Trump this week underwent his third annual medical check-up during his second term and declared that it went “perfectly well”.

Trump, who turns 80 next month, visited the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a routine health examination on May 26. The medical check-up, conducted after about 13 months, reportedly lasted around 3.5 hours.

“Everything checked out PERFECTLY,” Trump wrote on social media.

However, neither Trump nor the White House has disclosed detailed medical findings, leading to renewed speculation about the health of the oldest American President.

The concerns come amid visible signs of deterioration observed during several public appearances. These include persistent bruising on his hands, micro naps during public meetings, slurred speech, and frequent factual mix-ups — all of which have raised questions about whether information regarding his health is being withheld.

The White House had earlier explained that the bruises on Trump’s hands were caused by “frequent handshaking” combined with aspirin use.

Trump Link His Conditions To Stroke

Doctors have also speculated that his slurred speech may indicate signs of a recent stroke.

Dr. Bruce Davidson, a professor at Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, discussed the issue during an appearance on The Daily Beast podcast. He said his interpretation was based on observing Trump’s physical behavior and speech patterns over time.

“Earlier in the year, there was video of him shuffling, and I thought that was weird,” he said on the podcast.

He suggested that such movement patterns can sometimes be seen in patients recovering from strokes.

Despite the speculation, Trump has continued to defend his mental sharpness and cognitive abilities.

“So I’ve taken (a cognitive test), and I’ve aced it all three times, I’ll tell you, because it is a positive thing,” Trump said. “It starts off with an easy question. And by the time you get to the middle, it gets tougher.”

Previous Medical Reports Declared Him Healthy

According to a White House summary of Trump’s previous annual medical examination in April last year, he was found to be in “excellent cognitive and physical health”.

“A comprehensive neurological examination revealed no abnormalities in his mental status, cranial nerves, motor and sensory functions, reflexes, gait, and balance. Cognitive function, assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), was normal with a score of 30 out of 30,” White House physician Captain Sean Barbabella wrote.

There were also tests for depression and anxiety, and Trump recorded scores “within the normal range for both,” although exact numbers were not disclosed.

Scans conducted in October also reportedly showed that Trump was in “excellent overall health”.

In a landmark order, the Supreme Court of India has recognized the Right to Trauma Care as an integral part of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The court issued comprehensive, time-bound directions covering the entire trauma chain of survival — comprising the inter-linked and coordinated chain of survival from the site of injury to definitive hospital care — aiming to strengthen emergency medical response and ensure timely access to trauma care across the country.

The directions, issued in SaveLIFE Foundation & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors., are binding on all 36 States and Union Territories. They cover the full spectrum of traumatic injuries, including:

• Road crashes

• Falls

• Burns

• Drowning

• Industrial accidents

• Fires

• Explosions

• Disaster-related trauma

In its the apex Court stated that “a uniform framework for trauma care, building public awareness, standardization of first aid skills, and proper Good Samaritan laws is required, since the right to trauma care of citizens is an integral part of the right to life enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”

Why Is The Order Significant?

India records approximately 4.67 lakh accidental deaths every year from road crashes, falls, burns, drowning, industrial injuries, violence, and disasters.

Of these, road crashes alone account for approximately 1.77 lakh deaths annually. As per the 201st Report of the Law Commission of India, 50 per cent of those killed in road crashes could have been saved had they received timely emergency medical care.

The NITI Aayog-AIIMS Emergency and Injury Care Report (2021) found that at least 30% of all trauma-related deaths in India are attributable to delays in emergency care.

Despite the scale of preventable loss of life, India had no unified, enforceable national trauma care framework. Responses compiled from 34 States and Union Territories and placed before the Court revealed a deeply fragmented system, including inconsistent ambulance standards, unintegrated emergency helplines, absent trauma registries, ungraded hospital facilities, and patchy implementation of centrally mandated schemes.

The petition was filed by SaveLIFE Foundation in October 2024.

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What Has The Supreme Court Ordered?

The Supreme Court’s directions cover nine domains of the trauma chain of survival. All States and Union Territories are bound by these directions, with compliance to be reported before the Court-appointed monitoring authority.

1. Integration of a single national emergency number — 112 — within three months.
2. Establishment of grievance redressal systems to protect Good Samaritans who provide emergency assistance to trauma victims.
3. Establishment of a National Medical Rescue Protocol for trauma cases.
4. Addition of all registered ambulances — public and private — under the National Ambulance Code (AIS-125, December 2014). The Court also mandated GPS or Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD) fitment and real-time integration with helpline 112, along with periodic audits covering response times, quality of care, equipment, and outcomes.
5. All States and Union Territories have been directed to adopt and implement the standardized Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) curriculum notified by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) within three months.
6. States and Union Territories must establish State Trauma Registries linked to a Coordinated Trauma Registry within four months of the issuance of these guidelines.
7. All States and Union Territories have been directed to grade and designate all public and private medical facilities according to trauma care capacity within three months.
8. Cashless treatment for trauma victims under the PM RAHAT scheme.
9. All States and Union Territories have been directed to undertake sustained, multilingual, district-level awareness campaigns covering all the above within one month.

Compliance Mechanism

The Court has also directed that copies of its order be sent to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, who are required to submit Action Taken Reports to the Registry of the Supreme Court within the timelines prescribed for each direction.

The matter is expected to be listed after four months for issuance of further directions based on the compliance reports received.