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.

According to a latest BBC report, GPs think that many people in England are being over diagnosed with mental health problems. Being stressed does not mean an illness. As per the commonly held view by family doctors, the society tends to over medicalize normal life stresses. However, the doctors are also concerned about the difficulty for the patients who actually have a mental health condition.

Earlier this week, the Health Secretary launched an independent review to understand why more people in England are seeking mental health, ADHD and autism services, and to identify where support is currently falling short.

BBC News sent a questionnaire to more than 5,000 GPs in England to understand their experiences supporting patients with mental health concerns. The 752 responses that came back show just how complicated and emotionally heavy this workload has become for many family doctors.

Of those who took part, 442 GPs said they believed over-diagnosis was a problem. Most felt mental health issues were being slightly over-diagnosed rather than significantly. At the same time, 81 GPs felt the opposite and said under-diagnosis was still a real concern.

Concerns about Limited Support

Over-diagnosis was far from the only issue. Many GPs told us they were deeply worried about the lack of meaningful support available for patients who come to them in distress. The questionnaire included both multiple-choice questions and an open invitation to leave anonymous comments, which many used to explain their frustrations.

One of the most common sentiments was summed up by a GP who said, “Life being stressful is not an illness.” Another reflected on how much expectations have changed, noting that society seems to have forgotten that heartbreak and grief are painful but still part of normal life. Another GP argued that labels like anxiety or depression risk medicalizing everyday emotional struggles, and this could pull resources away from people facing severe and complex needs.

A small number were openly critical of certain patients, with one describing them as “dishonest and narcissistic” and taking advantage of a system that is free at the point of use.

Rising Need Across Age Groups

According to NHS England, one in five adults lives with a common mental health condition. The rate is even higher among young people, where it rises to one in four for those aged 16 to 24.

GPs who responded to the questionnaire identified young adults between 19 and 34 as the age group most in need of mental health support. Some felt young people have become less resilient since the pandemic, with a stronger focus on seeking a diagnosis instead of learning coping strategies. Others disagreed and said the real problem was that services have become increasingly hesitant to assess and diagnose people when needed.

A Growing Workload for GPs

There are nearly 40,000 fully qualified GPs in England. While the responses cannot represent every doctor across the country, they do reveal clear patterns. Almost all GPs with more than five years of experience said the amount of time they now spend on mental health has risen sharply.

They pointed to three main reasons for this increase:

• Supporting patients who are unable to access good quality mental health services elsewhere

• Helping people whose mental health is affected by practical issues like housing, employment or financial pressure

• Seeing patients who believe they have a mental health condition when they may be dealing with normal life challenges

Earlier this year, the Health Secretary said mental health conditions were being over-diagnosed and too many people were being written off. He has since acknowledged that his comments were divisive and did not reflect the full complexity of the situation.

Demand That Services Cannot Meet

It is estimated that 2.5 million people in England have ADHD, including many without a formal diagnosis. Some NHS ADHD services have already stopped accepting new patients because they cannot cope with the demand. Many individuals have told the BBC just how difficult it has become to find proper assessment and care.

Overall, most GPs agreed that the system is not keeping up. Of the 752 respondents, 508 said there was rarely or never enough good quality mental health support for adults in their area. An even larger number, 640, said they were worried about getting young patients the help they need.

One GP called the state of mental health support “a national tragedy”. Another described the situation for children starkly: “A child literally needs to be holding a knife to be taken seriously and the second that knife is put down, services disengage.”

The Pressure to Prescribe

GPs were also asked whether they prescribe medication because they worry patients will not get other types of support, like talking therapies, quickly enough. The most common answer was yes, and that they do this routinely. One GP admitted they often reach for antidepressants even though they know it may only offer short-term relief and does little to prevent future episodes.

Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said family doctors face a difficult balance. Patients increasingly expect a diagnosis, yet not every emotional difficulty meets the criteria for one. She added that society needs to be careful not to medicalize the full range of normal feelings but also must avoid dismissing genuine concerns.

Fraser Olender, known from Below Deck, recently shared that he was hospitalized with a lung injury and a heart attack linked to vaping. The 33-year-old posted photos from his hospital bed and explained that the episode began with sudden chest pain and trouble breathing. He later learned that he had developed EVALI, or E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury, along with a coronary artery vasospasm that reduced blood flow to his heart. His experience has renewed questions about the real risks of vaping, especially for young adults who may assume it is a safer option.

Deck’s Fraser Olender Says Vaping Triggered His Heart Attack

Olender described being rushed to the hospital after severe chest discomfort and breathlessness. Over the next week, doctors ran tests and confirmed that he had EVALI, a condition first identified in 2019. It can include several serious complications, such as bronchiolitis obliterans and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Many patients require intensive care.

During his evaluation, doctors also found that his arteries had tightened suddenly, cutting off oxygen to part of his heart. This led to an ST-elevation myocardial infarction, a type of heart attack usually caused by a blocked artery. In his case, there was no blockage. The spasm alone was enough to trigger the event.

What Is Coronary Artery Vasospasm?

A coronary artery vasospasm occurs when the vessels supplying blood to the heart contract sharply. Reduced blood flow deprives the heart muscle of oxygen. When this lasts long enough, it can cause injury similar to a traditional heart attack. Vaping can contribute to these spasms by irritating blood vessels, upsetting the balance of oxygen in the lungs, and releasing chemicals that cause inflammation.

Cardiologists note that nicotine and other compounds in vape aerosols can cause the blood vessels to narrow, raise heart rate, and place stress on the heart even in otherwise healthy adults.

Why Doctors Warn About EVALI

EVALI has been linked to a wide range of vaping products. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, gastrointestinal upset, and fatigue. The condition inflames the lungs and interferes with oxygen exchange, which increases pressure on the heart. For some people, the damage appears suddenly, even after periods of regular use without symptoms.

Olender’s Recovery and Warning to Others

Olender wrote that the pain during the episode was intense and unrelenting. Multiple rounds of morphine offered little relief. He said the incident convinced him to quit vaping immediately.

He urged others to stop as well, calling the habit a needless risk. He added that soon after quitting, he noticed improvements in his skin and overall energy, something he had not expected.

Vaping is often marketed as a cleaner alternative to smoking, yet its long-term effects on the lungs and heart remain uncertain. Olender’s story highlights the need for awareness. Sudden heart complications, vessel spasms, and lung injury can occur in people with no prior health issues. Doctors continue to study the chemicals released in aerosols and how they affect blood vessels, lung tissue, and the cardiovascular system.

Hep B Vaccine: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel voted Friday to change the recommendation for when children should get their first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Instead of a first dose within 24 hours of birth — as the CDC has advised for more than 30 years, which is the panel voted to recommend delaying it until a child is 2 months old for children born to mothers who test negative for the virus.

The advisory committee has now endorsed a plan that allows families of infants born to hepatitis B negative mothers to decide, with their doctor, when the birth dose should be given. The vote was 8 to 2 in favour of shifting to case-by-case discussions rather than a universal early dose.

Hep B Vaccine: CDC Panel Recommends Delaying Birth Dose Of Hepatitis B Vaccine

A number of medical bodies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, opposed the proposal. They cautioned that delaying this first shot exposes infants to unnecessary danger and pointed to extensive evidence confirming the vaccine’s long record of safety and effectiveness.

The vote came during the second day of the committee’s December session, after confusion on Thursday forced the group to postpone making a decision.

All members of the panel were appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The meeting opened with the reading of the draft language, followed by extended debate among committee members and invited specialists. Restef Levi, a panel member with a mathematics background and no clinical training, spoke forcefully against the long-standing policy and made incorrect claims about how the vaccine had been evaluated.

Senior paediatric experts, including Dr Cody Meissner, a former member of both the FDA vaccines panel and ACIP, and committee member Dr Joseph Hibbeln, continued to raise objections throughout the discussion. Hibbeln pointed out that this was the fourth iteration of the wording presented to them in a span of roughly four days and said that no solid scientific evidence had been offered to justify changing the recommendation. Meissner argued that the current guidance already permits parental choice and said revising the language would do more harm than good.

Hep B Vaccine: What Is It About?

Hepatitis B is an incurable viral infection that can lead to chronic liver disease, cancer and early death. The United States has recommended the newborn hepatitis B dose since 1991. Since then, infections in infants and children have dropped by 99 per cent.

ACIP’s recommendations now move to the CDC director for a final decision. States ultimately determine their own vaccination rules, though most follow federal guidance. Insurance coverage may also shift if the recommendation changes, because private insurers rely heavily on ACIP decisions to determine what must be covered.

The newborn dose has become a focal point for vaccine critics, including Kennedy, who wrongly suggested earlier this year that the shot might be linked to autism. Studies have repeatedly shown the birth dose is safe. Research has found no higher risk of infant death, fever, sepsis, multiple sclerosis or autoimmune conditions. Severe adverse reactions remain rare, and there is no evidence that delaying the dose offers any safety advantage.

Hepatitis B: A Contentious 2-day Meeting

Following Friday’s vote, the committee was scheduled to move on to childhood vaccine schedules and vaccine ingredients. No additional votes were on the agenda.

The meeting opened Thursday morning, with the hepatitis B vote originally planned for that afternoon. Members reviewed data on acute and chronic hepatitis B rates, transmission patterns and vaccine safety.

Meissner criticised several of the presentations, including one that suggested limited safety information for the newborn dose.

Dr Jason Goldman, who represents the American College of Physicians on the committee, called the session “completely inappropriate” and said the group was wasting public resources by failing to hold a rigorous scientific debate. He also reminded the panel that the newborn dose has never been compulsory and that parents already make decisions in consultation with their child’s doctor.

The vote was postponed after members said they had been shown multiple shifting versions of the voting questions and could not see the final text due to a technical glitch. Without printed copies available, some members said they were unclear on how many questions they were expected to vote on. Hibbeln remarked that the committee was being asked to consider “a moving target.”

Similar disorder occurred at ACIP’s September meeting, when members appeared confused about what they were voting on. They initially rejected funding for a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine for toddlers, then reversed themselves minutes later, and then changed direction again the following day.

Hep B Vaccine: Why Are Newborns Vaccinated For Hepatitis B?

Infants who contract hepatitis B at birth or during their first year face a ninety per cent likelihood of developing chronic infection, which can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. About a quarter of those who develop long-term infection die early from related complications.

Because the virus spreads through blood and body fluids and can survive on surfaces, many schools and childcare centres require children to be vaccinated.

The American Academy of Pediatrics stresses the importance of administering the birth dose as early as possible. Dr Sean O’Leary, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases and an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told CBS News before the meeting that the vaccine has one of the strongest safety records in paediatrics. He said it remains one of the most dependable tools for preventing severe liver disease and cancer in adulthood.