#Cherylann Mollan

[indizombie]

According to IQAir, a Swiss-based Air Quality Index (AQI) monitoring group, pollution levels in several parts of Delhi touched the 500 mark. AQI measures the levels of particulate matter, also called PM 2.5, in the air. These tiny particles can enter the lungs and cause a host of diseases. According to WHO guidelines, air with AQI values at or below 100 is considered to be satisfactory for breathing, while readings in the 400-500 range denote that pollution levels are "severe" in an area. Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023, according to IQAir. India was also ranked as the world's third-most polluted country after neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan, IQAir said.

Cherylann Mollan, ‘Delhi chokes as air pollution turns 'severe'’, BBC

[newsclickofficial]

Cherylann MollanBBC News, MumbaiGetty ImagesHealth activists are helping champion the idea of living wills in IndiaIn 2010, IP Yadev, a surgeon from the southern Indian state of Kerala, was confronted with one of the hardest decisions of his life.He had to decide between keeping his father - a terminal cancer patient - alive, and honouring his wish, expressed verbally, to stop all treatments and put an end to his suffering.Warning: This article contains some distressing details"As a son, I felt it was my duty to do whatever I could to prolong my father's life. This made him unhappy and he ended up dying alone in an intensive-care unit. The doctor's last efforts to revive him using CPR crushed his ribs. It was a horrible death," Dr Yadev says.The experience, he says, deeply impacted him and helped him realise the importance of advance medical directives (AMDs), also known as living wills.A living will is a legal document that allows a person over 18 years to choose the medical care they would want to receive if they develop a terminal illness or condition with no hope of recovery and are unable to make decisions by themselves.For example, they could specify that they don't want to be put on life-support machines or insist that they want to be given adequate pain-relieving medication.In 2018, India's Supreme Court allowed people to draw up living wills and thereby choose passive euthanasia, where medical treatment can be withdrawn under strict guidelines to hasten a person's death. Active euthanasia - any act that intentionally helps a person kill themselves - is illegal in the country.But despite the legal go-ahead, the concept of living wills hasn't really taken off in India. Experts say that this has much to do with the way Indians talk, or rather, don't talk about death. Death is often considered to be a taboo subject and any mention of it is thought to bring bad luck.But there are now efforts underway to change this.In November, Dr Yadev and his team launched India's first programme - at the Government Medical College in Kerala's Kollam district - to educate people about living wills, offering information in person and over the phone. Volunteers also conduct awareness campaigns and distribute will templates.IP YadevVolunteers at the information counter on living wills in the government-run hospital at Kollam, KeralaCreating a living will requires family members to have open and honest conversations about death. Despite some resistance, activists and institutions are taking steps to raise awareness, and there's a growing, though cautious, interest.Kerala leads the way in these conversations. Currently, it has the country's best palliative care network, and organisations that offer end-of-life care have also started awareness campaigns around living wills.In March, around 30 people from the Pain and Palliative Care society in Thrissur city signed living wills. Dr E Divakaran, founder of the society, says that the gesture is aimed at make the idea more popular among people."Most people have never heard of the term so they have many questions, like whether such a directive can be misused or if they can make changes to their wills later on," Mr Yadev says, adding that most inquiries have come from people in their 50s and 60s."Right now, it's the educated, upper-middle class that's making use of the facility. But with grassroot awareness campaigns, we're expecting the demographic to widen," he says.According to the Supreme Court order, a person must draft the will, sign it in the presence of two witnesses, and have it attested by a notary or gazetted officer. A copy of the will must then be submitted to a state government-appointed custodian.While the guidelines exist on paper, many state governments are yet to set up mechanisms to implement them. This is what Dr Nikhil Datar, a gynaecologist from Mumbai city, realised when he made his living will two years ago as there was no custodian to whom he could submit it.Nikhil DatarDr Nikhil Datar (right) handing over his living will to the custodianSo he went to court and it resulted in the Maharashtra government appointing about 400 officials across local bodies in the state to serve as custodians of living wills. In June, Goa state implemented the Supreme Court's orders around living wills and a high court judge became the first person in the state to register one. On Saturday, Karnataka state ordered district health officers to nominate people to serve on a key medical board required to certify living wills. [Two medical boards have to certify that a patient meets necessary criteria for the implementation of a living will before medical practitioners can act on it.]Mr Datar is also advocating for a centralised digital repository for living wills, accessible nationwide. He has also made his own will available for free on his website as a template. He believes a will helps prevent problems for both families and doctors when a patient is in a vegetative state and beyond recovery."Very often, family members don't want the person to endure more treatment but because they can't care for the patient at home, they keep them in the hospital. Doctors, bound by medical ethics, can't withhold treatment, so the patient ends up suffering with no way to express their wishes," Mr Datar says.Living wills aren't just about choosing passive euthanasia. Dr Yadev recalls a case where a person wanted his will to specify that he should be placed on life support if his condition ever required it."He explained that his only child was living abroad and that he didn't want to die until his son got to meet him," Mr Yadev says. "You have the freedom to choose how you want to die. It is one of the greatest rights available to us, so why not exercise it?" he says.Healthcare advocates say that conversations around palliative care are slowly growing in the country, giving an impetus to living wills. Dr Sushma Bhatnagar of Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences says the hospital is launching a department to educate patients about living wills. "Ideally, doctors should discuss living wills with patients, but there's a communication gap," she says, adding that training doctors for these conversations can help ensure a person dies with dignity. "Throughout our lives, our choices are coloured by our loved ones' wishes or by what society thinks is right," Mr Yadev says."At least in death, let us make choices that are in our interest and fully our own."

[qubixo1]

Breaking tooboo together 'always' in India

Cherylann Mollan BBC News, Mumbai The Getty photos The health provider agrees to help the idea of ​​having toilets in India In 2010, IP YedEv, a surgeon from Southern Indian State State State State State, met one of the most difficulties of her life. They had to choose between keeping his Father – alive, and respect his wishes, well described, words, leaving his suffering and solves its…

[top4allo]

Families loved ones you are dead in India Crush

Cherylann Mollan BBC NEWS, MUMBAI Reuders Kaikeyi owed to say that he saw her husband has trammed to death The families of people who have been killed in a different religious festival in the northern India this week that stores her loss and waiting for their relatives. At least 30 people died In the crush to the Kumbh’s grip in Wednesday, that was one of the more courses of the six weeks…

[todayscroll]

Families mourn loved ones who died in India crush

Cherylann Mollan BBC News, Mumbai Reuters Kaikeyi Devi says she saw her husband get trampled to death Families of people who were killed in a crush at a major religious festival in northern India this week are grieving their loss and waiting to take bodies of their relatives back home. At least 30 people died in the crush at the Kumbh Mela on Wednesday, which was one of the holiest days of the…

[nedsecondline]

India protests intensify over doctor’s rape and murder

Cherylann Mollan, BBC News, Mumbai Protests have intensified in India after a mob vandalised a hospital where a female trainee doctor was raped and … India protests intensify over doctor’s rape and murder

[andronetalks]

Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: First video emerges of trapped Indian workers

BBC By Andrew Clarance in Delhi and Cherylann Mollan in Mumbai November 21, 2023 A camera has captured footage of the 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state for the first time in nine days. The video was filmed using an endoscopic camera that was slipped inside a new pipe drilled into the tunnel on Monday. Rescuers also used the pipe to give the workers their first hot meal…

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Cherylann MollanBBC News, MumbaiReutersKaikeyi Devi says she saw her husband get trampled to deathFamilies of people who were killed in a crush at a major religious festival in northern India this week are grieving their loss and waiting to take bodies of their relatives back home.At least 30 people died in the crush at the Kumbh Mela on Wednesday, which was one of the holiest days of the six-week long Hindu festival.The incident took place in Prayagraj city near the Sangam, an auspicious meeting point of the sacred Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers where devotees take a dip.The festival, billed as the largest gathering of humanity, attracts tens of millions of pilgrims from around the world.Warning: The story has details that some readers may find distressing The crush reportedly took place after a surge of pilgrims making their way to the Sangam trampled over devotees sleeping near the riverbank.Eyewitnesses have blamed the police and festival authorities for poor crowd-control measures and not making adequate space for pilgrims to move to their destinations.The government in Uttar Pradesh state has launched a judicial investigation into the incident.Meanwhile, the families of the victims are mourning the loss of their loved ones and some say that many of their questions remain unanswered. Others are still waiting for news of their relatives.Getty ImagesBelongings of pilgrims lay scattered on the ground at the site of the crushKaikeyi Devi, who travelled from Bihar state with her husband to attend the Kumbh Mela, says she can't shake the image of him getting trampled in front of her eyes."He was dragged in the chaos and we started crying… 'Let him free! Let him be! We are here!'...but he never came [back]," Ms Devi told Reuters news agency as she waited outside a mortuary in Prayagraj city to collect her husband's body.Taposh Roy, a resident of Assam state who lost his brother in the crush, recounts the delay in getting help from authorities."He was just lying there for a long time because there was no ambulance to take him to the hospital. We pleaded with the police saying that we would carry him ourselves but they told us to wait. When he was taken by police, we couldn't go with him," Mr Roy told the Indian Express newspaper.This was also the experience of Tarun Bose from West Bengal state who lost a female relative in the crush."The authorities failed to rescue her and the police only managed to retrieve her body after an hour and a half. There were no police officers around during the accident," he told AFP news agency.ReutersManoj Kumar Sahni says his father has been missing since the crushDeepak Hattarwat from Karnataka state is mourning the loss of his wife and daughter. He didn't travel to the festival and says that he found out about their deaths only a day later and that too from a fellow traveller in their group."We were planning her [the daughter's] wedding. What should I do and for whom should I live now?" Mr Hattarwat told the Indian Express newspaper.Meanwhile, some people say that they are still searching for their loved ones, more than 48 hours after the incident took place.Manoj Kumar Sahni from Bihar state told Reuters news agency that he has been desperately searching for his father who is missing."I have been searching for him since the last three days. I went to the hospital as well but didn't find him. We also searched at the railway station and the bus stand but did not find him," he said.Since the incident, authorities have stepped up security measures in the festival and have also banned vehicles from entering the mela grounds until 4 February. The next auspicious bathing day is on Monday, when the festival is expected to witness massive crowds.

[andronetalks]

Kuda Bux: The Indian magician who charmed the West with his 'X-ray eyes'

BBC News By Cherylann Mollan October 21, 2023 There’s nothing spectacular about a man riding a bicycle through a crowded street. But what if his eyes were covered with lumps of dough, thick swabs of cotton and several layers of gauze – and he had multiple layers of bandages wound tightly around his head in such a way that only his nostrils were left exposed? Kuda Bux, who was born in Kashmir in…

[andronetalks]

Manipur: India outrage after women paraded naked in violence-hit state

BBC News July 20, 2023 By Cherylann Mollan A video showing two women being paraded naked by a mob in the north-eastern state of Manipur, hit by violent ethnic clashes, has sparked outrage in India. The police say they have opened a case of gang rape and arrested a man, adding that others will be held soon. On Thursday, parliament’s session in Delhi was disrupted as lawmakers demanded a debate on…