Sep62017

Denied a C-section, woman jumps to her death

East Asia

A pregnant woman’s relatives and a hospital in Yulin, Shaanxi province, are blaming each other for rejecting the woman’s request to have a C-section, which allegedly led to her jumping to her death from the fifth floor of the hospital.

The 26-year-old woman, Ma Rongrong, who was a week away from delivery, was admitted to the First Hospital of Yulin on Wednesday to give birth, the hospital said in a statement dated on Sunday.

Medical checks showed the baby’s head was bigger than normal, suggesting higher risks during natural birth, the statement said.

Ma’s doctor advised her and her family to give Ma a C-section, but her family refused and signed a document at the hospital confirming that Ma would deliver naturally, the statement said.

She was transferred to the delivery room on Thursday morning but later left the room several times because of pain. She asked her husband to allow a C-section. Her doctor and nurses also advised her husband to allow the surgery, but all requests were rejected, the statement said.

Ma became emotional and lost control due to pain, and jumped out of the building later that day and died, the statement said.

Yan Zhuangzhuang, Ma’s husband, said in a statement that she left the delivery room at about 6 pm on Thursday, adding that his wife had asked to have a C-section and that he had agreed immediately.

The husband’s statement said the doctor checked Ma’s condition and said she was going to give birth soon and did not need a C-section.

After more than an hour a nurse came out of the delivery room and told him Ma had disappeared. He later saw Ma’s body being lifted from the ground and put onto a stretcher, the statement said.

According to Huashang Daily, Ma fell from the fifth floor of an inpatient building at about 8 pm on Thursday and died after rescue efforts failed. The police ruled out foul play.

Neither Yan nor the hospital answered phone calls from China Daily on Tuesday.

Under a regulation released by the State Council, China’s Cabinet, medical institutions must get consent from patients and a signature from a family member before performing surgery, but doctors can make decisions without consent in emergencies.

Gong Xiaoming, a gynecologist at Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, said pregnant women should have the right to decide whether to have a natural birth or C-section.

“In reality, in many cases in China the decision to have a C-section is made by the patients’ family members and the doctors,” he said.

Sep62017

Remarks at the Medicines Australia PharmAus17 Innovative Medicines Showcase

Australia

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you very much Wes.

You’re right; we’ve all got a passionate interest in health. So many of my parliamentary colleagues are here tonight. The Honourable Greg Hunt, Minister for Health, Bill Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition and it’s good to also be joined by Milton Catelin, the Chief Executive of Medicines Australia. And of course, so many members of the industry.

It is a real pleasure to be here to thank the industry that contributes so much to the health and wealth of our nation.

Australian medical research and development is the envy of the world. As the displays tonight show, our pharmaceutical sector is a big part of the reason why.

Vaccines and drugs produced by Medicines Australia members save so many Australian lives each year. And they change the lives for the better of countless more.

But it’s the stories behind the statistics that really demonstrate how access to a vaccine or newly listed medication can change lives.

On Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day last year, I told the House the story of a woman named Karyn, from Yass—not far from here.

Karyn is a single parent, with three children, including a daughter with an intellectual disability. In 2010, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and by 2012, the cancer had spread.

Back then, medicines used to treat HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer—Perjeta and Kadcyla —cost patients more than $82,000 a year.

But the Federal Government has since then listed both of those drugs on the PBS, meaning Karyn, and many others like her, have a much better quality of life, they can get on with their careers, get back to being with their families, and being mothers, daughters, carers and friends.

No one can describe it better than Karyn herself, who said: “To say that Kadcyla turned my life around is a major understatement. For the first time in years, I was well enough to do more. I was able to catch up on my daughter’s medical stuff that I’d struggled to be on top of. I could actually go out with the family and have some quality of life again. The fact that it is available to me, just an average mum, wanting to hang in there for her kids, is truly a complete blessing.”

This kind of blessing would not have happened without the industry’s commitment to excellence, to saving lives.

It is also the result of all of us working together.

The Strategic Agreement we signed with Medicines Australia this year is one of many new health agreements we entered into at the Budget.

I know that your sector has been seeking policy certainty and pricing stability for a long time.

Our new Agreement delivers both and it strikes the right balance for consumers and for patients too.

The savings it generates are being reinvested in the system, with new and amended listings to the PBS to improve access to medicines for the people who need them most.

A great example of that is Entresto, now available for a fraction of the cost for patients with chronic heart failure.

For the more than 60,000 Australians who would have paid around $2,000 a year for these medicines, today, the concession price is just $6.30.

In May I met a patient who explained how this drug had changed his life – with his heart failing and breathless, he struggled to walk even short distances. But now he can walk from the city to the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the mighty Swans, a distance of several kilometres, as you know. And I hope he makes the journey this weekend to see the Swans beat the Bombers.

That really is life changing medicine.

Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is one of the foundations of our universal health care system.

But as we all know, it takes at least a decade and an average of $2.5 billion to bring a new medicine from its conception in a laboratory to treatment for a patient.

It is often said that the second pill might cost 10c, but the first pill costs $1 billion.

A successful listing on the PBS is the final step in a long process of research and development, and my Government is working hard to make Australia a great place to invest in for your industry.

So it was encouraging to hear AstraZeneca announce recently that it will spend $100 million to expand its manufacturing plant in Sydney, to help meet rising demands for asthma medicine, particularly in China.

We want to see more of this type of confidence in Australian skills and in Australian innovation.

A big part of that is maintaining an intellectual property system that supports R&D, and shaping the R&D tax settings required to maintain a competitive commercial environment.

Australian researchers are among the best in the world – we are naturally innovative and ingenious, but we have not done well at commercialising our research.

Our National Innovation and Science Agenda has singled out the medicines sector as a key area for growth, and, as part of our Biomedical Translation Fund, $500 million of new capital is being funnelled into the commercialisation of Australian-born innovation.

We are investing more than $65 million from the first round of disbursements from the Medical Research Future Fund to support more research, deliver new medical breakthroughs and enhance patient care.

This includes $33 million for clinical trials that will build on Australia’s world-class research strengths, ensuring we remain a preferred destination for research.

Pharmaceuticals make up Australia’s largest manufacturing export, to the tune of almost $4 billion a year.

Add to that investments of more than $1 billion a year in Australian R&D, running hundreds of clinical trials, and the fact that your member companies support 15,000 Australian jobs—indirectly, of course many thousands more.

Tonight is a celebration of this enormous contribution that you’re making.

And it is a celebration of the fact that your investments, your commitment, and your collaborative spirit deliver something that will always remain priceless: and that’s hope.

Thank you very much. Have a great evening.

[ENDS]

Sep62017

Doorstop — Great Hall, Canberra

Australia

JOURNALIST:

[Inaudible]

PRIME MINISTER:

I spoke to him earlier today and I’ve spoken to him several times about this matter. He says AGL wants to get out of coal, but he has said that he is prepared to sell to a responsible party and that’s what we’re talking about.

I’m not interested particularly in who owns Liddell and it is only an option –

JOURNALIST:

Would you own Liddell?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well I think it’s better that the private sector owns generators like that but I want to say that the vitally important thing for me is to ensure that Australians have affordable and reliable energy, electricity in this case. Now Liddell going out in 2022 will leave, as AEMO has identified, a very big hole. About a gigawatt, about a thousand megawatts. So there are obviously other options but one option clearly, that I responsibly as Prime Minister have to explore, is keeping Liddell going. Those discussions have begun with the current owner of Liddell, AGL. What I’ve said to you is precisely what I’ve discussed with Andy Vesey and he’s said that he is prepared, he would be prepared to discuss selling to a responsible party who would be able to keep the power station going for a period. I’ve suggested at least five years because we need to make sure that we maintain affordable and reliable electricity. That’s my commitment. That’s the obligation I owe to all Australians.

Mr Vesey has obligations to his shareholders, my commitment is to all Australians – families, businesses big and small – to deliver affordable and reliable electricity.

Thank you very much.

[ENDS]

Sep52017

DPRK’s nuclear risk ‘most dangerous crisis we face today,’ warns UN chief Guterres

United Nations

5 September 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today &#8220unequivocally&#8221 condemned the latest nuclear and missile tests by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), denouncing them as &#8220profoundly destabilizing for regional and international security.&#8221

&#8220Yet again, the DPRK has broken the global norm against nuclear test explosions,&#8221 Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters today at UN Headquarters in New York.

&#8220Yet again, the country has defied the Security Council and the international community.

“Yet again, the DPRK has needlessly and recklessly put millions of people at risk &#8211 including its own citizens already suffering drought, hunger and serious violations of their human rights,&#8221 he added.

Mr. Guterres reiterated his call on DPRK authorities to comply fully with its international obligations, including Security Council Resolution 2371, which was adopted last month.

He welcomed yesterday’s meeting of the Security Council,&#8221 saying: &#8220The unity of the Council is crucial in addressing this crisis. That unity also creates an opportunity to engage diplomatically to decrease tensions, increase confidence and prevent any escalation &#8211 all aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.&#8221

The Secretary-General stressed dialogue and communication as necessary to avoid miscalculation or misunderstanding.

&#8220Confrontational rhetoric may lead to unintended consequences,&#8221 he elaborated. &#8220The solution must be political. The potential consequences of military action are too horrific.&#8221

&#8220As Secretary-General, I am ready to support any efforts towards a peaceful solution of this alarming situation, and as I said, to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,&#8221 underscored Mr. Guterres.

In response to a journalist who asked which of the global challenges he thought would be most focussed upon at the forthcoming General Assembly’s High-Level Week, Mr. Guterres answered &#8220The most dangerous crisis we face today, [is] the crisis related to the nuclear risk in relation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.&#8221

The ‘gathering force’ of climate change

Turning to another topic of vital importance, Mr. Guterres said the world continues to witness climate change gather force., and he expressed solidarity with all those suffering the devastating impacts of the unprecedented events seen in recent weeks &#8211from Texas to Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sierra Leone.

&#8220The United Nations stands ready to support relief efforts in any way possible,&#8221 he said, noting that the number of natural disasters has nearly quadrupled since 1970, with the US, followed by China and India experiencing the most since 1995.

Last year alone, 24.2 million people were displaced by sudden-onset disasters &#8211 three times as many as by conflict and violence. Even before the current floods, preliminary reports for this year show that there have been 2,087 deaths from natural disasters.

It is true that scientists caution us about linking any single weather event with climate change.

But they are equally clear that such extreme weather is precisely what their models predict will be the new normal of a warming world.

&#8220With science forecasting a dramatic rise in both the frequency and severity of disasters, it is time to get serious about keeping ambition high on climate action &#8211 and on building resilience and reducing disaster risk,&#8221 he said.

Grievances of Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine have ‘festered far too long’

Also today, the Secretary-General called for the Muslims of Rakhine state to be given either nationality or legal status, and voiced concern about violence that has since late August forced nearly 125,000 people to flee and risk destabilizing the region.

&#8220I have condemned the recent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. But now we are receiving constant reports of violence by Myanmar’s security forces, including indiscriminate attacks,&#8221 he told journalists, expressing concern about the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in Rakhine. &#8220This will only further increase radicalization.&#8221

Mr. Guterres said that he has officially written to the Security Council to express his concern and to propose various steps to end the violence, adding that the grievances of Rohingya &#8211 the Muslims in the Rakhine state &#8211 &#8220have festered for far too long and are becoming an undeniable factor in regional destabilization.&#8221

Mr. Guterres called on the international community to prevent further escalation and to seek a holistic solution, and urged the authorities in Myanmar to provide security and aid to those in need and safe access to life-saving aid.

Sep52017

In Ethiopia, UN agency chiefs say more investment is needed to bolster drought-prone areas

United Nations

5 September 2017 – More investment is needed in long-term projects to protect people in developing countries from droughts, the heads of the United Nations food agencies today said after a visit to Ethiopia where 9.5 million people are hungry.

The death of many livestock in Ethiopia, as well as in Somalia where 3.3 million people are in need of food after three years with too little rain, has caused a breakdown in pastoral livelihoods, contributing to soaring hunger levels and alarming increases in malnutrition rates, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

&#8220A drought does not need to become an emergency,&#8221 said Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), traveling as part of a four-day visit that also included FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

&#8220We know what works,&#8221 added Mr. Houngbo, pointing to irrigation systems, rural financial institutions and other long-term development projects. &#8220This is what we need to build on.&#8221

During the four-day visit, the three senior UN officials toured the Tigray region, where agency heads saw irrigation schemes, fruit nurseries and health centres. According to a press release, these measures are boosting productivity, increasing incomes and improving nutrition so that rural people can better withstand external shocks like droughts.

&#8220We have seen clearly here that working together the three UN food agencies can achieve much more than alone,&#8221 said Mr. Beasley.

The three agency heads met with high-level officials in Ethiopia and Somalia to discuss aid efforts, as well as with local residents.

&#8220This drought has been going on for a long time and we have lost much of our livestock,&#8221 Hajiji Abdi, a community elder told them. &#8220If we didn’t get food assistance, we would be in big trouble &#8211 but this is still not enough to feed us all.&#8221