The year that began with a huge breather after three years of the Covid-19 pandemic and celebrated significant strides in health also dealt with a significant conjunctivitis outbreak in the temple town of Alandi, sudden cardiac deaths, respiratory illness, and saw the removal of Sassoon General Hospital Dean in the sensational Lalit Patil case.

Now as the year draws to a close, the city yet again witnesses increased surveillance with an uptick in Covid 19 cases.

Experts have appealed not to panic as now there are tools and diagnostics for prevention and treatment. A look at the main events in the year.

Sudden cardiac arrests, respiratory illness
An increase in cases of sudden cardiac arrests either at the gyms or elsewhere without visible symptoms was a trend that persisted in the country this year.

Pune was no different as Dr Sanjay Patil, Chairman, Hospital Board of India – Indian Medical Association – Pune chapter recalls at least two instances and adds it was unfortunate as they did not have any heart disease.

“We did not see an increase in cases in sudden cardiac deaths in the relatively younger age group and there were concerns about respiratory illnesses both acute and chronic – more likely due to air pollution,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra had launched the STEMI (ST- Elevation Myocardial Infarction ), an AI-powered advanced diagnosis and care coordination project.

So far a total of 1,04,453 ECGs have been recorded since the start of the programme, from February 2021 till October 2023, in Pune district and another 50,000 in Solapur district.

A total of 2,453 critical cases were identified in Pune district while another 1125 in Solapur and intervention was provided.

“The aim is to detect disease early on and provide timely treatment,” says Dr Radhakrishna Pawar, Deputy Director (health), Pune circle.

CAR-T cell therapy
“Traditional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy have been the mainstays, but the emergence of cell therapy has revolutionized the landscape of cancer treatment,” says Dr Ramanan who said this therapy has had success in treatment of various forms of lymphoma.

“Here a patient’s T cells are extracted, sent to a specialized lab and genetically modified to express chimeric antigen receptors on their surface. These are then designed to target specific antigens found on the surface of cancer cells. These modifed T Cells are allowed to multiply and the patient then receives an infusion of the CAR-T cells which are equipped to seek out and destroy cancer cells,” explained Dr Ramanan.

Clinical trials have demonstrated response rates. It is not without its challenges as the right patients need to be identified as not all patients will respond equally well to treatment, Dr Vijay Ramanan, Head, Department of Clinical Haematology, Bone Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy,

Ruby Hall Clinic says adding that CAR-T cell therapy, has ushered in a new era of hope for lymphoma and myeloma patients. According to experts there was increasing awareness about number of organ transplants, use of semaglutide in management of diabetes

Dealing with mental health struggles
Mental health struggles surged and the national mental health helpline Tele-Manas received one lakh calls in the six months since the initiative was set up.

Tele-Manas has been able to prevent suicides according to experts and according to Dr Rajiv Yeravadekar, Provost, Faculty of Medical and Health Science, Symbiosis International University, told The Indian Express that higher education institutions have played a large role in this pandemic of mental health, and realising this importance they set up Symbiosis Centre for Emotional Well Being to develop a more resilient society.

Dr Manish Jain who has been working towards mainstreaming the transgender community and is executive director of Kineer Services private limited says there has been little emphasis paid towards the healthcare of the transgender community

“A community prone to contagious diseases- due to the nature of their work- needs greater attention to curtail disease spread,” he adds.

Conjunctivitis cases – Pune had the highest numbers
An Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) alert was sounded after the rural hospital in Alandi reported an unusually high number of patients with the infection.

Door-to-door screening was immediately taken up as part of the ring approach to control and prevent the infection, Ayush Prasad, the then CEO of Pune Zilla Parishad had said.

This helped contain viral conjunctivitis — a contagious eye infection where more than 2,000 school children were infected in a week in July this year.

The cases surged across Maharashtra but Pune had the highest numbers more than 8,000.

Sassoon dean asked to step down
Dr Sanjeev Thakur was asked to step down from the post of Dean of B J Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital in the sensational escape of drug racketeer Lalit Patil from the prisoner’s ward in October this year. The state had prima facie found negligence on the part of hospital authorities and considering the gravity of the incident Dr Thakur was removed from the post pending a departmental inquiry.

Covid cases on the rise
In March this year, the Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 had led to another spurt in new Covid cases, Pune had logged in high numbers and as the year draws to a close, experts say that individuals know the drill – wear masks , avoid crowded place and ensure appropriate Covid behaviour as the new JN.1 sub variant has been now detected in some parts of the country.

Dr Bhagwan Pawar, chief medical officer, Pune Municipal Corporation said that there is no need for panic and surveillance is underway.