Month: March 2013

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Supreme Court is to rule Monday on a landmark patent case involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG that focuses on demands by major companies that their investments be protected, against Indian companies that say they should be allowed to continue producing cheaper generic versions of many lifesaving medicines.

Among the 7,000 patients who may have been exposed to HIV and Hepatitis in an Oklahoma dentist’s office are children, as their nervous parents wait to get them tested and grapple with how to explain the public health nightmare.

By Steve Olafson OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – A Tulsa, Oklahoma, health center on Saturday began drawing blood samples from patients who may have been exposed to viruses at an oral surgery dental clinic that is under investigation. As many as 7,000 of Dr. W. Scott Harrington’s patients are being notified by letter that health officials recommend they be tested for hepatitis and HIV. The investigation began when one of Harrington’s patients tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis C. …

By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is comfortable and able to breathe without problems as he continues to respond to treatment in hospital for a recurrence of pneumonia, President Jacob Zuma's office said on Saturday. After the revered 94-year-old statesman and former South African president spent a third night in hospital, the presidency said doctors had drained excess fluid from his lungs to tackle the infection. "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. …

By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is comfortable and able to breathe without problems as he continues to respond to treatment in hospital for a recurrence of pneumonia, President Jacob Zuma's office said on Saturday. After the revered 94-year-old statesman and former South African president spent a third night in hospital, the presidency said doctors had drained excess fluid from his lungs to tackle the infection. "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. …

More than 7,000 patients of Dr. Wayne Scott Harrington, an oral surgeon who practices in Tulsa and Owasso, received a letter from the Tulsa Health Department on Friday, informing them of an inquiry into Harrington’s practice and advising them to get screened.

RIYADH, March 30 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is to license women’s sports clubs for the first time, al-Watan daily reported, in a major step for an ultra-religious country where clerics have warned against female exercise. Last year the conservative Islamic kingdom, where women must have permission from a male relative to take many big decisions, sent women athletes to the Olympics for the first time after pressure from international rights groups. Until now, women’s exercise facilities, including gyms, have had to be licensed by the Health Ministry and designated as “health centres”. …