Journal of Archives in Military Medicine
Volume:9 Issue: 3, Sep 2021

Context: 

One of the most important sciences in the tourism industry, which has numerous financial and social benefits, is health and medical tourism. The health tourism industry is an organized trip out of the living environment to maintain, promote, or restore the health of the mind and body of an individual through medical intervention.

Evidence Acquisition: 

Firstly, 80 articles were identified in different sources. After removing duplicate copies, the number of articles relevant to the study title reached 58. After reviewing the abstracts or full-texts, 35 articles were included in the study based on defined criteria.

 The gradual growth of medical tourism has numerous economic and social benefits for both the host community and guests. If medical tourism grows, numerous economic sectors will be directly and indirectly affected, providing ground for social cohesion and integration. The health sector is a critical sector for the development of countries in terms of income and employment, including numerous sub-departments, such as hospitals, medical devices, and clinical trials. Coastal tourism and natural resources are also crucial in terms of income and employment.

 Factors affecting medical and health tourism include medical travel agencies, the Internet and social media, political and economic conditions, commitment to post discharge services, regulatory standards, price transparency, confidentiality of patient medical records, and care costs. Medical issues are related to travel legal issues, residence and flight visas, quality and credibility of health care, and specialty of physician’s credentials.

 Hepatitis A is an emerging public health problem worldwide, with alerts issued in developed countries, although it remains under-reported, under-diagnosed, and under-investigated in the developing world. Prolonged epidemics can occur due to person-to-person transmission. The ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A reported in the United States is one of its largest-ever outbreaks of the disease. A public health emergency for hepatitis A was declared in Florida, with over 2000 cases across several regions of The United States, in the year 2019.

 The outbreak investigation was carried out on 30 travelers in an Indian Himalayan mountain camp. Clinical features were correlated with laboratory parameters for establishing diagnosis by standard case definition. Line listing and epidemic curve were plotted to corroborate outbreak variables. Clinicodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and outbreak variables were descriptively analyzed.

 Most of the 30 patients with hepatitis A were young male patients within the age range of 20 - 30 years. The most common clinical features among the case-patients were anorexia and vomiting. The epidemic curve revealed a peak of 15 case-patients from June 22 to July 5, 2019. Liver function tests showed mild derangement in all the case-patients. All the patients required hospitalization, with a mean duration of hospital stay reported as 11.86 ± 2.53 days. All the patients fully recovered with no fatalities.

 Hepatitis A outbreaks can occur through the consumption of untreated mountain stream/river water due to upstream contamination with human/animal excrements. Strengthening surveillance systems, traveler education, vaccination, and intersectoral coordination for safe water supply remains a necessary public health measure.

 In late December 2019, a coronavirus outbreak first occurred in Wuhan, China, and then spread worldwide, which became a major global emergency. This severe respiratory illness called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is transmitted through respiratory droplets and contaminated surfaces.

 This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of COVID-19 in continental America.

 This study was an ecological study describing the epidemiological features of COVID-19 in the Americas. The data of identified definitive cases and deaths from this disease and other information were extracted from the reports of the World Health Organization and transferred to SPSS software (version 24). Furthermore, the case fatality rate was separately calculated for each country.

 The highest number of COVID-19 reported cases and the highest COVID-19 mortality rate were in the United States, with 72,186,963 and 1,896,955 cases, respectively. Moreover, the highest case fatality rate was reported as 9.38% in Peru.

 The prevention of COVID-19 transmission in countries is possible with general vaccination and observation of social distancing. These measures reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and are effective ways to control this global health problem.

 One of the most essential indicators of quality evaluation of health services is to assess the status of patients' rights, especially in those with mental illness due to their physical and mental conditions, and how health care providers and recipients interact.

 This study aimed to investigate the observance of the Charter of Rights of Patients with Mental Disorders from the perspective of nurses and patients in Panj Azar Hospital in Gorgan in 2020.

 This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2020 among 100 patients admitted to the Psychiatric Ward and 200 nurses working in the psychiatric ward selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and a self-made questionnaire. Data were entered into SPSS version 18 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and independent t-test.

 In this study, the results showed that the mean age of the subjects was 52.7 ± 22.4 years, and the highest age group of the study participants was 21 - 30 years. Overall, 196 (65.3%) participants were married, and 191 (63.7%) recommended others to return to this hospital. The mean scores of observance of the patient's charter from the nurses' and patients' points of view were 59.26 ± 6.26 and 57.98 ± 8.13, respectively. The subgroup with highest score was respect for the right to free choice and decision making in both groups. The level of compliance with the Charter of Patients' Rights was good and average from both nurses patients’ point of view. Furthermore, there was only a significant relationship between the views of nurses and patients in the subgroups of respect for patient privacy, compliance with the principle of confidentiality (P = 0.001), and access to an efficient grievance redressal system (P = 0.001).

 Overall, it is inferred that in most cases, nurses are aware of the extent of their compliance with their charter of rights, and from the patients' point of view, the level of compliance with the charter of patients was often moderate.

 The emerging disease COVID-19 was first identified in China in late 2019. It soon spread to most countries and continents. The symptoms of this disease range from asymptomatic to severe and fatal. This disease is now an important pandemic and has created an emergency in the world.

 This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia.

 This ecological study describes the epidemiological features of COVID-19 in southeastern Asia. Data related to identified definite cases and deaths due to this disease along with other information were extracted from the reports of the World Health Organization and imported to SPSS software. The case fatality rate was calculated separately for each country.

 The highest number of reported cases of this disease was 30,458,251 in India, and the highest number of death was in this country with 400,312 cases, and the highest mortality rate was in Indonesia with 2.67%.

 Using masks and observing social distance and quarantine rules, as well as upgrading diagnostic and laboratory equipment to identify patients, are effective ways to prevent COVID-19 transmission.
 

Acute appendicitis is one of the common surgical emergencies performed by general surgeons. The abnormal position of the appendix may cause a diagnostic dilemma for the treating surgeon. A high index of suspicion along with radio imaging can prevent the delay in the diagnosis and the associated complications of the disease. We report a case series of sub-hepatic appendicitis managed at two different institutions in North-East India and advocate surgical management as the modality of treatment for this condition.