#9: Apple’s AI Doctor, Brain Chip Breakthrough, & India's Medical Investments

This week in healthcare: A stroke survivor speaks again through a brain-computer interface, while Japan’s stem cell therapy helps a paralysed man stand. Meanwhile, a fast new blood test for Alzheimer’s promises earlier diagnosis and better monitoring.

• 🩺 Looks like Siri’s about to get a medical degree. Apple is reportedly working on an AI-powered “Apple Doctor”, using data from your Apple gadgets. It will help users track symptoms, provide basic health insights, and even detect mental health concerns. (Mint)

• 🐍 India bears 36% of global rabies deaths and 50,000 snakebite fatalities yearly. To combat this, the government launched ZooWIN, a platform tracking anti-rabies and anti-venom vaccine availability. (BS)

• 🫀 Ultromics, a global leader in AI-driven cardiac solutions, has unveiled a first-of-its-kind AI-powered scoring system in its EchoGo Heart Failure platform to better diagnose diastolic heart failure. (PB)

• 🗣️ A stroke survivor has found his voice again—thanks to an experimental brain-computer implant that turns his thoughts into speech. Maybe “thinking out loud” isn’t just a phrase. (ETHealthWorld)

• 🛜 Chinese scientists have created a wireless brain chip called Beinao No.1 to help people with movement disorders and paralysis. After helping three patients control devices like robotic arms—they are planning 13 more implants by the end of the year! (Reuters)

• 👁️ Elon Musk’s Neuralink plans to implant its ‘Blindsight’ chip in a human by the end of 2025, aiming to restore sight to the completely blind! The vision will start off low-res, but should improve with time. (IE)

• 🩸 Blood Test Breakthrough: Researchers have developed a quick blood test that can now spot Alzheimer's and track its progress, making diagnosis and monitoring quicker and easier. (Guardian)

• 💉 The shingles vaccine might be doing double duty — not only saving you from a painful rash, but also slashing your risk of dementia by 20%! Turns out shingles, the spicy sequel to chickenpox, could hike up dementia risk, especially for women. (TW)

• 🧍 In a medical Marvel moment, Japan's cutting-edge stem cell therapy just helped a paralysed man stand up again — a huge leap for regenerative medicine. (ETHealthWorld)

• 🧠 Bad cholesterol (LDL) isn’t just bad for your heart — it might be messing with your brain too. A new study suggests that lowering LDL could cut your risk of dementia and Alzheimer's by a whopping 26%. (Guardian)

• 🩼 82% of disabled people in India lack insurance, and nearly 50% are unaware of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), prompting calls for better coverage to ease medical costs. (ET)

• 🏥 Over 600 private hospitals have withdrawn from the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY scheme, citing delayed payments and low package rates. Gujarat leads the exit parade with 131 hospitals pulling the plug. (MB)

• 👏 Novo Nordisk's new proven diabetes pill Rybelsus cuts the risk of heart-related deaths, heart attacks, and strokes by 14% in four years. Talk about a triple win! (CNBC)

• 🪪 Busted! A multi-crore scam involving fake Ayushman Bharat health cards has been uncovered at PGI Chandigarh. Staffers allegedly created over 1,300 bogus cards to swindle free treatment benefits meant for the needy. (TOI)

• 🔥 The Gujarat government is in the hot seat! The All India Medical Devices Association (AiMeD) has accused it of favouring U.S. firms charging ₹25,000 for US FDA-approved heart stents, while Indian-approved ones cost just ₹12,000. (FE)

• 👁️ Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals has introduced India’s first combination therapy of ripasudil and timolol to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension—improving treatment outcomes for 11.9 million Indians affected by glaucoma. (PB)

🇮🇳 India

• 🚀 Over the past decade, India has invested ₹64,000 crore on medical infrastructure — expanding AIIMS hospitals from 7 to 23, increasing medical seats from 51,000 to 115,000, setting up 700+ public health labs, 4,382 block-level health centres, and 602 critical care units. (ETHealthWorld)

• 📈 In just 4 years, private hospitals have gone from grabbing 24% to a whopping 60% of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) spend. The reimbursements have skyrocketed by nearly 300%, from ₹935 crore to ₹3,646 crore, but concerns loom about fraudulent billing practices. (ETHealthWorld)

🌏️ Global

• 👶 Johnson & Johnson’s $10 billion “talc-it-easy” plan just got the legal boot. A U.S. judge struck down their controversial bankruptcy strategy to settle cancer-related baby powder lawsuits, with over 50,000 cases still looming. (Reuters)

🇮🇳 India

• 🧬 Chennai-based startup Tvaster Genkalp, a molecular diagnostics company, has secured $1.25 million from early-stage venture fund Ideaspring Capital to expand its innovative blood test for early liver cancer detection. (BioS)

• 🤖 Entvin, an Indian startup that develops AI tools to help pharmaceutical companies with regulatory tasks, has received ₹5 crore in funding from Y Combinator. (BioS)

• 📛 After years of courtroom drama, Fortis Healthcare has finally secured the rights to its own name — shelling out ₹200 crore to buy the Fortis trademark from its former promoters, the Singh brothers. (ET)

• 🦴 Stance Health, a startup focused on musculoskeletal (MSK) care, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from big investors like General Catalyst, to revolutionise MSK care in India by scaling its omnichannel care model. (eHealth)

• 🌍​ Indian workforce mobility platform BorderPlus has acquired German healthcare recruitment firm Onea Care to facilitate the placement of Indian nurses in Germany. This move will address Germany's projected need for 500,000 nurses by 2030. (ETHealthWorld)

• 💊 Indian multinational pharmaceutical company Lupin's UK branch has bought Renascience Pharma for over ₹138 crore to strengthen its presence in the UK pharmaceutical market. (MD)

🌏️ Global

• 🧪 Siemens is buying US tech firm Dotmatics for $5.1 billion to expand into Life Sciences and boost its use of AI in drug discovery, aiming to meet the rising demand for medical innovation. (ETHealthWorld)

• 🔬 GE HealthCare, a global medical technology leader, has fully acquired radiopharmaceutical company Nihon Medi-Physics, strengthening its ability to develop better medical technology and diagnostics worldwide. (PB)