Health issues in India
When it comes to the electorate’s priorities, there are three clear things which stand out for voters in Jharkhand. They want better hospitals, better law and order and better employment opportunities. Yet a survey suggests the state government’s performance on these indicators is less than satisfactory. While the Lok Sabha elections will conclude next month, […]
Here is another example of the crumbling state of India’s healthcare infrastructure and the reason behind lack of access to essential, life-saving drugs. India has a shortage of an estimated 600,000 doctors and two million nurses, claims a study conducted by the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), titled “Access Barriers to Antibiotics.” […]
“Modi deserves another chance as this country’s head,” a sanitation worker remarked in February. He was responding to a gesture that made headlines because of its unprecedented humility, wherein the Prime Minister washed the feet of five sanitation workers during a visit to the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela. The Prime Minister tweeted that he would “cherish” […]
Congress has put healthcare back on the electoral discourse by making it one of its topmost priorities in its manifesto 2019. Perhaps the party has been forced to push up the rhetoric regarding health to counter the BJP government’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme. Sticking to its decade-long promise of Right to Healthcare, Congress aims to increase […]
In 2018, cancer killed 784,821 Indians. An estimated 2.25 million Indians are believed to be living with the disease. More than 1.15 million new cases were registered last year alone. These are worrisome figures for Indian policymakers and re-emphasise the rising burden of non-communicable diseases in India. But more worrisome are conclusions from a study […]
“It was something that I had never expected, I was really shocked,” Nandita Venkatesan said as she recalled finding out she had become re-infected with tuberculosis (TB) in 2013. It was six years after she was first diagnosed with the disease in 2007, some months before her eighteenth birthday. In a candid conversation profiled in […]
As the Lok Sabha elections draw near and poll pitches get louder it is important to make health a part of the narrative. This was the aim of the health conference organised by the All India Medical Sciences (AIIMS) earlier this week. Much of the discussion was focusing on the government’s flagship healthcare scheme: the […]
The Centre’s flagship access to medicines scheme may be a boon for patients. However, it is also stoking fears among Indian pharma. Forecasts estimate that drugmakers could see twenty percent of their sales disrupted by the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pari Yojana Kendra (PMBJPK), a health ministry campaign to make medicines more affordable for […]
Two Uttarakhand clinics providing free treatment for kidney disease face the loss of their dialysis machines – leaving patients in the lurch. NephroPlus, a kidney care chain, has said it will cancel dialysis services for two clinics in the state effective from March 23rd. This is unless past due payments totalling Rs 6.5 crore (US$947,152) […]
When you go to vote this time, do consider health as one of the biggest benefits of democracy. When thinking about democracy and its advantages, positive effects on health are often not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet new research published in The Lancet suggests democracy plays a bigger role in better health […]
