Health issues in India
Shocking findings from Punjab have served to highlight one of the biggest issues confronting public health in India: the country’s lack of specialist doctors. Doctors untrained in the field of forensics perform eighty percent of autopsies in the state. This is resulting in “poor quality of work”, warns Dr D S Bhullar, president of the […]
Telemedicine can provide a useful route for patients getting a consultation who otherwise face difficulty in seeing a doctor. However, the country’s apex doctors’ network has called for clear guidelines on the practise amidst legal uncertainty following a recent court case. Two doctors were found culpable by the Bombay High Court (BHC) in the death […]
It is no secret that our public health system is in dire straits. With less than one doctor for every 11,000 people and shortages of hospitals, personnel and resources (especially in rural areas), many patients face difficulty availing care. It boggles the mind, then, that states aren’t making the most of the healthcare funds. Between […]
Type 1 diabetes can reduce life expectancy if onset occurs when the patient is young, claims a study recently published in The Lancet. In India, diabetes numbers are surging. Disconcertingly, rates are increasing among India’s young population. It was recently revealed that around 97,000 children in India suffer from type 1 diabetes. In Delhi alone […]
Obesity is one of India’s most significant public health crises. Nationwide thirty million Indians struggle with their weight. Shockingly, this figure includes 14.4 million children who are considered obese. One of these children embarked on a battle to save his life. This fight saw him become the world’s heaviest teen to undergo gastric bypass surgery. […]
Government doctors have gone on strike in Kerala, protesting changes to outpatient services at family health centres. The strike began on Friday, April 13th and will continue indefinitely. Doctors are protesting state government plans to extend the duration of outpatient services in the state. The original schedule was 9am to 12pm; it is now […]
The 2018 Budget contains the Modi government’s biggest commitment to healthcare to date with the announcement of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS). The NHPS – dubbed ‘NaMoCare’ or ‘Modicare’ by the press – is a wholesale effort to extend health coverage to 10 crore (100 million) economically vulnerable households. It is being called ‘the […]
Indian patients get just two minutes with their doctor on average. India falls far short of the majority of nations when it comes to the length of time a patient can expect to spend with a doctor. An appointment with a doctor at the primary care level was found to average out at around 2 […]
Around 40,000 private hospitals closed in protest against Karnataka’s proposed amendments to a medical bill to fix costs for private hospitals. The protest took place on Friday, November 3. An estimated 50,000 doctors across the state of Karnataka left duties in defiance of what they perceive as a penalisation of private doctors. “Doctors from across […]
The government of Maharashtra has revoked the medical registration of 4,548 doctors after the doctors reportedly refused to provide services in rural areas. At a time when chronic shortages of medical staff cause widespread issues across India, the move is unlikely to be well received. Further reducing the number of doctors could place an unnecessary […]
