Health issues in India
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 […]
The Supreme Court has reversed plans by the Centre to ban three of the 328 combination medications it announced plans to ban last week over safety concerns. Saridon, Piriton and Dart are the three products given a reprieve by the apex court. The ban will still apply to 325 of 343 fixed dose combination (FDC) medications whose […]
The Supreme Court is seeking answers from the Centre about the treatment of leprosy patients and India’s progress against the disease. The SC, responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy (VCLP), has directed the Centre to enact a central law barring discrimination against leprosy patients. It is […]
The gutkha scam has been making headlines in Tamil Nadu, where senior officials including the health minister have been implicated in a multi-crore corruption scandal involving bribes paid by chewing tobacco companies. Officials stand accused of accepting bribes paid by manufacturers of gutkha, a chewing tobacco mixture which has been banned in Tamil Nadu since […]
The Union Health Ministry has created a draft policy that could help to identify hemoglobinopathies, thalassemia and sickle cell disease. With sickle cell anaemia reaching prevalences of up to 35 percent in some communities, such a programme could identify many unaware of their status and who go without treatment as a result. Titled ‘Prevention and […]
Fears of infectious disease outbreaks in the aftermath of the Kerala floods appear to have been realised. Cases of leptospirosis, acute diarrhoeal disease (ADD) and dengue fever have been reported from the afflicted state, where 483 people lost their lives in its worst floods in almost a century. Kerala has reported 159 cases of leptospirosis […]
In a controversial move, the Union Health Ministry has moved to ban e-cigarettes and similar devices in India. The Centre claims e-cigarettes pose “a great health risk to public at large, especially to children, adolescents, pregnant women and women of reproductive age”. To this end, it has moved state governments to stop e-cigarettes from being […]
The Centre has revoked its decision to ban retail sale of Oxytocin, a life saving drug for pregnant women in India after petitioners moved court. But tight restrictions remain in place. Oxytocin is a hormone drug used in the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), the predominant cause of maternal mortality in India. Its misuse in […]
India’s Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has dropped plans to reform medical and dental entrance examinations after the intervention of the health ministry. Reforms proposed by the HRD Ministry would have seen the Entrance Test (NEET) being conducted twice a year under the ambit of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and through online […]
The Centre has given a shot in the arm for relief efforts in flood-battered Kerala. Rs 600 crore (more than $85.9 billion) will be released to the state and emergency supplies will be exempted from both customs duty and Goods and Service Tax (GST). Kerala endured one of the worst calamities in its history this […]
