In the state of Gujarat, recruiting doctors to fill positions in government hospitals remains a challenge – with rural Gujarat bearing the brunt. In 2018 and 2019, the state government recruited 2,228 graduates of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) courses. However, a mere fourteen percent of them – translating to just 321 medicos […]
rural India
India’s pollution crisis: 2 million lives a year
Air pollution continues to claim millions of lives every year with India leading the world in this regard. More than two million lives are lost to breathing toxic air in the country every year, in a grim reminder that India’s pollution crisis is among the leading threats to its environment and to public health. The […]
Adityanath announces rural health boon
In a move to improve access to healthcare in rural areas, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that government medical college graduates in Uttar Pradesh will be required to work for two years in villages. Speaking at an event to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat, the Chief Minister said that the village work requirement […]
India’s shortage of specialist doctors is still staggering
July 1st marked Doctors’ Day – and while the occasion was an opportunity to thank the medical professionals who work to ensure good health, it also was a bitter reminder of the public health crisis India is facing. The government has put a figure to the mammoth medical staff shortage India is battling. The new […]
World Environment Day highlights a health crisis
World Environment Day is observed annually on June 5th to commemorate the importance of conserving our environment from the many threats it faces. For India, World Environment Day offers a valuable opportunity to recognise one of the major issues confronting the nation: its poor environmental health, ranked as the worst in the world in the […]
Telemedicine: Bridging the accessibility gap?
When it comes to dispensing healthcare, telemedicine has emerged as an innovative method of bridging the accessibility gap. Start-ups are leading the way. One such enterprise, Mfine, has just collected a massive cash injection to further its efforts to expand access to telemedicine services. It is the latest e-health development in India, suggesting a digital […]
Villagers boycott election over pollution
Amidst India going to the polls to determine the composition of the 17th Lok Sabha, by-elections took place in Tamil Nadu to fill eighteen constituencies in the state’s Legislative Assembly. And in one village, residents are refusing to participate. The reason? Pollution. A polling booth established in the village of Nagaraja Kandigai has not seen […]
Air pollution is India’s apocalypse that won’t go away
More than two years ago, Greenpeace warned that India was facing an “apocalypse” because of air pollution. This week, we are given yet another warning about the public health catastrophe brewing in the air and festering in Indians’ lungs. This is thanks to the 2019 State of Global Air Report. In 2017, India lost 1.2 million […]
How air pollution ruins child health
Poisonous air is causing toxic damage to people across the world. Nine out of ten of us breathe polluted air. Now for the first time, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report has highlighted its damaging impact on child health and survival. Over 93 percent of the world’s 1.8 billion children are exposed to toxic air […]
NEET exam reforms dropped after health ministry plea
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 […]