The deaths of more than 100 children due to an outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in Bihar has come under the scanner of the Supreme Court. The tragedy has sparked national outrage and arrested international headlines. As the death toll passed 150 over the weekend, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Muzaffarpur district (where most […]
Supreme Court
Supreme Court could hear Pharmacy Council fight over use of the title doctor
The ongoing war of words over whether pharmacists should be able to use the ‘Dr’ prefix may end up before the Supreme Court. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) took umbrage with a Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) decision to allow holders of the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D) degree to refer to themselves as a doctor […]
Oxytocin: Doctors challenge Centre in Supreme Court
The fight over the government’s controversial ‘Oxytocin ban’ has escalated even further and will now be fought in the Supreme Court. . The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has joined the fight against the Centre’s efforts to have Oxytocin’s production and sale severely curtailed by moving the apex court. The new policy has been proposed since […]
Saridon gets ban reprieve from Supreme Court
A ban on painkiller Saridon has been lifted by the Supreme Court. The headache relief medicine was one of the 343 fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs banned in a notification by the Centre last year. FDCs are pharmaceutical products which contain two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Safety concerns drove the Centre’s decision to […]
Courts seek answers on rare diseases
The Centre is now under orders from the Delhi High Court (DHC) to promptly roll out a policy to fund treatment of those suffering from rare diseases. Rare diseases, despite the scarcity the name suggests, affect seventy million Indians. Their treatment has been a long-standing issue of contention in India. A draft rare diseases policy […]
Exposed: Big Tobacco’s firms sinister push to catch kids
Efforts to control tobacco use in India have failed to compel companies to clean up their act, new research suggests. Activists are calling for efforts to be stepped up to stop tobacco companies from illegally advertising to children. This follows a study conducted last month, which found such practises to be common. The Cigarettes and […]
Centre plans ban on combination medications: SC repeals some
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 […]
Supreme Court seeks answers on treatment of leprosy patients
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 end of Section 377
Homosexuality is no longer a crime in India, after the Supreme Court ruled Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to be unconstitutional last week. The 158-year-old law had criminalised sexual intercourse “against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” – proscribing same-sex relations as a result. Violating the law carried a […]
Isolation of those afflicted with leprosy. Remnants of archaic laws to blame?
Leprosy will be eradicated from India in 2018, Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda announced earlier this year. Could discrimination threaten achievement of this goal? Archaic laws dating to 1898 regarding the treatment of those suffering from leprosy were in effect until 2016. After this a bill was passed seeking to eradicate social stigma surrounding […]