In India, 1.51 lakh people lost their lives in road traffic accidents in 2016 – more than any other country in the world. 1,374 traffic accidents take place each day, resulting in 400 deaths. In Tamil Nadu, steps have been announced to curb the number of such fatalities in the state. Around 12,000 people died […]
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu health system lauded by VP
Tamil Nadu has been hailed as the “health destination of the country” by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu. While the success of Tamil Nadu’s health system is in its own right an achievement to be applauded, does the announcement by the Vice President serve to highlight a concern that disparities in the Indian healthcare system […]
Removing wombs: extreme menstrual stigma
Menstrual stigma is an issue faced by women across India. While more metropolitan urban areas may be thought of as abandoning the age-old perceptions that a woman’s natural menstrual cycle is a sign of impurity or uncleanliness, the reality is the stigma still holds. While societal stigma presents one issue, there are instances where this […]
Water supply crisis hits Chennai’s hospitals
Chennai’s crippled water supply is affecting everyday life in a multitude of ways. Hospitals are no exception to the scourge. The depletion of groundwater and borewell reserves have forced hospitals in the city to foot ever-bigger bills to avail water. To cope, some hospitals have even increased the prices of operations. “A few days ago, […]
Water crisis: Day Zero arrives in Chennai
India has been staring down the barrel of a water crisis for some time now. In Chennai, it has materialised. All four major reservoirs of the Tamil Nadu state capital have effectively run dry, their reserves dropping to a seventy-year low. This is severely affecting the capacity of the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage […]
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 […]
Crackdown on e-cigarettes and similar devices
Authorities in Rajasthan are moving against e-cigarettes in the state following the decision of the state government to ban the devices. Coinciding with last week’s observance of World No Tobacco Day, it was announced that e-cigarettes, or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), would be prohibited in the northern state. The rules prohibit the devices from […]
Mental healthcare relief in Tamil Nadu
Much of the coverage surrounding mental health in India tends to focus on the treatment gap – manifest in shortages of infrastructure and personnel. In Tamil Nadu, however, there is some good news. The state has opened its second mental health hospital. The Theni Medical College and Hospital is now home to an Institute of […]
Hearing-impaired children struggle to be heard
When it comes to helping deaf children live with their condition, devices such as cochlear implants are only the first step. According to experts, helping children with hearing impairment learn to live with their conditions and the effect of these implements is just as important. Exact figures as to the number of people living with […]
When voters boycotted polls because of water scarcity in Gujarat
In Gujarat last month, voters turned to the polls to protest water scarcity in the state – by sitting them out entirely. The 17th Lok Sabha polls in Ahmedabad was the scene of fanfare on April 23rd, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote in this year’s elections. However, elsewhere in the state, many […]