As Ayushman Bharat nears the one-year anniversary of its launch, the Telangana state government shows no signs of implementing the Central scheme in the state. In the recently unveiled state budget for the 2019-20 fiscal period, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao said it would focus on its own state-level healthcare scheme, Aarogya Sri, which administers […]
Telangana
India’s best states for child welfare
Kerala is the best-performing state in India when it comes to child welfare, whilst Madhya Pradesh is the worst. This is according to the Child Well-being Index, a joint report by World Vision India and IFMR LEAD, unveiled yesterday Kerala secured the top spot with an overall score of 0.76, followed by Tamil Nadu and […]
Spike in water-borne diseases in Hyderabad
Hyderabad is reporting a spike in water-borne diseases, sparking fears of water contamination. Diarrhoeal disease, viral hepatitis, and typhoid have all been reported in the Telangana state capital. At the time of writing, 16,178 people have fallen ill with diarrhoea and 1,301 are afflicted with typhoid fever. Viral hepatitis, meanwhile, is believed to have affected […]
AYUSH push by the BJP in Telangana
The BJP’s AYUSH push shows no sign of slowing down – and has been raised in Telangana. A delegation of party members met with the state’s Health Minister Etela Rajender, encouraging the establishment of Ayurvedic hospitals for each district in the state using government-issued funds. The delegation included Bandaru Dattatreya, a former Minister of State […]
Dengue data: Government claims versus reality
Is India mishandling its dengue data concerning deaths from the disease? The latest report by The Lancet claims there is a mismatch between the numbers from its study and the ones reported by India to the World Health Organization (WHO). The mosquito-borne tropical disease – which the WHO considers the world’s fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease and […]
Is Day Zero coming to Hyderabad?
Day Zero – the point when the wells run dry and a city runs out of water – is looming over Hyderabad. In fact, it may be only 48 days away. The Telangana state capital is set to be hard hit by a monsoon season which was both delayed and deficient. The Indian Meteorological Department […]
C-sections are on the rise in Himachal Pradesh – highlighting a national problem
Rising rates of caesarean sections (C-sections) in Himachal Pradesh have been brought to light, emphasising a worrying national trend. The Times of India has reported that 11,319 C-sections were performed in the state during the 2017-18 period compared to 9,900 such procedures in the 2016-17 period and 9,414 in 2015-16. However, whilst profiteering by private […]
Vardhan reaches out to holdout states on Ayushman Bharat
The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan, has reached out to the states where the Centre’s flagship healthcare scheme has yet to be implemented, exhorting them to do so. Vardhan has made strengthening the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), popularly known as ‘Ayushman Bharat’, a top priority during his second […]
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 […]
Ayushman Bharat: The coming expansion
The BJP’s agenda, as outlined in its manifesto for this year’s Lok Sabha polls, was vindicated with a sweeping electoral victory – and the Prime Minister did not exclude the subject of health or his flagship Ayushman Bharat from his victory speech after the results were declared. “The victory, he said, was not his, but […]