Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Trade agreements with stiff intellectual property protection requirements combined with buyouts of India’s top generics makers by multinationals threaten to deny affordable medicines to millions of poor. The cost of essential medicines is a major barrier to healthcare, writes LATHA JISHNU. But the Indian government is doing little to control …
In an ideal market economy competition lowers prices of consumer goods. It is just the opposite in the case of pharmaceutical products. More expensive brands sell more. Take Cyclovir, an ointment for treating skin infection caused by herpes. Its therapy cost (cost of one course) is Rs 812, while a …
The parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare has slammed the health ministry for failing to take enough steps to restart the manufacture of vaccines in the three major public sector vaccine manufacturing units and hence raising the costs of the Universal Immunization Programme. The standing committee referred to …
The Union health ministry launched a Rs 150-crore scheme last month to promote menstrual health among rural adolescent girls. Unavailability and high costs of sanitary napkins deter menstrual hygiene in rural India. The scheme aims to provide one pack of six sanitary napkins at Re 1 to girls in the …
THE Union health ministry is pushing for the inclusion of the pentavalent vaccine in the universal immunization programme (UIP) for children. In April, the government tried to convince the Delhi High Court to clear the vaccine by submitting a World Health Organization (WHO) report that said there was no problem …
Aarti Dhar NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Trivedi has sought action against sale of oxytocin, used by farmers to enhance the growth of fruits and vegetables. Oxytocin is a Schedule H drug banned in India for use on animals. In local parlance, it …
Bhopal: A new package has been chalked out for private health institutions with a view to extending the benefit of Janani Sahyogi Yojana to women living below poverty line. Giving this information, Minister for Public Health, Family Welfare, Medical Education and AYUSH Anup Mishra said fees has been determined for …
Aarti Dhar NEW DELHI: The Centre has revised the guidelines for antenatal care and skilled attendance at birth by Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM), Lady Health Visitors (LHVs) and staff nurses, empowering them to administer drugs and perform procedures in emergency situations, in an attempt to reduce the Maternal Mortality Ratio …
Aarti Dhar NEW DELHI: The Centre will send a three-member team to Kerala on Wednesday to study the increasing trend in the A(H1N1) influenza cases after the onset of monsoon in the State. The fresh outbreak has affected Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts. There have been 16 deaths and 201 laboratory-confirmed …
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fact-finding team from the Union Health Ministry will start assessing the swine flu situation in the state from Wednesday. The three-member expert team, two of whom have already reached the state capital, will be meeting Health Secretary Manoj Joshi on Wednesday morning before visiting the hospitals in the …
Thiruvananthapuram: In response to a request from Kerala, a team of public health experts deputed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be in the State during the week to conduct an epidemiological study into the re-emergence of the A(H1N1) virus in Kerala during the monsoon season …
Having received support from various states, the proposed Bachelor of Rural Health Care is all set to roll out soon. Speaking exclusively to The Indian Express, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Azad said he will soon have a meeting with the officials concerned and launch the course.
NEW DELHI: Members of civil society and health experts have expressed concern over the delay in implementation of the notification for new pictorial health warnings for all tobacco products which was to be brought in next month by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
Five hundred and forty-five million mobile phones. 665 million people defecating in the open (the Chinese figure is 37 million). Courtesy, United Nations University, these numbers have grabbed headlines. We have had a total sanitation campaign (TSC) since 1999, with subsidies to rural poor households for constructing individual household toilets, …
When India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Ketan Desai, the president of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and president-elect of the World Medical Association, for allegedly accepting a bribe of 20 million Indian rupees from the vice-president of a medical college and hospital in the Punjab state, few …
The Union government is planning to set up 43 molecular and culture detection laboratories across the country to conduct sputum tests for those suffering from tuberculosis. The initiative was taken after it was found that there were few intermediate reference laboratories to conduct such tests. Mr Vishwa Mohan Katoch, secretary, …
RAIRAKHOL: Former State Health and Family Welfare Minister Sanatan Bisi had won the Rairakhol Assembly by-election in 2001 after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik promised in his campaign to rid Rairakhol NAC of water problems. The promise was enough for people of the segment to vote en masse for the BJD …
