Health

Why is the Private Hospital Sector so Difficult to Regulate?

NEWS about rampant overcharging of patients and unethical practices in the private medical sector in the National Capital Region (NCR) hit the headlines last year after several such incidents were reported from some of the most ‘prestigious’ corporate hospitals in the NCR. Since then the overall consensus surrounding debates on the issue is that the private medical sector needs to be regulated much more effectively. The catch however lies in determining how effective regulation can be ensured.

CLINICAL ESTABLISHMENTS ACT OF 2010

Initiatives to Strengthen Kerala’s Public Health Care System

TO safeguard the interests of the common people, the government of Kerala has designed innovative policies to be followed in the public health sector. The standard of health services in Kerala has reached an impressive level compared to the rest of the states in India, which is also on par with that of the developed world. The state had pioneered universal health care services in the country and its palliative care service has largely been applauded. Kerala is also the only state to have a formal palliative care policy in the country.

Medicine for Masses

MEDICINE for Masses was part of the Indian freedom struggle whereby the country’s scientists stood up against foreign drug companies during the British Raj in India.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, chemistry professor at Presidency College in Kolkata was the pioneer in this effort. He established Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. in 1901 and inspired others.

Denial of Healthcare at a Grand Scale: The Neo-liberal Vision

TWENTY five years ago, a child born in India had significantly better chances of survival than in neighbouring Nepal and Bangladesh. Twenty five years later, after neo-liberal reforms were implemented in India since 1991, both Nepal and Bangladesh have lower child mortality rates than India, ie, a child born in these countries are more likely to survive than in India. The above encapsulates the story of neo-liberal reforms in India and its impact on people's health.

UTTAR PRADESH: CPI(M) Organises Convention on Encephalitis in Gorakhpur

GORAKHPUR is known as capital of eastern Uttar Pradesh, which was rightly chosen as the venue of the convention on Encephalitis, an epidemic affecting large parts of Eastern UP. Encephalitis was first detected in the year 1978 in Gorakhpur. Since then, around 15 thousand children have died of this dreaded disease. It is estimated that 90% of the casualties have affected poorer sections of society. During the year 2012, 1256 cases of Encephalitis were detected out of which 557 cases resulted into death.

Strengthen the fight for Right to Health Care: AIDWA

THE All India Democratic Women’s Association took the initiative to organise a two-day workshop on health related issues for activists from the Hindi speaking states. The growing challenge to achieving the right to health care, in a context where government policy was increasingly promoting the private corporate sector in health services at the expense of the public health system was the subject of a Commission in AIDWA’s tenth national conference in Bodh Gaya. The discussions had concluded that our interventions on health had to increase at multiple levels.

Ill Conceived Move by the MCI

In a letter addressed to Ghulam Nabi Azad, union minister for health & family welfare on February 27, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Brinda Karat brought to his notice the ill conceived move by the Medical Council of India to bring an amendment to the Ethics regulation for doctors for exempting "the Professional Association of Doctors" from the jurisdiction of the Medical Council of India.

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