Public Health
THE novel coronavirus or COVID-19 epidemic appears to be under control in China, but could create new epicentres in South Korea, Italy and Iran. If this happens and creates multiple countries acting as new centres … Read more
A CHINESE scientist, He Jiankui shocked the world last week, with the claim that he has genetically modified the embryo of two twin sisters, using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool. According to news reports, one … Read more
Slowly, but surely, the story of the peopling of South Asia is being unravelled, using genetic data and their analysis. The latest in this series, is a preprint of a paper by David Reich, Vagheesh … Read more
THE healthcare sector has been consistently grabbing headlines in recent weeks. First came the reports of how two prominent private hospitals in Delhi “ Max and Fortis “ fleeced patients in blatant disregard of all … Read more
Seven year old Aadhya spent the last two weeks of her life at a state of the art private medical facility, her survival dependant on an artificial ventilator. Her brain had probably stopped functioning several … Read more
The appointment of Dr Soumya Swaminathan, director general of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), as a deputy director general (DDG) of the World Health Organisation is a welcome development. She joins Jane Ellison … Read more
The current BJP led government spares no effort to seek new avenues that have the potential to contribute to the profits of private enterprises. To promote such efforts a recurring policy thrust has been on … Read more
Three seemingly unconnected developments in the past weeks are emblematic of the current approach to public services in general and healthcare services in particular. The first development pertains to the Institute for Liver and Biliary … Read more
The Government has finally approved the National Health Policy-2017, bringing to an end a two year long process. A draft of the policy was available since mid-2015 but it is believed that the government, at … Read more
The World Health Organisation is set to elect a new Director General at the World Health Assembly in May 2017, marking the completion of two four-year terms of the current Director General, Margaret Chan. Three … Read more
The past year once again provides a clear picture of neglect of public health by the BJP led government and further, a disdain towards policies that promote welfare. The year has seen several outbreaks of infectious … Read more
FDI in Pharmaceuticals In the recent slew of measures aimed at liberalisation of norms for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), norms for the pharmaceuticals (medicine) sector have been further liberalized. Existing norms allowed for 100% FDI … Read more