Public Health
IN the early 1960s, across Europe, doctors were confronted with a strange and distressing phenomenon. Hundreds of reports started pouring in about babies being born without arms and legs. They had flippers or fingers emerging … Read morePROMOTING MALPRACTICE : Industry-Doctor Nexus under the Scanner
WHILE the controversy on genetically modified foods rages in India, very similar issues are being debated in many parts of the world. In India the contention is around the permission sought to be given for … Read moreGenetic Modification Technologies: Debate is on who Controls the Technology
A PUBLIC document of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) of Rajasthan, still available on its website, pays glowing tributes to a gentleman by the name of Ramalinga Raju. It says: “Ramalinga Raju is founder … Read moreThe Emperor’s New Clothes are Tainted
(25 years have passed since the worst industrial disaster in history, on 3 December, 1989 in Bhopal. Little has changed since then, and many more Bhopals are waiting to happen. The All India Peoples Science … Read moreBhopal 25 Years Later: The Continuing Tragedy
A RECENT study by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Harvard has come out with a set of findings about the nature of the ancestral Indian population. The study — … Read moreAncestral Population in India
ON June 11, 2009 the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. A Phase 6 … Read moreInfluenza Pandemic In A Globalised World
SWINE flu, or more technically influenza A (H1N1), is now officially a pandemic. Addressing the press on June 11, Dr Margaret Chan, the director general of World Health Organisation (WHO) said, “On the basis of … Read moreIt is Official Now: Swine flu is a Pandemic
IN recent months there has been substantive lobbying by a section of the pharmaceutical industry in India – led by the multinational sector – and pressures from the US to provide for what is known … Read moreData Exclusivity: Implications For Public Health
Genetics allows us to understand the ever-continuing development of life. The evolution of life meant the appearance of a self-replicating molecule which could transmit the characteristics of the life-form to future generations. Such a mechanism … Read moreIs it All in the Genes?
The World Development Report 1993 is the most comprehensive document of the World Bank regarding the Health Sector as a whole, and in that sense embodies the basic understanding of the Bank towards this sector. … Read moreStructural Adjustment Programmes and the Pressures by International Agencies on Health Policies
After denying for the last fifty years that tobacco is either addictive or harmful, tobacco companies are now trying to negotiate their future with the US Government. They have agreed to pay up to $300 … Read moreTobacco Industry and its Tryst with Death
THE recent controversy relating to Sri Kumaramangalam’s death and the enquiry instituted to probe allegations of negligence against the Apollo Hospital in this regard, has opened a virtual Pandora’s box. The Ministry of Health appears … Read morePrivate Health Care under the Microscope