-The Times of India NEW DELHI: For bringing down prices of medicines for critical diseases like cancer, HIV and diabetes, the government has revised the national list of essential medicines (NLEM) to add 106 more drugs while 70 other drugs, which are not prescribed frequently or where better alternatives are now available in the market, have been taken off the list. This means, the total number of essential medicines, prices of which...

-Hindustan Times Malkeet Kaur, 55, travels 60 km each day to Kalianwali in the heart of Haryana’s cotton belt to undergo radiation therapy at the Advanced Cancer Diagnostic, Treatment and Research Centre in Bathinda. A resident of Kaali Mali village in the Sirsa district, the mother of four was diagnosed with breast cancer in her right breast in April this year. She now goes for radiotherapy five days a week to remove...

-Millennium Post New Delhi: Delhi government has tightened the noose around private hospitals that managed to obtain prime government land in the city by promising free treatment to poor patients but have completely denied the facility after getting the land. The government has started the procedure to recover around Rs 203 crore ‘unwarranted profits’ which they had earned by utilising beds reserved for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category patients on...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Over 200 cancer drugs, 186 medicines to treat cardiovascular diseases and 148 stents and cardiac implants will now be available at central government hospitals at prices 50-60% lower than the open market. The health ministry has launched a programme called AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment), under which the government will run pharmacy retail stores to sell medicines in hospitals like All India Institute...

-The Hindu We need to take AIDS out of isolation and look at it in a broader framework, with links to maternal and child health, says Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS. Speaking on the sidelines of the India Africa Forum Summit, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director, UNAIDS, admitted to being ‘scared’ as pressure mounts on India to relax norms, allowing patent protection. In a conversation with Vidya Krishnan, Mr. Sidibe also spoke...