Governments in India — Centre and states — spend around one per cent of the country's GDP on health. Only five countries — Burundi, Myanmar, Pakistan , Sudan and Cambodia — have a lower figure than this. But private spending on the crucial sector is 4.2 per cent of GDP, among the top 20 countries in the world. Within this private spend, employers pay for about 9 per cent and...

The state health department has sought additional 7.6 lakh capsules and syrup of oseltamivir (popularly known as Tamiflu) from the Union government for distribution to rural areas of the state. The fresh demand for oseltamivir, the only prescribed drug to treat swine flu, was triggered by reports of more cases of infection and deaths in rural parts of Maharashtra since the onset of monsoon this year. The department has demanded...

It is not uncommon for private gynaecologists registered under state government-run Chiranjeevi Scheme to ensure institutional deliveries and refer beneficiaries to government hospitals. But the latest trend is of Chiranjeevi doctors referring cesarean cases to doctors registered under the Central government-run Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) in order to save costs. Even as doctors registered under Chiranjeevi Scheme have repeatedly complained of the low remuneration package offered by the state government...

A Bill was passed in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday to prevent unethical practices in clinical establishments and ensure a patient's right to treatment. Replying to a debate on the West Bengal Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Bill 2010, the State's Health Minister Surya Kanta Mishra said that private hospitals and nursing homes will, according to the new legislation, have to admit a patient without waiting for the patient's party...

For LPG and kerosene subsidy, government has to make up from petrol, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia he government should use its money on building schools and hospitals than subsidising oil companies, which were making huge profits because of grant, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said. “The profits shown by the oil companies are largely due to subsidies. We are not supposed to be subsidising the oil companies ... we...