-The Indian Express Rajasthan government's decision to ‘target' free medicines and diagnostics is contrary to the recommended role of government in healthcare. In 2002-03, Abhijit Banerjee, Angus Deaton and Esther Duflo studied health facilities in rural Udaipur, Rajasthan. They found that facilities were poor and absenteeism was rampant. In 2013, we decided to revisit the same public health facilities. The motivation was to study two bold initiatives of the then Ashok Gehlot...

-Down to Earth Blog The performance of nutrition indicators amongst Dalits is improving, it is nowhere near the catch-up pace Does a new government and a strong Prime Minister claiming to hail from the backward caste augur Achche Din for Dalits too? We hope so! But political commitment-or lack of it-has multiple manifestations. In a deeply stratified society like India with entrenched elitism, people from the Scheduled Caste (referred to as Dalits...

-The Indian Express   We need better primary health centres more than AIIMS-like institutions. The ministry of health is reportedly planning to open 10 more AIIMS-like institutes as well as cancer centres in different states. Creating new cancer centres is desirable, given the burden of the disease and the inadequate number of treatment centres. Today, cancer is one of the main causes of premature mortality in our country, and the 25 regional cancer...

-Live Mint   Strong political commitment is needed to build a system of universal health coverage and better regulations   Life expectancy in India has more than doubled since independence, to 65 years, from just 32 in 1950. The infant mortality rate has been cut by two-thirds since 1971. Smallpox and guinea worm have been eradicated, the spread of HIV/AIDS has been contained, and the World Health Organization has declared India polio-free.   Yet for all...

-The Hindu Business Line     Underpaid and overworked, India's nurses are in need of better treatment from the society they care for   Florence Nightingale called nursing the finest of fine arts. But Molly Sibbichan would have disagreed. On March 16, Sunday, the 42-year-old nurse, employed with the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, hanged herself inside her south Delhi home.   Molly's suicide note said work pressure and stress pushed her to kill...