-The Economic Times A growing number of countries are adopting India's intellectual property regulations, which give enough flexibility to local companies to produce generic versions of popular drugs to safeguard public health. Although multinational companies have criticised India for being lax in enforcing intellectual property (IP) laws, countries such as China, Argentina and the Philippines are adopting similar provisions. Last month, China amended its IP laws, allowing local companies to produce low-cost versions...

-The Hindustan Times Bollywood star Aamir Khan had two simple prescriptions for a Parliamentary committee to reduce high health costs for citizens. First, make doctors prescribe generic medicines rather than brands. Second, set up a regulator to ensure big pharmaceutical don’t take over smaller ones and monopolise the medicine market. Khan and his team were invited on Thursday by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce headed by BJP MP Shanta Kumar, which...

-Down to Earth Move comes a year after WHO said the test leads to misdiagnosis The Union health ministry has banned blood tests to detect tuberculosis while terming these tests useless. The ban came into effect on June 7, almost a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an advisory to countries to stop conducting these tests for TB. The international body said in July 2011 that these tests give inaccurate...

-IANS A parliamentary panel has invited actor Aamir Khan, who exposed malpractice in the medical sector on his "Satyamev Jayate" TV programme, for an interaction on the issue. He will appear on Thursday morning with his team. Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on commerce, has invited the actor to share knowledge they gained while researching the episode. Aamir's spokesperson confirmed to IANS...

-The Hindu About 40 networks and civil society groups from 16 districts of Rajasthan on Saturday demanded that the flagship free medicine supply scheme at government hospitals in the State be brought under an independent legislation or included in the Rajasthan Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011, to remove bottlenecks being faced for the past eight months. Activists under the banner of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan praised the scheme for its reach and objectives,...