-The Times of India PM Manmohan Singh gave the National Health Mission pride of place in his I-Day speech but a fierce policy row clouds the initiative, highlighting sharp differences over a major policy revamp that includes an ambitious plan for universal health coverage.  Health ministry's unwillingness to pay anything more than lip service to a common health mission for urban and rural areas is a major flashpoint, although not the only...

-The Economic Times India has some of the best quaternary and tertiary care in the world and is gradually acquiring a name for itself even in the field of 'medical tourism'. Secondary care is still a significant challenge, but even in several smaller towns and district headquarters, there is a growing supply of maternity homes and multi-speciality secondary care facilities. At all of these levels of care, given the large disease burden...

-The Times of India It's raining sops for the poor. The government is making treatment of people below the poverty line suffering from mental disorders and diabetes free at government or public super speciality hospitals like AIIMS. Yesterday, TOI had reported the government's plan to gift cell phones to the poor. In the maiden endorsement of India's swelling burden of patients suffering from mental disorders, the ministry has included it under the Rashtriya...

-The Economic Times India is a country of 1.2 billion people. One estimate, provided by the World Health Organization, suggests that, on average, one physician is required to serve 1,000 people, across all levels of care. This implies that we need a total of 1.2 million physicians to serve our population. However, the total number of formally-qualified allopathic doctors in the country is estimated to be only about half that number,...

-The Economic Times Chhattisgarh is set to become the first state to extend health insurance cover to all its unorganised sector workers, a step that will not only make healthcare accessible to all but also set a model for other states to follow. The state has offered to pay the insurance premium from October 1 for all those not covered under the Centre's flagship health insurance scheme-the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY)....