-The Economic Times Extension of life is priceless. Simply priceless." These were the words of Venkat Krishnan (name changed) to Novartis after receiving treatment with Glivec for about two years. Following his diagnosis with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), Venkat married his college sweetheart against the wishes of her family. After all, the prognosis in those days for people suffering from CML was not promising. Taking interferon, a powerful immune therapy, was the...

-The Hindu The aim: to generate a cadre of healthcare providers who will stay put in villages and extend comprehensive healthcare to the needy It is not unusual to find Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in villages closed for long hours, with the patients waiting for a doctor. The reason: many doctors are reluctant to serve in rural areas. Thus, the promised public healthcare to all finds little meaning for the patients in...

-Outlook This could be the UPA’s worst cut to its beloved aam admi. Healthcare has virtually been handed over to privateers. Not For Those Who Need It Most Govt seems to have abandoned healthcare to the private sector Diagnosing An Ailing Republic     70 per cent of India still lives in the villages, where only two per cent of qualified allopathic doctors are available     Due to lack of access to medical care, rural India...

-The Hindu ‘In-patients will have to pay up if private agencies are allowed to use diagnostic centres to serve external customers’ The Chhattisgarh government’s move to outsource diagnostic services in public health facilities has evoked a sharp reaction from health activists, who fear that it will destroy laboratory services. The government has issued a request for proposals for private partnership in radiology and laboratory services in 379 public health facilities. Three categories of...

-Live Mint Incidents at Bhopal and Indore highlight irregularities and ethical violations in some trials In 2004, doctors at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), established exclusively for treating the victims of the 1984 gas leak, recruited unsuspecting survivors for clinical trials without their knowledge or consent; 14 participants died during the course of the trials. Together with the episode in Indore’s Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (that Mint reported on 10...