-BBC   Some of the parents of 12 children who died over the last two days in a hospital in the Indian city of Calcutta have accused it of negligence. The deaths of the children follows 25 similar "crib deaths" in June. Staff at the BC Roy hospital have strongly denied the negligence allegations. They say that the infants were admitted in a critical condition. But correspondents say that the hospital is overcrowded, with many...

Infant deaths resulting from a recent clinical trial in India have led to a media outcry. But few have considered how explosive these revelations actually are, or the problematic use and application of the Right to Information Act. When India’s Right to Information Act came into force in 2005, the legislation’s text acknowledged the conflict that could arise from revealing certain information, pointing out that there was a need to ‘harmonise’...

When the entire country celebrates Diwali this year with spectacular fireworks, there will be silence in the homes of dozens of families in Sivakasi, the national fireworks capital. These families have members who have either been killed or grievously injured due to blasts at the firecracker units.  This year alone, 26 people working in the units have lost lives in blasts, while many more were injured. The latest and the fifth...

With institutional healthcare being prohibitively expensive, more women in rural India are choosing to deliver at home than in hospitals and healthcare facilities, says a new report brought out by Chittorgarh-based NGO, Prayas, in partnership with Oxfam India. The 'Study of the trends in out-of-pocket payments in healthcare during National Rural Health Mission period (2005-2010)', released on October 12 in the national capital, was conducted across five Indian states - Assam,...

The Bijanbari bridge collapse has brought to the fore the lack of basic amenities at the hill hospitals, whose staff were yesterday praised by the chief minister for their efficiency in tackling the emergency that arose out of the accident. But the healthcare system needs more than just praise. Basic equipment like CT scan and MRI machines have not yet been installed at the Darjeeling district hospital while the Bijanbari rural...