-PTI The government on Tuesday said it proposes to bring a Bill to monitor the services of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics and banks to regulate surrogacy in the country. “A draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill has been formulated and sent to Ministry of Law and Justice for concurrence,” Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. He said in order to monitor...

-The Hindu Doctors must avoid the word even in court depositions The Health Ministry has advised doctors not to use the word ‘rape’ in medical reports on sexual assault victims, and even in court depositions. “Rape is not a medical diagnosis, it is a legal definition, hence the word should not be used while forwarding opinion,” says the latest Instruction Manual for Forensic Medical Examination Report of Sexual Assault (Victim) brought out by...

-Live Mint An investigation found DCGI cleared drugs without conducting mandatory clinical trials After five rounds of consultations in six months, a committee tasked with making recommendations on cleaning up India’s drugs-approval process and ending the cosy relationship between doctors, pharmaceutical companies and government officials had no suggestions to offer by way of a crackdown. It has, instead, suggested setting up 20 sub-committees. The report submitted to the health ministry in November is...

-The Indian Express At a time when targeted therapies work like magic bullets killing cancer cells and sparing normal ones, only 15-20 per cent child victims of the disease are treated in India due to lack of diagnosis and access to treatment. With cancer affecting approximately 60,000 children in the country annually, the Lancet Oncology series released Tuesday is a wake-up call to the government to deal with the challenge of...

-The Times of India HARRAI: The Khairwar tribe in this remote village of Madhya Pradesh is on the verge of extinction because of the tribe members' inability to conceive. In the past five decades, villagers say, there has been only one birth in the tribe. And that child too -- born in 2011 -- died within a year. Why are the members of this community not able to have children? Locals attribute...