Act makes it possible to seize and destroy even legitimately produced generic drugs exported from India to poor countries It was a triumphant moment for public health campaigners when members of the European Parliament voted against the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on July 4. ACTA is a plurilateral pact, designed to protect against counterfeiting of products, including medicines. ACTA, primarily drafted and secretly negotiated by the US, was signed on October...

Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...

The goal of universal health care requires an overhaul of the public health system, medical education and regulatory mechanisms. At long last, public health is on the agenda of the country’s policy makers. The Prime Minister’s Republic Day speech mentioned that the Twelfth Plan would focus on health just as the Eleventh Plan had focussed on education. But the manner in which the education sector has been messed with does not...

-The Indian Express Delhi has become the first state to provide financial assistance to poor people who are undergoing anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. All Patients will be provided lifelong assistance of Rs 1,000 per month, while children who were either orphaned after their parents died of AIDS; or abandoned by parents suffering from HIV/AIDS, will be given a monthly assistance of Rs 2,050. Children infected by HIV/AIDS will be given a monthly...

The government plans to roll out a nationwide free medicine scheme by November, which will offer quality essential drugs to all the Patients in state-run hospitals and treatment centres, a senior health ministry official said. LC Goyal, additional secretary in the ministry of health and family welfare, said the scheme would offer 348 essential drugs as well as their combinations to Patients. These drugs account for about 28 per cent of...