-The Economic Times Drug companies paid as little as 50,000 as compensation to families of volunteers who died during clinical trials for new Medicines last year, leading to sharp criticism about the paltry sums being handed out and growing clamour among health groups for more stringent guidelines on new drug trials.  According to government data accessed by a healthcare activist through an RTI query, Germany's Fresenius Kabi paid 50,000 each to the...

-The Times of India The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan to review the controversial Western Ghats ecology experts panel report, which had recommended restricting industrial development in about 75% of the hilly terrain spread across six states. The Western Ghats panel report was roundly criticized by the state governments and other infrastructure-related Central ministries. The Kasturirangan...

-The Hindu One in five women who die during childbirth globally belong to India: WHO Bad roads, poor connectivity and unavailability of transport at night continue to force more than one- third of pregnant women in Jharkhand to deliver at home. “More than 80 per cent of these women who deliver at home are unable to arrange for transport to reach a healthcare facility,” noted a study, conducted by Public Health Foundation of...

-PTI Officials of Uttarakhand Food Department today carried out raids on the premises of Divya Yog ashram of yoga guru Ramdev and collected samples of various ayurvedic Medicines. The food department officials collected samples of honey, salt, gram floor among other things from the ashram during the nearly 3-hour raid. The raids were criticised by Ramdev who alleged the action was taken at the behest of the Centre. "This is war between the elite...

-The Hindu Scheme coming for free distribution of Medicines through public hospitals and health centres The government will expand the scope of the NRHM to all towns and cities, by converting it into a National Health Mission (NHM), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Wednesday. In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort here, he said the government was also formulating a new scheme for distribution of free Medicines...