-The Telegraph ‘Rough and tough’ alert to private hospitals Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said in no uncertain terms that her government would act tough against private healthcare establishments who refuse to accept Swasthya Sathi cards of the healthcare scheme she had launched ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls. “State government officials have been asked to act rough and tough if any hospital refuses Swasthya Sathi cards. If anyone refuses Swasthya Sathi cards, the...

-Newsclick.in The high healthcare costs were expected to be addressed through the introduction of health insurance by the Union government, but it covers less than 30% of hospital charges leaving a heavy financial burden on the poor. Health outcomes have remained grossly unequal, with India's dalits and adivasis living shorter lives of poorer quality, as per a recent paper published by Oxfam India. Private infrastructure now accounts for nearly 62% of India's...

-The Hindu ‘Healthcare as an optional public service’ would ensure the legal right to receive free, quality care in a public institution The lingering COVID-19 crisis is a good time to revive an issue that is, oddly, slow to come to life in India — universal health care (UHC). Meanwhile, UHC has become a well-accepted objective of public policy around the world. It has even been largely realised in many countries, not...

On Janaushadhi Diwas this year (i.e., March 7th, 2022), Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi stated that the poor and the middle-class benefited from the 'Jan Aushadhi Kendras' that were set up to provide generic drugs at affordable prices. He said that the poor and the middle class saved around Rs.13,000 crore through these stores during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of COVID 19 crisis, the 'Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India'...

-Scroll.in At a time when upper classes continue to thrive on waves of profit maximisation, the social and economic safety net of the poor has been gradually eroding. Amidst all the talk on two Bharats, are we seeing a time horizon where India’s elite may abandon the country’s poor and vulnerable? This is a question I have been contemplating about for a few months now. My curiosity peaked days after the recent Union...