-TheWire.in The message coming out of finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget this year is that the rural economy is back at the heart of policy-making. One of the highlights of the budget was the announcement of the ‘Health Protection Scheme’, under which poor households will be provided with an annual cover of Rs. 1 lakh to protect them from health-related financial shocks. This marks a significant expansion of the Rashtriya Swasthya...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: After two decades of practising gynaecology, Arun Gadre decided to turn whistleblower and seek out others like him who could articulate what he says are disturbing practices in India's healthcare system that hurt patients. Gadre, while running a private clinic in Lasalgaon in western Maharashtra, had seen women prescribed Hysterectomies without justification, women coaxed into opting for Caesarean sections when normal deliveries may have been possible, patients prescribed...

-Economic and Political Weekly The key to improving the quality of healthcare services in India and reducing costs at the same time can be found by enacting legislation which lays down minimum standards of patient care. In the absence of such standards and the reluctance of health insurance companies to standardise either price or quality, healthcare services continue to be expensive and of doubtful quality. Developing standards of patient care by...

-The Indian Express The article has seen response in the form of an editorial by a noted doctor in India, and a campaign against corruption in healthcare by BMJ that will start with a focus on India. A British Medical Journal (BMJ) article on corruption in Indian healthcare is creating a flutter in the medical community and policy experts. Written by Australian medical practitioner Dr David Berger who volunteered as a...

-The Hindu     The extent of violence against the girl as foetus and infant shows how deep the bias against women is and why they will be secure only if India introspects and changes Over the next few weeks, there will be many tussles between our mostly male politicians over India's security. But almost no one will ask if a country can be secure when half its citizens live in deepening insecurity, threatened...