-Newsclick.in Inadequate infrastructure and insufficient health personnel emerged as the leading problem keeping women from accessing medical care. As many as 60% of women in the country face trouble accessing healthcare for themselves, the findings of the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey(NFHS) have revealed. The complete report— which had surveyed women between the ages of 15-49 years about potential problems in obtaining medical treatment for themselves when they are...

-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...

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'...

-The New Indian Express A significant share, almost two-thirds of OOP expenses, are for purchasing outpatient care, especially medicines. NEW DELHI: Household Out-Of-Pocket (OOP) expenses on health services, especially medicines, continue to push over 55 million people in India into poverty, with over 18 per cent of households incurring catastrophic levels of health expenditures annually, says a WHO report. Despite India’s billing as the ‘pharmacy of the world,’ its population’s access to medicines...

-Down to Earth Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) provided cushion to only 14.25% people hospitalised for COVID-19 The novel coronavirus has not only turned the world upside down, it has also served as a lens through which we are able to see ourselves, our planet and even our policies with a new and shocking clarity.  So it was not a surprise when two research institutes, Public Health Foundation of India and Duke...