-Livemint.com WHO says the Indian govt should ‘reconsider’ the compensation clause because an approval to the rules in the current form would affect the conduct of clinical trials in India New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has told the central government that the United Nations (UN) agency’s work with India would be “hampered” and drug companies driven away if the government goes ahead with stringent draft rules for compensation in case...

-The Hindu Punjab needs a sober, well-thought-out strategy to deal with drug abuse During the campaign for the Punjab Assembly elections last year, Amarinder Singh, then the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate, had pledged to eradicate the State’s drug problem within four weeks of coming to power. Given the complexity of the issue, hardly anyone took his pledge seriously but it did convey his concern. After coming to power, Capt. Singh took little...

-The Hindu Business Line The Ayushman Bharat programme must aim to reverse poverty caused by healthcare expenses The state of India’s healthcare system is somewhat dichotomous — the country is a global supplier of life-saving, affordable and good quality generic medicines, yet lakhs of families are driven into poverty because they are forced to spend much of their earnings and savings on medications to treat chronic and life-threatening diseases. The poor, particularly,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A five-judge Supreme Court constitution bench on Wednesday ruled that parliamentary standing committee reports can be examined by courts for evidence evaluation, rejecting the Centre's argument that it would be a breach of parliamentary privileges and an encroachment into the domain of the legislature. The apex court, however, said "admissibility of a parliamentary committee report in evidence does not mean facts stated in the report stand proved", as...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is likely to come out with a policy to cap profit margins for hospitals this week. A first for any state, the policy will cover sale of medicines, consumables and devices to patients. The state government had appointed a nine-member committee in December last year to suggest the scope and process of capping prices. The move followed public outrage on the death of...