The Bijanbari bridge collapse has brought to the fore the lack of basic amenities at the hill Hospitals, whose staff were yesterday praised by the chief minister for their efficiency in tackling the emergency that arose out of the accident. But the healthcare system needs more than just praise. Basic equipment like CT scan and MRI machines have not yet been installed at the Darjeeling district hospital while the Bijanbari rural...

A PILOT study to assess free treatment for the poor in Delhi’s private Hospitals, conducted by Oxfam, revealed that most such Hospitals are not offering the mandatory free treatment to poor.   The study, held in collaboration with a Delhi-based NGO Sama, was based on the findings of interviews with administrative and finance department officials at nine private Hospitals, built on subsidised land obtained from the government. As per a Delhi High Court...

Malaria is a mass killer, taking just under 800,000 lives a year. Most of them are babies and children under five. A significant number are pregnant women. It is an entirely preventable disease, caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquito bite, but the millions who live under its curse are too poor and have too few options to be able to avoid it. The malaria vaccine [ See: “Malaria vaccine partly...

-The Times of India   The public health department has sought chief minister Prithviraj Chavan's intervention to introduce stringent clauses against medicos who complete their education from state-run or civic Hospitals but refuse to serve the mandatory one-year rural stint.  According to an official, the government was considering not issuing medical registration certificates--which is mandatory for higher studies, pursuing job in any hospital or even for starting a dispensary of their own-to students...

-The Hindu   Making no reference to the month-long conditional “ceasefire offer” from the West Bengal leadership of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday gave a seven-day deadline to the Left Wing Extremists in the Jangalmahal region on her offer of “negotiations if you give up your arms.” During her second visit to the Maoist-affected Jangalmahal region after assuming charge as Chief Minister, Ms. Banerjee claimed that...