The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered private hospitals functioning on public land to make good their promise to treat the poor for free. This decision is intended to change the belief that “health care is given only to those who can afford it”. The bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik passed a short order after a detailed hearing in which lawyers representing several private hospitals tried to...

Indians have the poorest lungs among 17 populations across four continents, according to new research that has stirred speculation that the health effects of air pollution in India may be worse than hitherto suspected. An international study that investigated the lung functions of healthy, non-smoking adults from 17 countries has found that the efficiency of breathing of South Asians, mainly Indians, is 30 per cent lower than that of Europeans and...

-The Hindustan Times   Terming its impact in curbing sex-selective abortions in Kolhapur district "heart warming", the Bombay high court (HC), on Friday, upheld the validity of Silent Observer - an electronic device attached to ultrasound machines that helps the administration in tracking sonographies conducted in a district. Dismissing the petition filed by the Maharashtra chapter of Indian Radiology and Imaging Association, the division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice RP...

Mahesh Kundu paid 2,500 rupees for a driving licence, Rupam Bhatia 5,000 rupees to be admitted to hospital and Vishrant Chandra 6,000 rupees for a marriage certificate. These are the commonplace bribery stories experienced by middle-class Indians who have poured into the streets to say "enough is enough". Corruption in India is as old as the Ramayana, when the evil demon Ravana bribed a guardian of hell to avoid punishment in...

Hypertension and diabetes seem to be rampant in two of India's most modern metropolises, Bangalore and Chennai. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said under his department's programme to test people for the twin diseases, 14% and 21% were found to be suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, respectively, in Banglaore. In Chennai, out of 3 lakhs tested, 50,000 were found to be diabetic and another 60,000 hypertensive. Azad described the...