-Business Standard The wide disparity between the best healthcare & quackery that much of the population must endure is partly to blame for India's apathy Whether Indians in ancient times discovered algebra and the Pythagoras theorem before "selflessly" passing them on to the Arabs and the Greeks as Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said last week is for agile historians to ponder. Widely accepted is that Indians in ancient times studied...

-The Guardian Universal healthcare is often presented as an idealistic goal that remains out of reach for all but the richest nations. That's not the case, writes Amartya Sen. Look at what has been achieved in Rwanda, Thailand and Bangladesh Twenty-five hundred years ago, the young Gautama Buddha left his princely home, in the foothills of the Himalayas, in a state of agitation and agony. What was he so distressed about?...

-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...

-Down to Earth Draft national health policy which proposes making health a fundamental right also envisages increased role of community in planning and implementing health services The Union health ministry has released the draft of the new health policy, which proposes a National Health Right Act. If implemented, the law may prove to be a milestone for health services in the country. The ministry has given the public time till February 28 to...

-The Hindu The policy also makes denial of health care an offence The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has suggested making health a fundamental right, similar to education. This key proposal in the draft National Health Policy, 2015, suggests making denial of health an offence. Thirteen years after the previous health policy, the draft, now in the public domain for stakeholders' suggestions and comments, has addressed the issues of universal...