-The Hindu India may have achieved a success rate of 88 per cent in treatment of tuberculosis - higher than the global treatment success rate of 85 per cent - but HIV-TB co-infection continues to be a cause of major concern, as the percentage of people infected with the twin infection increased substantially between 2010 and 2011. The percentage of TB patients tested for HIV increased nationally from 32 per cent...

-The Times of India LONDON: Herbal medicines are causing millions in India to develop kidney failure and bladder cancer. In a warning that is bound to cause a fresh row over the quality of Asian herbal medicines, British scientists were due to announce on Tuesday that millions of people in Asia — specially in India and China — might be exposed to the risk of kidney failure and bladder cancer from taking...

-The Indian Express In the first detailed manual for medical examination of rape victims, the Health Ministry has advised doctors not to use the word rape as it is "not a medical Diagnosis but a legal definition". It has also asked them not to identify a victim as "habituated to sexual intercourse" as this amounts to unlawful interference in her privacy and therefore a violation of her human rights. "Rape is not...

-The Hindu Doctors must avoid the word even in court depositions The Health Ministry has advised doctors not to use the word ‘rape’ in medical reports on sexual assault victims, and even in court depositions. “Rape is not a medical Diagnosis, it is a legal definition, hence the word should not be used while forwarding opinion,” says the latest Instruction Manual for Forensic Medical Examination Report of Sexual Assault (Victim) brought out by...

-The Hindu Chennai: A few days after the news broke of a “functional cure” in a HIV-positive Mississippian baby aged two-and-a-half, many questions have been raised whether the baby was indeed infected with HIV. “There are many instances where the mother’s HIV particles (HIV RNA) can be present in the newborn’s blood,” Dr. N. Kumarasamy told this correspondent from Atlanta, U.S. Dr. Kumarasamy is the Chief Medical Officer at YRGCARE, Chennai, and is...