-CNN-IBN On May 13, 2012, the Indian Parliament completed 60 years since its first sitting. To mark the occasion, a special sitting of both Houses was organised on the day. Recently, there has been much public scrutiny of the work of MPs and the functioning of Parliament. This document presents some information on the changing profile of MPs and the trends in the working of Parliament over the past 60 years. Fewer under-matriculates,...

-The Telegraph The Centre today asked a panel of doctors to outline measures to improve drug approval procedures, three days after a parliamentary standing committee said India’s drug regulators had broken laws, ignoring the interests of patients. The panel announced by the Union health ministry has been asked to suggest steps to improve the procedural aspects of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), the agency entrusted with approving medicines for sale...

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to take stern action against doctors who had endorsed scientific recommendations submitted to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), which were written by drug companies themselves. TOI reported on Thursday how drug companies have been caught red-handed writing scientific recommendations of their own drugs and submitting them to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) after getting them endorsed by reputed doctors...

A key finding in the report was that several multinational firms had launched drugs without conducting mandatory clinical trials or seeking expert medical opinion The health ministry has denied the presence of any systemic rot in the drug approval process and pharmaceutical firms have refuted charges of collusion after a report by a parliamentary panel pointed to regulatory lapses in clinical trials. The panel, which looked into the functioning of Central Drugs...

-The Times of India Gurgaon: The state health department has asked medical officers in the city to keep tabs on the ultrasound centres of the city. In a measure to curb female foeticide, the department has made it mandatory for pregnant women to present their ID proof. The director general of the health department on May 3 directed officials concerned to give guidelines to the hospitals and the private centres to check...