The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

-PTI/ The Hindu They were told to ramp up supply for medical purposes Ghaziabad: With the COVID-19 surge continuing unabated, the district administration here on Friday asked manufacturers to halt production of industrial-use oxygen and ramp up the supply for medical purposes, officials said. District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said the administration also asked all hospital in the city to not deny Treatment to a COVID-19 patients even if they have no beds....

-The Indian Express As a second Covid wave rolls over Maharashtra, mainly the rural areas, patients are forced to travel long distances to seek Treatment. At Nashik civil hospital, a nodal centre for rural areas, all the 110 beds are full. WITH PACKED food, bedsheets and bottles of water, they camp outside Nashik Civil General Hospital. They are relatives and close contacts of Covid cases admitted there. There is Digambar Kad, who lives...

-The Hindu They seek waiver on some provisions of world agreements that regulate intellectual property rights to expedite steps to contain pandemic India and South Africa, in a formal submission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on October 2, sought a waiver on certain provisions of the international agreements that regulate intellectual property rights to speed up efforts to prevent, treat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic. In the communication, the countries said there...

-The Hindu The policy has absolutely no consideration for Group 3 patients who require lifelong Treatment support, say organisations Caregivers to patients with ‘rare diseases’ and affiliated organisations are dissatisfied with the National Policy for Rare Diseases, 2021 announced on Wednesday. Though the document specifies increasing the government support for treating patients with a ‘rare disease’— from ₹15 lakh to ₹20 lakh — caregivers say this doesn’t reflect actual costs of Treatment. There...