-The Indian Express The application is the result of years of painstaking research and documentation by a diverse team of clinical doctors, scientists, photographers and wildlife enthusiasts settled in different corners of the globe on a purely voluntary basis. Kochi: Did you know that the Malabar Pit Viper, a venomous snake found in evergreen, semi-evergreen hill forests and plantations in Kerala, can appear in almost 15 different colour morphs — from greenish...

-The Indian Express Many patients also reported their inability to access public insurance schemes like MPJAY due to lack of co-operation from hospitals, and incurring heavy debt to pay their hospital bills for Covid and other emergency health conditions. Pune: Manisha Palekar from Kolhapur narrated the story of her husband, a public school teacher, who tested positive for Covid-19 and had to be admitted to a private hospital, which charged them Rs...

-The Hindu To avert another Bhandara-like hospital inferno, govts must address underlying causes The deadly fire that snuffed out the lives of 10 infants in the Bhandara District General Hospital in Maharashtra is a shocking reminder that safety norms in several medical facilities in India do not pass muster. The parents of the babies who perished in the sick new-born unit have been plunged into a lifetime of trauma. Some of the...

-The Hindu Policymakers need to focus on the larger picture with steps being taken to reclaim the space under public care India’s health care is a dark echo chamber. It is 70% private and 30% public in a country where 80% people do not have any protection for health and the out-of-pocket expense is as high as 62%. With public spending at 1.13% of GDP and a huge shortage of health-care workers...

-The Hindu Public works could provide valuable support to the urban poor, especially if women get most of the jobs The COVID-19 crisis has drawn attention to the insecurities that haunt the lives of the urban poor. Generally, they are less insecure than the rural poor, partly because fallback work is easier to find in urban areas — if only pulling a rickshaw or selling snacks. Still, the urban poor are exposed...