Act makes it possible to seize and destroy even legitimately produced generic drugs exported from India to poor countries It was a triumphant moment for public health campaigners when members of the European Parliament voted against the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on July 4. ACTA is a plurilateral pact, designed to protect against counterfeiting of products, including medicines. ACTA, primarily drafted and secretly negotiated by the US, was signed on October...

Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...

The goal of universal health care requires an overhaul of the public health system, medical education and regulatory mechanisms. At long last, public health is on the agenda of the country’s policy makers. The Prime Minister’s Republic Day speech mentioned that the Twelfth Plan would focus on health just as the Eleventh Plan had focussed on education. But the manner in which the education sector has been messed with does not...

The government will soon come out with an ambulance code to check the practice of vans and goods vehicles being turned into makeshift and ill-equipped ambulances that pose a risk to patients’ lives and limbs. By the end of this month, a committee that includes doctors is expected to finalise the draft of the national ambulance code, which will specify requirements from design to equipment to personnel. (See chart) “Most ambulances in...

-The Hindu Aamir Khan's “Satyamev Jayate” has drawn sharp criticism from Indian Medical Association   Taking forward the debate on commercialisation of health, initiated by actor Aamir Khan in his television show “Satyamev Jayate” that drew sharp criticism from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), health activists have said distortions in medical practices, induced by unregulated commercialisation, have become systemic problems. In an open letter to the IMA, which has sought an apology from Mr....