-Down to Earth The study establishes relation between litchi consumption and encephalitis after conducting a hospital-based surveillance on 390 patients A recent study has linked occurrence of neurological disease—commonly known as encephalitis—to consumption of litchi in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar. Published in Lancet on March 31, the study recommends minimising Litchi consumption and also ensuring that the evening meal is not skipped as the latter modifies the effect of eating litchis on...

-Livemint.com India Meteorological Department (IMD) is training state governments to counter persistent heatwaves, anticipating a structural shift in India’s weather conditions New Delhi: Anticipating a structural shift in the country’s weather, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is training state governments to improve their mitigation preparedness to cope with the persistent heatwaves. IMD has tied up with state disaster management commissioners and health secretaries to formulate plans in the face of large casualties from...

-The Indian Express The rights-based approach departs from the ‘assurance-based approach’ of the new National Health Policy, which essentially perpetuates the status quo, explains The Indian Express. Since the time the Mental Health Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2013, decriminalisation of suicide has been its calling card. However, the legislation travels beyond just that colonial era relic, assuming a rights-based approach to mental healthcare, and creating circumstances for removal of...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's government-funded health insurance schemes have increased patients' access to hospitalisation but failed to reduce their households' personal out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, the most comprehensive review of the schemes so far has found. The review by public health analysts has found increases ranging from 12 per cent to 244 per cent in hospital-based services across the country since the schemes were launched a decade ago. But there is no...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The mystery behind the outbreak of an unexplained neurological Illness in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, which had claimed nearly 100 lives each year till 2014, has been solved. Scientists from the US and India, after a joint investigation, have concluded that consuming litchi --a tropical fruit Muzaffarpur is famous for- on an empty stomach triggers the Illness and death. Seasonal outbreak of the mysterious Illness, characterised by acute...