-The Hindu Even as States have taken up positions of leadership in the pandemic response, federal limitations are becoming hurdles Over the course of the last few weeks, as we have found ourselves in the throes of a pandemic, one of the striking features of governance has been the signal role played by State Chief Ministers across India. Even before the Union government invoked the Disaster Management Act, 2005, many State governments...

-The Hindu Governments must be judged on the quality and extent of the public health care they provide The deaths of more than 70 children in one hospital in Gorakhpur and 49 in Farrukhabad, both in Uttar Pradesh recently, reflect the appalling state of public health in India. However, it needs to be remembered that India’s public health care sector has been ailing for decades. According to the latest Global Burden of...

-The Hindu MSF Secretary General Jerome Oberreit on the increasing threat to affordable health care worldwide. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors without Borders, the international humanitarian medical aid organisation that is active in 69 countries, serves populations affected by epidemics, armed conflicts, natural calamities and manmade disasters. MSF has relied heavily on generic drugs, much of which has been sourced from India, to deliver health care to some of the most...

-The Indian Express At simultaneous zeniths of their cycles this monsoon, chikungunya appears mild but causes a scare by spreading beyond the south. This year’s robust monsoon has come at a price: a zenith in the dengue and chikungunya cycles. Spiralling cases of both diseases have sent alarm bells ringing and the “season” has only just begun. Chikungunya, which has never really been a big worry in the north, has struck Delhi strongly...

-The Times of India Bamnipal/ Sukinda: Between March and June this year, at least 12 children died in Nagada village, located in the forests of Odisha's Jajpur district. The underlying reason for their deaths was malnutrition, local medical authorities and community workers said. The village population is solely of the Juang scheduled tribe, one of India's ancient tribes, declared 'particularly vulnerable' by the government. For the past two months, a chicken pox...