-The Indian Express Floods might be as old as Assam, but fighting a pandemic in these swirling waters is a whole new challenge for even the most seasoned health worker. GUWAHATI: It is the wind that has helped Pratima Barman plan her day as an accredited social health activist (ASHA) in Assam’s Dibrugarh district for seven years now. In the sapori (island) village where Barman lives, a strong gusty wind, coupled with...

-The Hindu The Kerala government has been successful in putting the public health sector back on the rails Every year after the Union Budget, newspapers carry articles critiquing the abysmal allocation for the health sector. As the COVID-19 threat looms, doctors, healthcare professionals and state institutions have been regularly issuing guidelines on the precautions to be taken. However, the ubiquitous fault lines of India’s public healthcare infrastructure are being laid bare as...

-The Hindu State has the worst patient-doctor ratio and most number of centres without electricity, water supply or good roads New Delhi: Facing a shortfall of 2,277 doctors — against the required strength of 3,621 — and with 942 primary health centres (PHCs) working without electricity, regular water supply and all-weather motorable approach road, Uttar Pradesh’s PHCs have the worst patient:doctor ratio and infrastructure in the country to cater to the poorest...

-The Hindu Officials say CMs of all States asked to take appropriate action under the law against quacks “At present, 57.3% of personnel currently practising allopathic medicine do not have a medical qualification,” states the Union Health Ministry’s data, adding that this puts at risk rural patients who suffer because of an urban to rural doctor density ratio of 3.8:1, and India’s poor doctor-population ratio of 1:1456 as compared with the World...

-The Telegraph Dreze showed how Jammu and Kashmir outscored Gujarat on the basis of a raft of development indices New Delhi: Economist Jean Dreze held up a placard at a protest rally here on Wednesday, displaying stats to contest home minister Amit Shah’s claim that Jammu and Kashmir was less developed than the rest of India. Dreze showed how Jammu and Kashmir outscored Gujarat on the basis of a raft of development indices. “I...