Though many migrant workers from south Madhya Pradesh have died of the incurable workplace disease called silicosis contracted from inhaling quartz dust in stone crushing factories in Gujarat, the public health system has carried out no comprehensive survey to identify the disease, which is often passed off as tuberculosis, many factories have not installed anti-pollution systems, and the NHRC has been sitting on the case since 2006 “He kept coughing…became more...

New method finds India is 9 per cent poorer india is poorer than previously estimated. A revised estimation of poverty for 2004-05 using new methodology showed the number of people below the poverty line was 37.2 per cent and not 28.3 per cent, as estimated earlier. The new estimate took into account expenditure on food, basic health and education, unlike the earlier estimation based on per capita calorie consumption. The inclusions...

In India, private spending on health is 4.2% of GDP. More than 70% of all health expenditure in India is paid for by people from their own pockets and this expenditure has been rising, especially for the poorest with increasing privatization of healthcare. According to a Planning Commission paper of May 2009, several studies conducted in villages showed that healthcare expense was responsible for over half of all the cases...

Drug companies in India will be prohibited from handing out cash or gifts or stand-alone entertainment to doctors under a code of ethics proposed by industry associations to govern the marketing of medicines. But the code has run into rough weather even before it has been adopted, with at least two industry associations disassociating themselves from the document, tabled at a meeting called today by the government’s department of pharmaceuticals. The two...

Funeral aid is proposed to be raised from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 5,000 In case of death, compensation to go up from Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 1.2 lakh The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday unanimously approved, by voice vote, the Workmen’s Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2009, that seeks to give higher compensation to workers and their families in the event of injury or death. It empowers the Centre to enhance the compensation and funeral...