Lack of trained manpower main hurdle, says health secretary More than a year after rolling out the national programme for prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke, the Union Ministry of health and family welfare is still struggling to kick-start cancer screening in the district hospitals in the country. Health secretary P K Pradhan says lack of trained manpower is the biggest hurdle in starting the screening for different...

The claim that the Unique Identification project will facilitate the delivery of basic health services is dishonest. AMONG the many reasons cited for India to proceed with the Unique Identification (UID) project – that it will facilitate delivery of basic services, that it will plug leakages in public expenditure, that it will speed up achievement of targets in social sector schemes, and so on – the most specious is perhaps the...

India recorded 9.8 lakh new cases of cancer last year, an increase of about 80,000 new cases as compared to 2009. Top cancer scientists from across the country along with Union health ministry officials and experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) met at the annual review meeting of the National Cancer Registry Programme in Guwahati to discuss the worrying trend over the last two days. This figure was...

Economic status, education, access to clean water and sanitation, nutrition and the environment determine the level of health of persons, communities or countries, and so does the extent to which rights are enjoyed or denied. The World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, held Oct. 19-21 in Brazil, defined 15 commitments that should be undertaken by governments, international organisations, the private sector and civil society.  The final document, the Rio Political Declaration...

The Bijanbari bridge collapse has brought to the fore the lack of basic amenities at the hill hospitals, whose staff were yesterday praised by the chief minister for their efficiency in tackling the emergency that arose out of the accident. But the healthcare system needs more than just praise. Basic equipment like CT scan and MRI machines have not yet been installed at the Darjeeling district hospital while the Bijanbari rural...