-AP   Efforts by India and the European Union to strengthen trade are threatening India's ability to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world's poorest, analysts say as the two sides push through protracted negotiations on a free-trade pact.  India's prime minister and top EU officials are hoping their summit Friday in New Delhi helps move beyond disagreements over issues like European labor market limits and Indian duties on cars.  But health industry workers and...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today expressed anguish over the tendency to circumvent court orders instead of honouring them. The court said this while dealing with contempt petitions filed against some gutkha manufacturers for not abiding by its order to switch to non-plastic sachets. The court had earlier issued contempt notices against Rajeev Kumar, the MD of the Dharampal Satyapal group, which manufactures two popular pan masala brands — Rajnigandha and Tulsi —...

Questionable drug trials on mentally challenged persons by doctors in Indore emphasise the need for strict enforcement of medical ethics. IN what appears to be a page out of Robin Cook's medical thriller, government and private doctors in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, reportedly carried out clinical trials of various medicines on some 233 patients who had gone to them seeking psychiatric treatment. As in Cook's famous book Coma, in which a medical...

In a crime that is prevalent only in India, greedy husbands and his relatives harass the newly wed bride for getting more dowry, and often kill her in the process. And, very often, she is burnt alive. This horror is therefore calledbride-burning or in official terms, dowry death.  In 2010, there were 8391 reported cases of dowry death in the country. That works out to a shocking one death every hour...

-The Times of India India has found a way to increase the number of doctors specifically to treat cancer. The Union health ministry will soon allow every professor of three disciplines - radiotherapy, medical oncology and surgical oncology - to teach three students as against the existing norm of two. Besides, associate professors across all specialities will be allowed to take two students under their wing as against one as per the...