Each time 25 year old Salma takes her one year old son Zubair to the Batla Clinic (a private clinic in Delhi) for a shot of the DPT, the cost of transportation and the vaccine adds up to approximately Rs.500. When it is time for Zubair to take the next immunization dose, Salma may find that the expenses have entirely spiraled out of her reach. New vaccines and expensive brands of baby...
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New Central scheme to supply free generic drugs by Aarti Dhar
-The Hindu Moving towards major reforms, the Centre is in the process of rolling out a universal health coverage package in at least one district in each State on an experimental basis. This would include a clearly defined basket of services to those who come to any public health facility for treatment or free supply of generic drugs, doing away with user charges and upgrading public health infrastructure right from the primary...
More »The poverty wars and impossibly low poverty line of India by V Raghunathan
Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar (TOI March 25 and ET March 28) has strongly defended the Planning Commission's stance that there is nothing amiss with the poverty line drawn at Rs 22.40 in rural areas and Rs 28.65 in urban areas (down from initial estimates of Rs 32 and Rs 26, respectively). Let us discount the copious tears being shed by various politicians and their parties on this new line of poverty...
More »Akhilesh Yadav becomes first UP CM to declare assets
-The Economic Times In a first for the state, newly elected Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has publicly declared his assets worth 4.83 crore, setting the tone for his cabinet colleagues to come out and declare their net worth. Agency reports said that in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when Akhilesh Yadav filed his nomination papers for Kannauj parliamentary seat, he had declared movable and immovable assets of more than 5.52...
More »Cheap generics no panacea for India's poorest
-Reuters Cheap generic drugs were meant to change the life of Nandakhu Nissar, whose mouth is swollen by a cancerous tumour. But the cashless and hungry 55-year-old sleeps on a pavement staring up at the windows of Mumbai's biggest cancer hospital. "What is a generic drug?" shrugs Nissar, who has travelled over 1,500 kms (900 miles) from his home in the hope of treatment. "I have borrowed money from friends and relatives...
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