-The Hindu The National Health Protection Scheme is disconnected from primary care. It also needs to be scaled up It is unusual for a health programme to become the most prominent feature of a Union Budget. The previous government missed the bus when it failed to implement the recommendations of the High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage (2011). Yet, those recommendations resonate in the Budget of 2018, with commitment to universal...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's largest association of doctors today called for a 12-hour nationwide shutdown of outpatient and routine services on Tuesday to protest against a bill that proposes a new regulatory structure to replace the corruption-tainted Medical Council of India. The Indian Medical Association, seeking to intensify its opposition to the National Medical Commission 2017 bill tabled by the Union health ministry in Parliament on Friday, has asked doctors to...

-The Indian Express In zones of prosperity, agriculture faces crisis, jobs are few, social aspirations don’t match economic realities After Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, farmers from Rajasthan came out on the streets demanding loan waiver and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report. Protesting against government policies and demanding their share in the country’s development, which they argue have been denied to them, the farmers have shown unity across caste and class lines....

-The Hindu The National Medical Commission Bill’s proposal to permit ‘for profit’ colleges will undermine the aim of creating a cadre of medical professionals able and willing to work in small towns and villages The many reports commissioned by the Government of India on the state of medical care invariably highlight one fact: a large number of Indians do not have access to proper and adequate medical care. India currently faces a “double...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's regulatory body for medical education, beleaguered by allegations of corruption and performance failures, today announced plans to create a digital register of doctors across the country and track ghost, or fake, faculty in medical colleges. The Medical Council of India (MCI) will update its national register of medical practitioners within six months and use a computer network to monitor in real time the daily attendance patterns of...