Acting on a letter of Bihar State AIDS Control Society, police today conducted raids on at least three illegal blood banks in the state capital and arrested their eight representatives. The police also detained six blood donors for questioning and verifying facts. The donors, all rickshaw-pullers and makeshift stall owners, were in dire need of money. The agents of the blood banks allegedly lured them to “donate” blood for Rs 300...

Health experts from more than 100 countries gathered in Bangkok today under the auspices of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) to discuss ways to make life-saving medical equipment more accessible to people in developing countries. “The medical device industry holds great promise for public health, sometimes spectacular promise, sometimes seductive promise,” Margaret Chan, the WHO Director-General, told the more than 350 experts meeting in Thailand’s capital. “Health officials and hospital...

KEY TRENDS    • The 2019 India TB report says that the country accounted for a quarter of the global tuberculosis (TB) burden with an estimated 27 lakh cases in 2018. In 2018, the country was able to achieve a total notification of 21.5 lakh TB cases, of which 25 percent was from private sector. Majority of the TB burden is among the working age group. Nearly 89 percent of TB cases came from the age group 15-69 years....