-TheWire.in Pesticide poisoning is the leading method of suicide among both men and women in the country. It is also the method that is easiest to prevent – by banning and removing highly hazardous ones from agricultural practice through legislation. The ban on highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) currently being discussed in India will not only protect the environment and improve the public Health but will also achieve another rarely acknowledged goal –...

-The Hindu Business Line The Ayushman Bharat programme must aim to reverse poverty caused by Healthcare expenses The state of India’s Healthcare system is somewhat dichotomous — the country is a global supplier of life-saving, affordable and good quality generic medicines, yet lakhs of families are driven into poverty because they are forced to spend much of their earnings and savings on medications to treat chronic and life-threatening diseases. The poor, particularly,...

-Livemint.com The new subscribers to EPFO likely represent formalization of a section of the regular workforce rather than new additions to it New Delhi: Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the jobs debate in India has heated up once again. Spokespersons of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) claim the Indian economy has created an unprecedented number of jobs over the past couple of years. The opposition as well as some independent...

-TheWire.in The government has fixed the insurance reimbursements for 1,354 medical procedures under its massive new scheme. They say they won’t revise this any further. New Delhi: Despite protests from the private Health sector, that the government’s reimbursements to them under the massive new Health insurance scheme are too low, the government has “frozen” these rates and is unlikely to change them. “The package rates are now frozen,” said Health secretary Preeti Sudan. Dinesh...

The country's maternal mortality ratio (MMRatio) exceeds that of China by a huge margin, which not only indicates the poor status of women in our society but also the miserable functioning of Health system, among other things. However, there is some good news around the corner to cheer about. Recently released data by the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin indicates that for the country as a whole the MMRatio has...