After allowing swapping of organs, India is working on another landmark step in organ transplantation: a single apex national organization that will procure and distribute human organs. Union health ministry is setting up the autonomous National Organ Procurement and Distribution Organization (NOPDO) at the Centre and 10 State Organ Procurement and Distribution Organization (SOPDO) under the country's new National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP). Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, West Bengal, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh,...

The Bengal government had introduced a remote-area incentive system that rewarded doctors working in Calcutta for all practical purposes but not in some places that could be reached only by crossing rivers. Calcutta High Court today stayed the order, which was issued by the Mamata Banerjee government last year but did not draw much attention beyond medical circles. The government order denied several doctors who had served in villages the advantages due...

Third report in three months to highlight lack of quality education in India; poses risk to knowledge hub hopes Nearly two years after the Right to Education (RTE) Act was introduced with the promise of providing free and compulsory education to all primary school children, the learning outcome in the country has actually deteriorated in terms of quality. In yet another wake-up call for policymakers, the 2011 Annual Status of Education Report...

-The Telegraph The Canadian Medical Association Journal has sought a ban on the disclosure of foetal sex until after 30 weeks of pregnancy amid concerns that sections of Asian immigrants, including Indians, in Canada selectively abort female foetuses. The journal said the sex of a foetus need not be revealed to any woman before 30 weeks because such information was medically irrelevant and could, in some instances, facilitate female foeticide. Postponing the disclosure...

A first-ever water pollution audit carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pegged Jharkhand at the bottom of the performance chart with most river conservation projects lying incomplete in the state. According to the report, Performance Audit of Water Pollution in India, the Ganga, Damodar and Subernarekha were selected for pollution abatement projects in Jharkhand under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP), which was launched in 1995. As part...