-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Alternative and herbal medicines may not always be without side-effects. Doctors say unmonitored use of such medication, as also long-term drugs for ailments such as TB and body-building protein supplements, may lead to liver failure even among Patients with no history of liver disease. Take the case of Rashmi Khare (name changed). The 27-year-old Delhi girl was admitted to Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS)...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The so-called mohalla clinics, or neighbourhood health centres, are an important part of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s electoral campaign. AAP had promised 1,000 across Delhi, but opened just 189 till December last year, attributing the failure to start the rest to bureaucratic hurdles. TOI visited eight mohalla clinics in north, east and central Delhi to find that while Patients were mostly satisfied with the...

-The Hindu CDSCO sends letter to manufacturers Alerted by the Union Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical watchdog, the National Co-ordination Centre of the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI), on adverse reactions that were being reported from some commonly-used antibiotics, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has now asked manufacturers to ensure that this information be made available to the general public. CDSCO has written to drug manufacturers, to mention in leaflets inserted into drug...

-The Telegraph Call to govt to adopt 'cost-based' control The 30 per cent cap on profit margins imposed by India’s drug pricing authority on 42 anti-cancer drugs will have a limited impact on Patients’ expenses because many of these medicines’ prices remain “prohibitive”, a network of Patients’ rights groups said on Saturday. The All India Drug Action Network (Aidan) said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority’s cap on profit margins in effect “legitimises” the...

-The Hindu Business Line Govt’s Wellness Centres have identified over 37,000 Patients, but can they be treated under Ayushman Bharat with their data not shared with NHA? The Union Health Ministry has identified thousands of new cancer Patients, but is unable to treat them. Reason: Its own departments are not coordinating among themselves, and the Patients are left high and dry. On February 21, the Ministry released startling statistics that it had identified...