-Down to Earth     Rural development minister shares concerns of activists at launch of Lancet series; stresses community role in fight against malnutrition India needs to be careful when it comes to agriculture-based nutrition as it opens the door for advocacy for transgenic food, said Jairam Ramesh, Union rural development minister, at the launch of the Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition. Ramesh was the chief guest at the programme on June...

-IANS The right of mentally-ill patients to decide their mode of treatment, decriminalising suicide for them and a ban on electric shock treatment without anaesthesia are some of the progressive provisions of the new mental health bill proposed by the government. "The bill was passed by the union cabinet last week," Health Secretary K. Desiraju told IANS. Once passed by parliament, the bill will repeal the Mental Health Act, 1987. If passed, it will...

-The Indian Express Last October, authorities in the north Karnataka city of Davangere rescued a 37-year-old man whose family had walled him into a room, with only a tiny window for ventilation, for 10 years after he had begun showing signs of schizophrenia. This month, authorities in Bangalore rescued a 35-year-old woman whose parents are said to have confined her at home for over five years after she showed signs of possible...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Doctors of ayurveda and three other systems of medicine may be legally permitted to prescribe modern medicine under a controversial proposal from the Union health ministry that has angered sections of modern medics. The health ministry has asked state governments to take steps to allow state medical councils to enrol doctors with degrees in the traditional systems of medicine - ayurveda, unani, siddha, and homeopathy (AYUSH) - to...

-The Hindustan Times Bhopal: Now death audit of every patient who dies in a government hospital would be carried out. The health department's move will help to ascertain the cause of death of the patient. Another reason behind conducting the death audit is to monitor whether there was any negligence in treating the patient. Director, health, Dr KK Thassu said all chief medical and health officers (CMHOs) were instructed to conduct death...