Four-year course, including internship, proposed; it would be “institutional” in character  The annual proposed intake for the course is 25 to 50 students Medical Council of India plans to start the course in August The proposed alternative model for under-graduate medical education to create a cadre of rural doctors will be discussed at a two-day workshop beginning here this Thursday. The model, mooted by the Medical Council of India (MCI), is to...

Under fire for rising prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked state governments to tackle shortages of essential supplies while promising all possible assistance from the Centre. “It will never be possible to insulate ourselves from the pulls and pressures of international demand and supply. The State Governments must forge appropriate strategies to bolster food production and tackle shortages of essential supplies”, he said. Addressing the first annual conference of...

A state government scheme to pay for hospital treatment of the poor has led to an organ racket, with many private hospitals duping illiterate young women and removing their uterus for illegal sale, a minister has acknowledged. Altogether 21,000 hysterectomies (uterus removals) have been done across Andhra Pradesh under the Rajiv Arogyasree health insurance scheme since it was launched in 2007 for below-poverty-line (BPL) families, a health directorate probe has shown. Most...

With a large number of people living on subsistence level of income, the government has to safeguard their interest by ensuring availability of food grains at an affordable price. Success of any policy or programme to this effect depends on growth in agriculture production and procurement of wheat and rice, the main staple foodgrains. Though the performance of agriculture has not been uniform throughout and its growth rate has varied...

Civil society organisations have demanded the speedy passage and implementation of the proposed National Health Bill, 2009, but with certain changes that ensure health as a universal entitlement to all sections of society. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, sought a National Health Act to ensure equitable distribution of medical facilities across the population. “The National Health Act should be on the lines of the Right to...