A recent survey conducted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) -- a Delhi-based non-profit organisation -- shows how persons with disabilities in the country were disproportionately affected by the COVID–19 crisis. The report by NCPEDP has observed that persons with disabilities, particularly those from economically deprived sections, went through severe hardship during the lockdown. Without sufficient access to food or money, many of them faced hunger...

-Down to Earth Activists voice concern about some recommendations by panel The subject of ‘health’ must be transferred to the Concurrent List of the Indian Constitution from the State List, the high level group (HLG) formed for the health sector by the 15th Finance Commission has said. Since issues like medical education and family planning fall under the concurrent list, health also should, the panel said in a report submitted recently to...

-NDTV The BJP, which initially targeted the Congress over the infant deaths in Rajasthan, was faced with a similar situation in Gujarat. Jaipur: Over 600 babies died at six major hospitals across Rajasthan and Gujarat in December last year, agencies reported amid outrage over the alleged lack of life-saving equipment in government medical institutions. The first reports of the kind emerged from the JK Lon Hospital in Rajasthan's Kota, where 100...

-The Hindu Report on congenital deformities in children born to women exposed to the 1984 gas leak is inconclusive, says committee. An expert committee explicitly barred the publication of the findings of a research study that said babies born to women — who as children were exposed to the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal — were significantly more likely to have “congenital malformations” than those born to women unexposed to the gas. The...

  A high maternal mortality ratio (MMRatio) indicates low status of women in the society apart from poor functioning of the health services delivery system. Recently released data by the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin indicates that for the country as a whole the MMRatio has steadily declined from 398.0 in 1997-98 to 122.0 in 2015-17, which is a fall by -69.3 percent. Table-1 shows that India's MMRatio was 398.0 in 1997-98,...