-Scroll.in The demand for equitable access to quality education and healthcare should complement agriculture reforms in the country. It has been more than six months since the Samyukt Kisan Morcha – the umbrella organisation representing protesting Indian farmers – ended its 15-month-long agitation at Delhi’s borders against the three farm laws. Some of their demands were met, while their demand for a Minimum Support Price guarantee remains unfulfilled. These developments do little to...

-Deccan Chronicle The latest data from the Registrar-General of India shows that India’s infant mortality rate is 28 (28 infant deaths per 1,000 live births) Infant mortality is the end-result of a whole chain of interlinked ground-level challenges.   In a week when the word “fringe” is a headline-grabber, let me start by saying that updates about the country’s infant mortality rate (IMR) is not a fringe issue. It is central to a...

-The Telegraph Research considers expenses arising out of visits to hospitals, clinics and doctors’ private chambers and not those from home visits by doctors New Delhi: Medicines account for the largest share of healthcare expenditure arising out of hospital visits by Indian households, whether seeking outpatient or inpatient services, but health-related non-medical expenses on travel or accommodation too pose big financial burdens, new research has indicated. The study, a comprehensive dissection of out-of-pocket...

-Newsclick.in Inadequate infrastructure and insufficient health personnel emerged as the leading problem keeping women from accessing medical care. As many as 60% of women in the country face trouble accessing healthcare for themselves, the findings of the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey(NFHS) have revealed. The complete report— which had surveyed women between the ages of 15-49 years about potential problems in obtaining medical treatment for themselves when they are...

-TheWire.in * According to the Union health ministry’s new Rural Health Statistics report, for 2020-2021, primary health centres have a surplus of doctors. * This could be true – although there are doubts about whether the report included the number of doctors on transitory, ad hoc appointments as well. * The report fails to capture the qualitative aspects of doctors’ availability at PHCs, including a hidden problem motivated by the absence of sufficient...