-The Telegraph New Delhi: Patients' rights groups have accused the Centre of trying to use a decade-old programme that delivers inexpensive medicines through government-supported retail outlets to promote the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) on Monday expressed concern at what they said was the "misuse of the public-funded Pradhanmantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana for the promotion of one political party". They said...

-The Indian Express Patient shelters must become part of urban infrastructure. Ramkishan Yadav (name changed) hails from Begusarai district in Bihar. He has been in Delhi for the past seven months to complete the treatment of his 11-year-old son, who suffers from a “treatable” form of bone cancer. The father and son live on the footpath in front of the main gate of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in...

-Deccan Chronicle Ayush ministry states that experience and evidence of effectiveness of these drugs is based on textual rationale and published in literature. Hyderabad: Fraudsters would flourish if patented or proprietary Ayruvedic, Siddha and Unani products are given licence without insisting on safety trials, industry experts and medical professionals have stated. The Centre has issued drug regulators in states a directive to issue licenses to patented and proprietary products of Ayurvedic, Siddha and...

-IANS NEW DELHI: India spends just a little over one per cent of its GDP on healthcare and this is leading the country into "a comprehensive healthcare crisis", according to Nobel laureate and noted economist Amartya Sen, who has called for greater allocation on healthcare in India and highlighted what he calls "three general failures" in the country's healthcare segment. "The fact that India allocates only a little over 1 per cent...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Patients' rights advocates in India on Tuesday filed two oppositions in the Indian patent office, challenging patent claims by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences for its medicines sofosbuvir and velpatasvir, used to treat hepatitis-C infections. The oppositions filed by the Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) challenge Gilead's patent applications for the tablet formulations of the fixed dose combination of sofosbuvir and velpatasvir and a new form...