-The Hindu ‘Cost of an inpatient episode is much higher in private sector’ Bulk of the total public money spent in State-level Healthcare system is not spent on medical services, but goes to wages and salaries of human resource, reveals a study of Health accounts of six States. Wages and salaries account for 86 per cent of the total public expenditure in Punjab, 72 per cent in Maharashtra, 65 per cent in Kerala,...

-PTI Washinton: Research compares impact of dung cake burning versus the burning of municipal solid waste on browning of Taj Mahal and on the Health of people living nearby. Burning of municipal solid waste in the vicinity of the iconic Taj Mahal is significantly contributing to the discolouring of the world heritage monument, an Indo-American research team has found. The research compared the impact of dung cake burning versus the burning of municipal...

-The Hindu The Global TB Report 2016, recently released, has revised the estimates for the tuberculosis (TB) burden in India upwards. The country has 27 per cent of the global burden of incident tuberculosis and 34 per cent of global TB deaths. For the year 2015, the updated estimate of incidence (new and relapse TB cases per year) is 2.8 million cases. India diagnosed and notified 1.7 million incident TB patients...

-Hindustan Times Rewa/ Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) has taken cognizance of four malnourishment deaths reported over the last three months in Rewa district. MPHRC has also asked for a detailed report from chief medical and Health officer (CMHO), Rewa SK Tripathi on the malnutrition deaths. Three of the children who died were girls. One of them died just a couple of days back.Deaths of 62 children over five months in...

-The Hindu The overcrowding of prisons in the country is a long-standing problem that is seldom addressed effectively. Even though the Supreme Court has, from time to time, raised the issue of prison reforms in general, and that of overcrowding in particular, measures to decongest jails have been sporadic and half-hearted. The issue is once again in the news, with the Supreme Court bemoaning that prisons in Delhi and nine States...