-Hindustan Times Wheat, the country’s winter staple, has hit hurdles, with farmers unable to sow the normal area and instances of a dreaded fungus attack being reported from some parts of Punjab and Haryana, raising concerns of a lower output. Summer foodgrain output fell 1.7% at 124.05 million tonne, according to the government’s first of the four quarterly estimates due to a crippling back-to-back drought. This has hurt farm incomes, which support...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Health Management and Research, University, Jaipur, said that despite India being Polio-free, the growing cases of non-Polio acute flaccid paralysis is a huge cause of concern. India was declared free of the wild Polio virus in January 2011 however cases of flaccid paralysis continue to be reported in thousands from across the country. "Inspite of the WHO declaring India Polio-free, there has been...

-DNA Despite a certain amount of progress in the past decade or so, the report points out glaring gaps in healthcare infrastructure in the country -- "low resource allocation, low emphasis on primary health care, poor utilisation of human resources," as Professor K Srinath Reddy, one of the co-authors said. Yet another report on India's troubled health care system pointed out the country's poor performance across health indicators, despite economic advantages....

-IANS Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Thursday said there was a need to set up a special task force comprising both government and private healthcare sectors to ensure quality healthcare for every citizen of India. "Our vision is to provide universal healthcare coverage despite several challenges in the health sector. It can better be done by a special task force comprising the ministry and representatives of private healthcare sector," Nadda said. He...

-The Hindu Why New Delhi must not bask in the WHO’s Polio-free certification and, instead, have an ambitious plan to eradicate Polio-like flaccid paralysis. On November 30, the day India introduced an Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) in its routine immunisation programme, stating that it “will be an important step in the Polio Endgame Strategy”, a case of Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) was reported from New Delhi. This was the second such...