-Down to Earth People in low-, middle-income countries often have to pay out of their pocket and seek care elsewhere Funding in primary healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries is insufficient and access to it inequitable, a new study has reiterated. Patients often have to pay for the services out of their pocket, the report published in the journal The Lancet Global Health April 4, 2022 noted, adding that these systems have...

-Newsclick.in The budgetary allocation for health was only 2.1% of the total Budget Estimates for 2022-2023. New Delhi: A Parliamentary Standing Committee has raised concerns over “less priority” being accorded to the health sector in the Budget. The committee, headed by Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, noted that “the budgetary allocation for the ministry of health and family welfare accounts for 2.1% of the total BE 2022-23 (Budget Estimates...

-Down to Earth The arduous journeys of those who migrate for medical treatment in India Marta kya na karta (One can do anything when pushed to the wall),” says 40-year-old Rita Kumari from Supaul district of north Bihar. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was tightening its grip across the country Rita and her daughter, Sandhya, had to undertake multiple trips to hospitals in Nepal and Uttar Pradesh, before reaching the All...

-PTI/ NDTV Finance secretary T V Somanathan on Monday said healthcare is primarily the responsibility of the states  Mumbai: Finance secretary TV Somanathan on Monday said healthcare is primarily the responsibility of the states, amid suggestions by the industry that the budgetary allocation for the sector is still low at 1.3 per cent of GDP. At a post-budget interaction of industry representatives in Mumbai with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Confederation of Indian Industry...

-Scroll.in At a time when upper classes continue to thrive on waves of profit maximisation, the social and economic safety net of the poor has been gradually eroding. Amidst all the talk on two Bharats, are we seeing a time horizon where India’s elite may abandon the country’s poor and vulnerable? This is a question I have been contemplating about for a few months now. My curiosity peaked days after the recent Union...