-The Hindu The Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, recently said he "supports" higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. But even if he were to substantially increase the tax rates, will it make cigarettes and other tobacco products very expensive and hence reduce consumption? In the case of India, as per the current taxation practices, increasing the tax component is quite unlikely to reduce consumption drastically. This is unlike the...
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Tobacco use accounts for 40 per cent of all cancers in India, says report-R Prasad
-The Times of India "Number of deaths may shoot up to 1.2 million by 2035" Every year nearly one million new cancer cases are diagnosed in India, the prevalence being 2.5 million. With mortalities of 6,00,000-7,00,000 a year, cancer causes six per cent of all adult deaths in the country. The number of deaths per year is projected to shoot up to 1.2 million by 2035, according to a series of papers published...
More »Health expense is a major burden on rural citizenry
The share of total expenditure on medical and healthcare is comparatively higher for an average rural citizen than his/her urban counterpart, reveals the latest available National Sample Survey Report (68th Round) entitled Level and Pattern of Consumer Expenditure 2011-12. Although an average urban Indian spends nearly 84 percent higher than his/her rural counterpart in a month, the share of total outlay on medical expense* is higher in case of the...
More »India growth story marred by disturbing inequity -Sachin Kumar Jain
-Down to Earth 68th Round of National Sample Survey makes it amply clear that the wave of economic growth has not percolated down from the 0.003 per cent of population of ruling elite (as per Income Tax records, only 42,800 persons have taxable Income more than Rs 1 crore in India). 99.996 per cent population is spending between just Rs 25.90 and Rs 37.36 per capita per day (average MPCE) in...
More »Treatment alone will not win war on cancer: prevention is crucial, UN reports
-The United Nations With new cancer cases worldwide expected to rise from 14 million to 22 million per year within the next two decades, and annual cancer deaths rising from 8.2 million to 13 million, the United Nations today called for multipronged preventive action including treaties and laws extending tobacco-style restrictions to alcohol and sweetened beverages. "More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed in order to complement improved treatments...
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