Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...

The goal of universal health care requires an overhaul of the public health system, medical education and regulatory mechanisms. At long last, public health is on the agenda of the country’s policy makers. The Prime Minister’s Republic Day speech mentioned that the Twelfth Plan would focus on health just as the Eleventh Plan had focussed on education. But the manner in which the education sector has been messed with does not...

While the country has made progress in reducing poverty, it has lagged behind in improving sanitation India has made headway in reducing poverty and giving access to drinking water for much of its population, but has lagged behind in improving sanitation, food security, maternal mortality and gender equity standards, putting it at risk of missing key targets, said the Millennium Development Goals Report 2012 released on Monday. According to the report, which...

-PTI The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to apprise it of measures taken to regulate sale of acids to prevent their misuse as a weapon, particularly against women by jilted lovers. The court sought a “comprehensive affidavit” from the Union home ministry, which had been asked to consider appropriate provisions for “regulation of sale of acid so that it is not easily or readily available to offenders”. A bench of Justices R.M....

-PTI Every four minutes, one person takes his own life in this country and one in every five suicides is that of a housewife. This and other startling figures are part of a government report 'Accidental Deaths and Sucides in India 2011' released here recently. According to the report, the number of suicides have increased in 2011 by 0.7% to touch 1,35,585 compared to 1,34,599 in the previous year. West Bengal has reported the...