-Live Mint The Indian state has done little to provide preventive public health services New data released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) have once again underlined the abysmal state of sanitation in the country, particularly in rural India where two-thirds of the country lives. Only 32% of rural households have their own toilets, according to the recently released results of a large-scale survey conducted by NSSO in 2012. An additional...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Doctors and medical establishments must be dealt with strictly for their negligence in giving treatment to patients, the Supreme Court on Thursday held and asked the government to enact laws for effective functioning of the private hospitals and nursing homes. "The doctors, hospitals, the nursing homes and other connected establishments are to be dealt with strictly if they are found to be negligent with the patients who come to...

-The Hindu In addition to ailments caused by poverty, salt pan workers across the country suffer from several occupational diseases, including chronic dermatitis, loss of vision and hypothyroidism In Adivasi Colony, a remote hamlet off the road from Vedaranyam to Kodikarai in Tamil Nadu, most of the adults in the 200-odd households work in salt manufacturing. They prepare salt pans manually, irrigate them with saline water which is three times saltier than...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: An ailing economy and an emerging destination for medical tourism, India has just made it easier for its bureaucrats and their immediate family members to fly abroad for treatment at the government's expense. The Centre has decided to reimburse the total cost of treatment abroad as well as fund the return airfare for IAS, IPS and IFS officers, changing the 30-year-old rules at a time the government...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding strong warnings by the parliamentary standing committee on health, new drugs continue to be approved for marketing in the country without holding any clinical trials on Indian patients to test their safety and efficacy. Sources in the Health Ministry admit that as many as 26 new drug molecules have been approved since 2010 without testing them through drug trials on local populations. While eight new drug molecules of biologicals...