Questionable drug trials on mentally challenged persons by doctors in Indore emphasise the need for strict enforcement of medical ethics. IN what appears to be a page out of Robin Cook's medical thriller, government and private doctors in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, reportedly carried out clinical trials of various medicines on some 233 patients who had gone to them seeking psychiatric treatment. As in Cook's famous book Coma, in which a medical...

-CNN-IBN Five more infants died at Malda Sadar Hospital on Friday, taking the death toll in one week to 37. "37 infants have died since the last seven days. Three infants and two children have died in the last 24 hours," reports said. Most of the children have died after they were referred from rural hospitals in critical state, the hospital said. The babies, who were born underweight and suffered from broncho pneumonia, were...

The Centre is irked by the lackadaisical attitude of Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa in notifying rules under the Right to Education act even two years after its enforcement. The Union HRD ministry has decided to tick off the states for the delay in notifying the rules, key to implementing the RTE law that provides for free and compulsory education to children between six and 14 years. Kapil Sibal will next week...

-The Hindu   At a time when Karnataka is in the news for increase in the number of malnourished children, the Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka (JAAK), an NGO working in the field of health, has come out with a portal on hunger The portal, www.republicofhunger.org, is aimed at conveying to people the depth of the problem and will serve as a watchdog, and examine the claims of the State Government regarding the issue...

-The Hindu   Samajika Parivarthana Janandolana (SPJ) and Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), Karnataka, have appealed to Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to rethink the appointment of IAS officer E. Shivalingamurthy to the post of the Director of Women and Child Welfare Department. An appeal In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, SPJ State organiser Y. Mariswamy has said Mr. Shivalingamurthy is one of the three IAS officers against whom a high-level committee,...