-The Times of India In a move that has angered the health ministry, the Planning Commission has asked for reversal of the long-standing public health policy from the 12th plan onwards ending governments' dominant role in providing health services and transiting to greater privatization of the health sector, something along the lines of the 'managed care' system which is followed in the US and Mexico. The health ministry has taken a tough...

-The Indian Express In Raipur hospitals, a joke doing the rounds these days is: “Soon, someone will file an RTI to know the number of uteruses left in Chhattisgarh.” What has prompted it is, however, no joke. If a series of media reports in the state is to be believed, the uteruses of thousands of women have been removed in unnecessary operations. These reports talk of doctors cheating BPL families by encouraging...

-The Hindu Growing demand for male children, ‘same-caste’ surrogates   Unregulated fertility clinics indulge in medical malpractices, including physical and economical exploitation of women, a study has shown. Shockingly, preference for male children and demand for ‘same caste’ surrogates are prevalent in India. “Some couples, say about 5 per cent, who come to my clinic demand surrogates from their own caste,” says Nayna Patel, of the Akanksha Fertility Clinic in Anand, Gujarat that has come...

-The Hindu Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre provides care, rehabilitation for free Around 10 days ago, when 15-month-old Dundavva was brought to the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) at the government hospital here, she was critically malnourished. Now, after her stay at the centre, she is not only recovering from chest infection, but is also gaining weight. An anganwadi worker brought Dundavva and her mother, Sharada, to the centre from Matyal village in Basavanabagewadi taluk. Pilot project Like Dundavva,...

-The Telegraph Beggars can’t be choosers — not even when it comes to quitting. The Centre plans to photograph and collect the fingerprints of the country’s estimated 7.3 lakh beggars for a proposed national database to launch a scheme aimed at ending the practice and offering sources of livelihood. The Union ministry of social justice is overseeing the project and has asked states to furnish details on beggars for the database. “A rehabilitation package...