In the month of April this year, there has been an unprecedented upsurge in daily new cases and daily new deaths in the country due to Covid-19. States, which reported large increases in daily new cases and daily new deaths, are Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, to name but a few.   Data accessed from https://www.covid19india.org/, which is a crowdsourced platform and an independent aggregator of daily Covid-19 figures and...

-The Hindu They advise against Covaxin, say there is no proof of efficacy. Several experts have raised concern over the “hasty approval” granted to the COVID-19 vaccines despite the lack of adequate efficacy data. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on Sunday accorded approval for restricted emergency use of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and the indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin of Bharat Biotech. “I’m completely unaware...

-The Telegraph Call to govt to adopt 'cost-based' control The 30 per cent cap on profit margins imposed by India’s drug pricing authority on 42 anti-cancer drugs will have a limited impact on patients’ expenses because many of these medicines’ prices remain “prohibitive”, a network of patients’ rights groups said on Saturday. The All India Drug Action Network (Aidan) said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority’s cap on profit margins in effect “legitimises” the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Patients' rights groups have accused the Centre of trying to use a decade-old programme that delivers inexpensive medicines through government-supported retail outlets to promote the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) on Monday expressed concern at what they said was the "misuse of the public-funded Pradhanmantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana for the promotion of one political party". They said...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Three fathers who lost a child each to alleged medical negligence and a patients' rights group have asked the Union health ministry to establish new mechanisms to address complaints of negligence. The existing institutional mechanisms to protect patients has failed and broken down, their letter to minister J.P. Nadda and health officials on Saturday said. The parents and the rights group, the All India Drug Action Network, have sought...