-The Hindu 12-member team to go beyond present crisis, prepare road map for transparent budgeting with States The Supreme Court has constituted a 12-member National Task Force to streamline and ensure the “effective and transparent” allocation of liquid medical oxygen on a “scientific, rational and equitable basis” to States and Union Territories fighting COVID-19. The apex court had expressed its dissatisfaction at the Centre’s earlier “oxygen-for-bed” formula. This “rough-and-ready” arrangement, as the court...

-TheWire.in The letter by the former Delhi chief justice highlights the dangers of decriminalising the Companies Act, introducing electoral bonds, weakening the RTI Act and not implementing of the Lokpal Act and Whistleblowers Protection Act. New Delhi: In a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former chief justice of Delhi high court and noted rights activist A.P. Shah has lamented that “instead of increasing transparency and accountability and making the deterrents...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Some major private hospitals like Fortis, Apollo, Medanta and Narayana Health have expressed concern over the government’s ambitious ‘Ayushman Bharat’ fixing prices of some critical procedures, saying the rates are not viable for them. Senior executives from some private hospitals met officials of Niti Aayog and health ministry on Friday over this issue following representations by various industry forums, sources said. “It appears that, overall, no...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Fortis Healthcare today said its subsidiary Escort Heart Institute & Research Centre has been directed to deposit Rs 503.36 crore to Director General of Health Services within a month on account of unwarranted profit. Fortis said Escort Heart Institute & Research Centre (EHIRCL) had received an order dated June 9, 2016, from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) for the recovery of Rs 503.36 crore on account...

-TheWire.in This is the last full budget of the present government and the last opportunity for it to demonstrate its commitment to India’s health and nutrition. Slow improvements in basic indicators of maternal and child mortality, double burden of communicable as well as non-communicable diseases, high out-of-pocket expenditure, a failing public sector and heavily commercialised private sector characterise the healthcare crisis in India. The year 2017 saw a number of incidents in the...