Jan Aushadhi Stores fail to take off

Bindeshwari, a scrap dealer in Punjab’s Ludhiana district, was asked to buy Cefzy-250 by the doctor treating his wife.

Nagaur breaks free of pharma stranglehold

Patients visiting public health centres in Nagaur district in central Rajasthan these days rarely buy branded drugs. Doctors direct them to the government- run generic medicine stores (GMS) where quality drugs are available at low cost.

Pharma companies determine what patients buy

In an ideal market economy competition lowers prices of consumer goods. It is just the opposite in the case of pharmaceutical products. More expensive brands sell more.

Letters

Band-aid for rural health The Centre and Medical Council of India’s decision to start a new degree course—Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (brms)—to cater to villages is a retrograde step that will only widen the gap between the rural and the urban people. The health minister’s argument that doctors are reluctant to work in rural areas is correct, but the reasons behind this have to be analyzed before arriving at a decision.

Sops in naxal areas

The Orissa government plans to offer incentives to motivate officials reluctant to work in naxal areas. Though the government is yet to work out the package details, chief secretary T K Mishra said government employees posted in the naxal belt deserve incentives in line with the police. Seventeen of the 30 districts in Orissa are naxal-hit. The situation is precarious in southern Orissa where many government posts are lying vacant.

Webcams rein in footloose doctors

Government doctors serving in rural areas of Orissa are often found missing from workplace. So, the chief district medical officer of the tribal dominated Sonepur district decided to use technology to watch over the doctors.

Left to quacks

Two-year-old Khushi Kumari loves racing with her siblings and at the end of each run she gives out a hearty laugh. The only time she breaks into fits of inconsolable crying is when approached by a stranger. “She fears she would get injections again,” said her mother Dinapati Yadav of Haldichapra village in Patna district.

Doctors get reminder on ethics

The Medical Council of India (mci) has amended the ethical guidelines for doctors to discourage them from accepting favours from pharma companies to promote their products. This is the first such amendment in seven years.

Health hotline

Orissa’s health officials are now part of a closed users group (cug) facility that allows them to communicate over cellular phones free of cost. Over 18,000 employees, including the health secretary, are linked through the BSNL phone facility launched in March.

Doctors rush for village posting

Assam doubles salary the Assam government on September 16 recruited 768 doctors for rural postings. "This will ensure that every panchayat has at least one doctor," said health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after handing over appointment letters to the doctors in Guwahati.