In short

National plan on non-communicable diseases

No labelling for GM food

New food safety regulation ignores it despite a four-year-old law

Budget brings no relief to health sector

FM does not mention Universal Health Coverage, combines rural and urban health missions while making allocations

After extensive lobbying, two-finger test finally removed from proforma for medical examination of rape victims

Uniform protocol and further research in forensic medicine required

Lung infections to panic attacks: Those who ‘beat’ COVID-19, but did not recover

Amid studies hinting at long-term impacts of COVID-19 infection, the world, including India, has started monitoring people who recovered from the …

Deaths due to non-communicable diseases increased by 37 per cent since 1990

Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu have the largest share of non-communicable diseases, according to the 2016 India State-level Disease Burden study

Supreme Court issues notices on unethical drug trials

1,727 persons have died during drug trials between 2007 and 2010, says public interest petition

Convalescent plasma therapy may go off Indian protocol for COVID-19: ICMR

PM Modi urges citizens to follow precautions during upcoming festive season

South-east Asian nations pledge to eliminate measles by 2020

Doctors say it may hamper people from acquiring natural immunity

Ads term gutkha ban unfair

Analysts call the ads misleading; health ministry plans action against industry

Audit of India's water bodies confirms their polluted status

CAG assessment reveals governments' inaction in curbing water pollution

Rising trend

Poor and the young are new victims of hypertension

Checks on drug trials

Court intervention prompts guidelines for drug trials. Pharmaceutical companies lobby to dilute them

Will appellate body uphold grant of compulsory licence to cancer drug?

Hearing on Bayer's appeal against manufacture of generic version of Nexavar to conclude this week

COVID-19: Centre doesn’t clarify basis for CDSCO authorising remdesivir

Government also does not provide clarity about whether remdesivir should be given to only severe patients

COVID-19: How distant laws, uneven measures afflict sanitation workers

The pandemic has further aggravated the dichotomy of livelihood and safety of sanitation workers 

'Chhattisgarh's PPP model for diagnostic services flawed'

Team of experts deputed by Centre says state's plan could lead to denial of services to poor patients and filing of false claims

Who controls

India’s mysterious diseases: What is NCDC doing?

There is enough evidence to show that National Centre for Disease Control on diseases is not equipped to deal with the country’s …

Operation cover-up

Rat poison theory offered by the Chhattisgarh government to explain the sterilisation deaths is a facade, finds an investigation by Jyotsna Singh.…

Gutkha sympathiser

Enforcement agencies had a busy year. They were tough at times, lenient at others

No community transmission of COVID-19 in India, health ministry repeats

Silent on deadline for Indian COVID-19 vaccine; says human trials yet to take off  

Troubled minds

In spite of a National Mental Health Programme being in place, very few people suffering from mental illnesses in India get treatment, either …

PMO orders huge cuts in social sector spending for 2015-16

Employment guarantee, rural road and sanitation schemes among those likely to be affected