New Delhi: April 28, 2011

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved an intensified malaria control project at an estimated cost of Rs 417.22 crore for seven northeast states in the country. The CCEA cleared the Health Ministry proposal for Intensified Malaria Control Project-II (IMCP-II) for seven northeast states (except Sikkim) under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) with support from Global Fund for AIDS, TB and malaria.

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New Delhi: April 26, 2011

Even as the plans for promoting iron rich salt is on government's anvil, the programme may not be implemented soon for lack of funds, a Health Ministry official said. A meeting at the Prime Minister's Office last week decided that iron-fortified iodised salt will be promoted to deal with malnutrition and the problem of anaemia in the country. The meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was attended by the officials from the Health Ministry, Women and Child Development Ministry, and representatives from the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.

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New Delhi: April 23, 2011

India’s malaria figures till now seem to have been highly underestimated. Under the country’s National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), malaria was believed to have infected 1.53 million and killed just over 1,100 in 2009. However, World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated over 15,000 deaths. Fresh estimates worked out by experts from WHO, Union health ministry and NVBDCP — based on a new methodology — says the number of deaths is more than double of what WHO had earlier estimated.

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Thiruvananthapuram: April 23, 2011

Doctors at a government hospital in Cherthala, Kerala, conducted 21 caesarian surgeries in two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, to be able to celebrate Easter holidays unhindered. This, when the taluk hospital in Alapuzha district barely has facilities to conduct six such surgeries a day, and does not even have proper post-natal facilities. The state on Friday constituted an expert committee to probe the issue.

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Bhubaneswar: April 23, 2011

The State Health and Family Welfare Department here claimed that use of technology in disease surveillance made a difference in responding to outbreak of different communicable and non-communicable diseases. At present the State surveillance unit and 30 district surveillance units are functioning with trained IT personnel deployed at various positions, department said in a statement.

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New Delhi: April 23, 2011

On an average, doctors in developing countries spend less than 60 seconds in prescribing medicines and explaining the regimen to their patients, according to World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Medicines Situation 2011. As a result, only half the patients receive any advice on how to take their medicines and about one third of them don’t know how to take their medicines immediately on leaving the facility. Though around 80% of all prescribed medicines are dispensed — usually, they are done by untrained personnel — and as many as 20-50% of medicines dispensed are not labelled.

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New Delhi: April 22, 2011

India’s paradise on earth, Jammu & Kashmir, isn’t all that heavenly a place for a girl child. The state, which is also home to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, has seen the single largest decline in sex ratio in the country, according to provisional Census 2011 as compared to Census 2001. While in 2001, the number of girls per 1,000 boys (aged between 0-6) stood at 941, the latest Census found that it has plummeted to 859. At present, there are 82 fewer girls in the state per 1,000 boys.

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New Delhi: April 21, 2011

Dissatisfied with the quality of data in the health sector and its non-availability for knowledge generation, the Centre proposes to develop a database of research resources in this field. The Department of Health Research is drafting a knowledge Management Policy for Health Service, which proposes to disseminate data relating to the manpower and equipment available with different laboratories, medical and dental colleges and universities across the country. The final draft document of the Policy also focuses on enhancing the role of public-private partnership and preparing a national information system of research funding.

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New Delhi: April 20, 2011

Only around 6% of cases filed against doctors involved in sex-selection practices in the 17 states which have the most skewed sex ratio have ended up in convictions till date. According to Union health ministry’s latest data — prepared for a crucial meeting of health secretaries of the 17 states on Wednesday — a total of 805 cases have been filed in court against doctors till March 31, ever since the revised Preconception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act came into force. Only 55 convictions have been recorded since then.

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Chandigarh: April 20, 2011

Faced with an acute shortage of specialists in government hospitals, Haryana's health department has decided to sponsor post-graduate studies of doctors on the condition that they work with the state for a certain number of years. That is not all. The health department is even willing to allow these doctors to go in for higher studies -- for super specialty in their respective fields of expertise. "Doctors would be sponsored for higher studies with full pay in the specialties where there is shortage of specialists. Their study period would also be treated as service period for all intent and purposes," Haryana Health Minister Rao Narender Singh said.

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