Dehradun: May 17, 2010

The Uttarkhand government has decided to expand the health smart card scheme to six more districts of the state. Six districts where this scheme is being extended include Pithoragarh, Champawat, Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli and Uttarkashi. With this expansion, eight districts out of a total 13 would be covered under the scheme. The remaining districts would be covered in the next phase of the expansion. The health smart cards are provided under the Rashtriya Beema Suraksha Yojna run by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). This card entitles the below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders get free medical facilities upto Rs 30,000 for the whole family whose size is taken at five members.

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New Delhi: May 17, 2010

“Over a year ago, a 27-year-old contractual employee, part of the government's tuberculosis control programme working in Ghaziabad, committed suicide in his office because his job offered him nothing in terms of job security, health care benefits, pension or even compensation in case of death on duty,'' say All-India TB Control Programme Employees Association chairman R. M. Tripathi. “His death highlights the plight of over 25,000 contractual employees of Revised National TB Control Programme, 519 of whom work in the Capital,'' he added. The Association has now approached the Prime Minister asking him to intervene and look at providing justice to the contractual employees who are part of the successfully running TB programme in India.

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Chandigarh: May 17, 2010

The Punjab government has approved a Rs 320 crore plan for the construction of new hospitals and upgradation of existing hospitals across the state. Chairing a meeting of the Health and Family Welfare Department here, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that work on the project should be allotted by the end of September this year. The government has proposed the construction of one new district hospital at Nawanshahr town, four new sub-divisional hospitals at Khadoor Sahib (district Tarn Taran), Bholath (Kapurthala), Moonak (Sangrur), Tapa (Barnala) and 29 community health centres (CHCs) at other places. New equipment for district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, CHCs and primary health centres (PHCs) at a cost of Rs 70 crore will also be provided. These include dialysis units, mammography machines, colour-dopplers, ultrasound machines, digital X-ray machines and other machines.

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Patiala: May 16, 2010

Rampant female foeticide continues to push the sex ratio of Punjab against females; unfortunately, the evil is more prevalent among the educated, the rich and the urban bred. The 2006 National Family Health Survey shows that prosperity does little to curb the evil as Punjab's overall sex ratio at birth (considered a more accurate indicator of female foeticide) was 776 against 793 in 2001. In urban areas, it goes further down to 761:1,000. However, Punjab's sex ratio of the second child when the first child is a male, goes up to a healthy 1,003:1,000, in other words, after one son, families are less inclined to go in for sex determination tests and foeticide.

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New Delhi: May 14, 2010

The Health Ministry has decided to set up a seven-member panel of doctors to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) whose chief was arrested on corruption charges and subsequently resigned. The name of former All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director P Venugopal is believed to figure in the list of members appointed to the panel. The cabinet had on Thursday approved an ordinance giving the Health Ministry higher control over the MCI, a body which regulates medical colleges in the country. Desai was arrested on April 22 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs two crore in return for giving recognition to a medical college in Punjab though it did not meet MCI standards.

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New Delhi:  May 14, 2010

The Bill for regulating clinical establishments to ensure safer health practices will be passed by Parliament in the coming Monsoon Session, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said. The Bill will ensure safer health practices by regulating clinics and nursing homes across the country, he added. Stating that patients' safety is the casualty in over-burdened public health institutions, the minister said the passing of the bill will be a step in rectifying the situation. Speaking about other initiatives in the direction, he said a national policy for infection control and patient safety was being formulated by the health ministry to promote safe practices in the health sector.

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New Delhi: May 13, 2010

Indian traditional medicine received a major boost with the cabinet sanctioning Rs 14.08 crore for establishing a pharmacopoeia commission to set and maintain standards in the sector. "The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of a pharmacopoeia commission for ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy (AYUSH)," said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is estimated that the global market for traditional and herbal medicines is worth US $62 billion, of which China's share is US $19 billion. India still has a long way to go to increase its share and the establishment of the pharmacopoeia commission for AYUSH is a very important step in this direction, Soni explained.

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Bhopal: May 13, 2010

Here's good news for pregnant women in Madhya Pradesh's rural areas. A free service to take them to a hospital for delivery is set to be extended to all 50 districts of the state that has a high maternal mortality ratio. The 24 x 7 call centres under the Janani Express - the ambulance service for pregnant women - are currently available only in 10 districts. "We are extending the services to all 50 districts this year considering its usefulness," said Health Secretary S.R. Mohanty. The move comes after a rise in the number of women availing themselves of the facility and an increase in the number of institutional deliveries in the state, which has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios (MMR) in the country at 335 per 100,000 live births.

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Patna: May 13, 2010

In a move to bolster Bihar's public health standards, the State government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The objective is to accelerate State-wide improvements in maternal, newborn and child health. Mr. Gates said Bihar remained a priority as far as immunisation drives were concerned, and stressed on the reduction of infant mortality rates, full immunisation coverage and breast feeding. Terming the MoC a “milestone,” he expressed satisfaction at the progress in reducing the number of polio cases in the Kosi belt areas, along with the strides being taken to improve women's health in the State. The Bihar government and the Foundation anticipate the programmes and activities governed by the memorandum to have a five-year duration, from 2010 to 2015.

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New Delhi: May 13, 2010

The Union government will go ahead with the proposed Bachelor of Rural Health Care. This assertion came from Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in response to questions by journalists whether the government would put the proposal on hold in the wake of the arrest of Ketan Desai, president of the Medical Council of India (MCI). The Minister said it was a government initiative where public sector hospitals would also function as training schools with no involvement of the private sector.

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