New Delhi: Oct 21, 2010

The Delhi High Court issued a series of directives to the Delhi Government for the welfare of destitute pregnant and lactating women in the Capital. A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan issued the directives while hearing a suo motu petition about the delivery of a baby girl on the street in the Lutyens' Delhi area in August this year by an indigent woman. 

Read more

New Delhi: Oct 20, 2010

The Planning Commission has set up a high level 15-member expert group to develop a blueprint and investment plan for meeting the human resource requirements to achieve ‘health for all' by 2020. Chaired by K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, this group is mandated to rework the physical and financial norms needed to ensure quality, universal reach and access to healthcare services, particularly in underserved areas and to indicate the role of private and public service providers. 

Read more

Chandigarh: Oct 19, 2010

Haryana may be basking in the golden glow of women medal winners at the Commonwealth Games but the average Haryanvi continues to disfavour the girl child, posting the worst gender skew in five years. The sex ratio in Haryana has skidded to its lowest of 834 girls for 1,000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years in the past five years. In 2006, it was 857 girls for 1,000 boys as per information accessed by TOI under RTI. The latest figures have been compiled through civil registration system (CRS), up to August 2010. 

Read more

Chennai: Oct 19, 2010

Tamil Nadu will soon have a centralised data resource centre to collect relevant data across all health departments. The HMIS will be able to function as a one-stop shop for all information on health in Tamil Nadu, and as such will be able to influence policy-making in the health sector, according to S. Vijayakumar, project director, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project (TNHSP). Once it is through, it is likely to be the first such system in the country, Principal Secretary, Health, V.K. Subburaj told The Hindu. 

Read more

New Delhi: Oct 16, 2010

The estimated adult HIV prevalence in the country has declined from 0.45 per cent in 2002 to 0.29 per cent in 2008, the latest official data has shown. Similarly, the estimated number of people living with HIV also declined from 2.73 million to 2.27 million over the same period. However, there is a significant variation in the trends with the data showing that the HIV epidemic has stabilised in the four high-prevalence States of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Read more

Chandigarh: Oct 12, 2010

With its commitment to provide affordable and quality health care to people, especially those living Below Poverty Line (BPL), the Haryana government has brought 5.47 lakh BPL families under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a health insurance scheme. “The beneficiaries of the insurance sceme have utilised medical benefits worth Rs 22.16 crore so far. Under the scheme, BPL families are being provided free health care insurance cover up to Rs 30,000 per annum on floater basis up to five members of a family. 

Read more

Hyderabad: Oct 11, 2010

The Andhra Pradesh government has initiated a number of moves to pep up health care system in the state. Approval of a project called ‘Sushrutha’, which aims to establish 22 state-of-the-art operation theaters (OTs) in Gandhi Hospital and Secunderabad. The project will cost an estimated Rs 25 crore and will be implemented based on a managed services model, which enables organisations transfer management responsibility as a strategic method for improved operations.

Read more

New York: Oct 06, 2010

Governments and corporations committed to provide $11.7 billion to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from 2011-2013. The fresh resources were pledged to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria during a replenishment and pledging conference held in New York. The amount pledged surpassed the $9.7 billion that the Global Fund received during its previous three-year period to implement health programmes in 144 developing countries. 

Read more

Chandigarh: Oct 06, 2010

In a move which would give an impetus to quality health care services in Punjab, the state government has finalised a plan to invest Rs 346 crore on improving infrastructure, purchasing modern equipment and recruiting more doctors. The project involves building more hospitals of 30 to 100 bed capacity. Besides upgrading various district and sub-divisional hospitals along with community health centres, the government plans to construct 29 community health centres, a district hospital at Nawanshahr and sub-divisional hospitals in Khadoor Sahib, Bholath, Moonak, Tappa and Guddha.

Read more

Imphal: Oct 05, 2010

HIV poses a serious challenge to society as well as government in Manipur. The Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP +) started its education support to children infected and affected with HIV/AIDS in January last year and intends to continue the support until such time that government education schemes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and others incorporate children affected by HIV and AIDS and are effectively implemented in the State,” Deepak, president of MNP said. 

Read more