The outbreak of Cholera in Kashipur block of Rayagada and other 7 districts has resulted in the death of more than 17 people and unrelieved suffering of hundreds is reported by the Health minister in Assembly. For the last three decades , this has not been a new one to Kashipur and other tribal populous areas of the[Read More…]
The Government is in the process of finalizing a new public health bill while repealing the 125 year old Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. While few will question the need for replacing such an old and outdated law, there is also urgent need for carefully studying the various provisions of the new bill so that it is not coercive and[Read More…]
While so many differences have emerged in the context of the recent response to COVID-19 in various countries, one point on which it should be possible to establish wider agreement is that this response would have been much better if a robust, strong, well-rooted, trustworthy and trust-creating, community-based , well-resourced health system was in place in all rural as[Read More…]
Members of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyaan have joined the Socialist Party of India and other civil society organizations in calling for the nationalization of all health infrastructure and all medical education services and infrastructure in the country, without any delay. In a press release, Socialist Party (India) said nationalization was necessitated by the “acute national emergency threatening public health and[Read More…]
The global health emergency that jolted the world from its slumber made us realize the value and importance of health, probably the only positive outcome of the pandemic. Baring few nations, others struggled hard to cope with their crumbling health infrastructure. In India too, Health sector which had long been overshadowed and ignored in both priority and fund’s in the[Read More…]
All those concerned are eagerly looking forward to significantly increased allocations for health and education sectors in the new union budget, particularly in the former, as so much loss has been suffered in these two sectors that several years of steady, even if slow, progress has been pushed back. People suffering many serious non-Covid diseases were denied essential medical help[Read More…]
A futuristic vision was very much evident in India at different points of time starting with the Bhore committee report. At the international context, a futuristic orientation in health and wellbeing was discernible from an official and institutional framework related to proclamation of goals, firstly the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), followed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Around the same[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr. Swati Sapna & Upasna Gaba The World Health Organization (WHO) defines generic medicine as “a pharmaceutical product, usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product that is manufactured without a license from the innovator company and marketed after the expiry date of the patent or other exclusive rights.”(1) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that[Read More…]
Healthy families are the foundation for healthy communities. When people are healthy, humanity moves forward. There is nothing more important than good health, and reliable healthcare for all the family. Universal health coverage (UHC), which aims to ensure that all people receive quality and adequate healthcare without suffering financial hardship, is an integral part of achieving the UN-mandated Sustainable Development[Read More…]
According to WHO, “Universal Health Care (UHC) means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. UHC does not mean free coverage for all possible health interventions, regardless of the cost, as no[Read More…]
by Dr. Chandrima Chatterjee, Dr. Parul Malik and Dr. Arathi P Rao Globalization has been described by the economist Brian Easton [1] as “problematic”. He also mentions that often writers avoid explaining about globalization analytically but rather, relate it to a series of phenomena such as capital flow, international organizations and policies as the likes of “free trade”. There is[Read More…]
by Dr. Arathi P Rao, Dr Parul Malik, Dr. Anil K Bhat and Dr. Kesavan Rajasekharan Nayar The concept of “Health Literacy” (HL) is gaining importance, more so in the COVID-19 era and is now being frequently applied in various studies. The levels of HL are being assessed for patients, their caregivers and the population in general (students, teachers etc.).[Read More…]
As a coup de grâce to the Bernie Sanders campaign Joe Biden declared that he would veto Medicare-for-All. This could drive a dedicated health care advocate to relentlessly pursue Med-4-All as a final goal. However, it is not the final goal. It should be the first step in a complete transformation of medicine which includes combining community medicine with natural[Read More…]
“Swasthya seva hamara adhikar Ise degi hamari Sarkar” The spread of Corona Virus in India and the subsequent misery of the Migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, ICU’S, absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc. It is a great pity that while[Read More…]
Co-Written by Iffat Jahan Azhar Prof. Mohammad Akram According to World Health Organisation (WHO), healthcare services, all over the world, aim to ensure that necessary services are accessible to people at affordable prices. But it seems different in low and middle income countries including India, where government’s spending on healthcare is very little and healthcare financing is heavily relying upon[Read More…]
A lot had already been written about the high morbidity conscious Kerala society and especially what was being called in the early eighties as the ‘Kerala Paradox’. This essentially is a conceptual complex which meant that the morbidity rate was very high in Kerala compared to the low mortality and it also meant that the state could achieve better health[Read More…]
Dr Sandeep Pandey, Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant Mahatma Gandhi’s talisman is perhaps the best guiding light to reform the public health system in the wake of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic: “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test- “Recall the face of the[Read More…]
Health system in India has seen several incongruities since its independence. Public health expenditure, inspite of repeated promises in election manifestos as well as in policy documents towards raising it to 2.5 to 3 % of GDP, remains around 1 to 2 %. The the existing health care infrastructure is flawed and inadequate; the hospitals are under-staffed, under-financed compelling the[Read More…]
Mohalla Clinics are primary health centres in the state of New Delhi in India, that offer a basic package of essential health services including medicines, diagnostics, and consultation free of cost.Mohalla in Hindi means neighborhood or community. These clinics serve as the first point of contact for the population, offer timely services, and reduce the load of referrals to secondary[Read More…]
On 10th May, the high-profile police officer from Mumbai, Himanshu Roy committed suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver. In a suicide note recovered later, Roy is reported to have said that he is taking this extreme step out of extreme depression due to an incurable cancer. Mr. Roy had been living with cancer since 2000 with[Read More…]
The general ward of a Government Medical College is equated to hell with mosquitoes,flies, bed bugs and the real proverbial hospital stink! When I overheard while lying on the trolley after the first “merciless cutting “,that I would be in Ward 25, it came as a more painful shock than the actual pain. I wondered what crime I had[Read More…]
In today’s world, where almost everything is a click away for many, access to healthcare, descents into alcoholism, and misperceptions about illnesses can still take us back to the eighteenth century. In this brief article, the idea is to give an overview of the interplay between the aforementioned determinants while presenting some evidence from the ground. The World Health Organization[Read More…]
India’s economy is soaring but its healthcare system remains an Achilles’ heel. For millions of people, the high cost of treating illness continues to undermine economic progress. This is largely on account of the abysmal and chaotic healthcare system owing to the declining budgetary healthcare support by the government. India now ranks close to the bottom of the pile[Read More…]
USers (better known as “Americans”) have been expressing a preference in survey polls for access to a universal health care system for quite some time. Considering their frustration with so-called representatives who do not advocate in their interests and expressed desires, perhaps they should be called The Great USed. In the late Reagan years, 70 percent of the adult population[Read More…]
Co-Written by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese With just a week left before Congress’ budget reconciliation process ends, the Senate is once again peddling a poorly-thought out plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If Senators vote before the September 30 deadline, they only need 50 votes instead of the filibuster-proof 60 votes to pass amendments. And once again, people are rising up[Read More…]
Paradigm for peace applied to Russia, Ukraine, and the US – Finale Part 4 
Protests in Italy against stripping of rights to Abortion 
Meloni’s “Neo-Fascist” Image & Political Hold! 
In memory of the ‘Young Guard’ on 80th Anniversary 
Waging peace/Making war: Curious case of another extension to AFSPA 
Global Democracy and Peace 
12th Congress of CPI (ML) Red Star Calls for All Out Offensive Against RSS Fascism 
Neo-Realist Films on the Lingering Impact of War Devastation 
UAPA: Criminalising Dissent and State Terror – Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009 – 2022 
Sea Level Acceleration 
Sabotage of Nord Stream Pipe Lines: A new phase of hybrid war 
Ukraine’s European Lives Matter! Iraqi Vietnamese Asian MidEast African Latin Lives Didn’t! An Element of Racism? 
As US Foreign Policy Turns More Aggressive, Much Stronger Peace Movement Needed in West 
High Inflation: Germany And Eurozone Face Difficulty 
Tech Billionaires Are Actually Dumber Than You Think 
To Youth of the World – Activists, Global Citizens, Earth Keepers, Red Road Walkers 
Pan-Turkism’s Aggressive Dreams of Empire –Yesterday and Today 
We Need a New Society, Not More Psychiatric Diagnoses 
Shaheed Bhagat Singh was without doubt our greatest anti-colonial Revolutionary who is relevant even today 
Accepting Failures in Life 
Who Sabotaged Nord Stream Gas Pipelines? 
Can The Ukraine Conflict Become Much Wider? 
Hasty launch of 5G mobile services without a matching preparation to indigenise mobile devices has strategic implications 
The World Is Sliding Into Recession, Warns WTO Chief Paradigm for peace applied to Russia, Ukraine, and the US – Finale Part 3 
The only option for Iran is to end the Hijab mandate 
Hindutva in East Leicester and its implications for UK 
Corporate entities’ excessive dependence on PSU banks- Financial stability implications 
Under-cover hobnobbing of 5 Muslim intellectuals with RSS chief is both anti-national & anti-Muslim 
RSS leader’s outreach to Muslims: Reconciliation or cooption? 
Opportunistic Interests: The US-Pacific Island Declaration 
PBS Spurious Narrative of America and the Holocaust 
Naujwan Bharat Sabha and Stree Mukti League commemorate 115th birthday of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in Mumbai 
“End War in Ukraine” Say 66 Nations at UN General Assembly Paradigm for peace applied to Russia, Ukraine, and the US – Finale Part 2 
Maharashtra’s progressive tradition 
RSS: Breadth and Depth – A review of Devanur Mahadeva’s book 
PUCL condemns the Mass Raids, the Arrests of PFI leadership and cadre and the Ban on the PFI 
Unprecedented Melt Of Swiss Glaciers, Finds Study 
BKU (Ugrahan) stage conference in Barnala commemorating 115th birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh 
Havoc and misery caused by recent floods in Bengaluru, Pakistan and Assam are not only natural disasters but are man made and due to climate change. Over exploitation of urban land and water resources by greedy private real estate developers perhaps the chief cause of floods. Media relentlessly focused on flooded upscale villas, their swanky automobiles of super rich in[Read More…]
