The government on Sunday gave a strong push to upgradation and expansion of healthcare infrastructure, medical education and pharma sector with the Union Budget 2026-27 announcing a slew of steps, including those aimed at making India a global hub for allied healthcare professionals and biopharma manufacturing.
Experts warn that air pollution in India is a major public health crisis, leading to a surge in undiagnosed airway diseases and cardiovascular issues. They urge for urgent action, early detection, and treatment.
Biocon Limited has launched its GLP-1 peptide, liraglutide, for the treatment of diabetes and obesity in the Netherlands, as the biopharmaceutical firm positions itself as a global player in the fast-growing diabetes and obesity market currently dominated by the likes of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
The government aims to cover around 60 million people in the age category, irrespective of income, with an assured 5 lakh annually to be shared within the family.
As it gains commercial viability, the food will likely become a powerful political currency.
A series of decisions were taken under the Public Health Department, including an approval to increase honoraria for field-level workers engaged under the Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana.
The Church of England has appointed Sarah Mullally as its first-ever female Archbishop of Canterbury. The appointment follows the resignation of Reverend Justin Welby and was approved by King Charles III.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in Madhya Pradesh to investigate the deaths of 14 children in Chhindwara, suspected to be linked to a toxic cough syrup. The investigation includes arrests, exhumations, and a ban on the implicated cough syrup.
The drop is seen as a significant demographic indicator, reflecting the toll of the pandemic on the nation's population.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
A heated debate erupted in the Rajya Sabha over the ongoing strike by ASHA workers in Kerala, with Congress and CPI(M) MPs trading accusations over responsibility for addressing their demands for a higher honorarium and post-retirement benefits. Congress MP Jebi Mather alleged that both the Kerala government and the Union government had ignored the workers' pleas, while CPI(M) MP John Brittas countered by claiming Kerala provides the highest honorarium to ASHA workers. The debate also saw demands for an AIIMS in Kerala and a hike in MBBS seats, as well as concerns over maternal health, elderly care, and mental health in India.
The habit, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, is putting increased strain on the rectal area, leading to painful conditions that often require medical intervention.
According to a parliamentary response by the Union health ministry in 2023, around 654,000 families in Delhi are eligible to enrol under the scheme.
The Union health ministry has been allocated Rs 99,858.56 crore in the Budget 2025-2026, an around 11 per cent hike over the Rs 89,974.12 crore in the budget (revised estimates) of 2024-2025 with the government announcing setting up daycare cancer centres at all district hospitals over the next three years.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
Amid growing concern over the mysterious death of 14 persons in a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir over the past one month, health experts on Tuesday said certain neurotoxins have been found in the samples of the deceased.
Kate Middleton, Britain's Princess of Wales, has revealed that she is in remission after undergoing cancer treatment over the past year. She visited the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to thank the NHS staff who cared for her and to highlight the world-leading care the hospital provides. The Princess of Wales also announced that she and Prince William have become joint patrons of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Do we have enough trained oncologists and medical professionals in India to man these over 4,500 beds in the public sector?
In 2023, the number of kindergartens fell by 14,808 to 274,400, the annual report by the Chinese education ministry stated. It is the second consecutive annual decline in the latest indicator of China's falling birth rates.
The move to expand the health insurance scheme's coverage comes at a time when several hospitals have complained of delays in reimbursement related to the procedures performed under the scheme.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has initiated the process of registration of all MBBS doctors eligible to practice in India on a recently launched portal, as a part of which all medical practitioners will have a unique ID.
'Healthcare is not an industry.' 'The government is only encouraging insurance as they are not able to provide healthcare to people.' 'Opening new medical colleges is not what is needed.' 'You have to invest in public sector hospitals.' 'You cannot hand over healthcare to the private industry.'
The Centre has denied political clearance to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his visit to Paris to support the Indian Hockey team at the Olympic Games, an official source said on Saturday.
Non-coffee drinkers who sat for six or more hours a day were at almost 60 per cent higher risk of dying compared to coffee drinkers sitting for less than six hours, according to a research published in the journal BioMed Central (BMC) Public Health.
'Kamala likes south Indian food.' 'She likes a special rasam which her husband also likes, she likes coconut rice, she likes puri aloo...'
Expenditure on health in India is at a global low of 1.2% of GDP.
The Centre is considering a proposal on increasing coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme to Rs 10 lakh from the current Rs 5 lakh.
'What my Labour government will seek with India is a relationship based on our shared values of democracy and aspiration. That will seek a free trade agreement (FTA), we share that ambition, but also a new strategic partnership for global security, climate security, economic security'
Among the fatalities recorded on Friday, the maximum 17 were from Uttar Pradesh, 14 from Bihar, five from Odisha and four from Jharkhand, where officials said more than 1,300 people are hospitalised with heatstroke conditions.
TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu consistently emphasises, among others, the issue during his campaign, alleging that the state has been supplying poor quality liquor while profiting immensely from 'inflated' prices, running to thousands of crores of rupees.
World Health Organisation (WHO) has sought more information from Beijing on information about an outbreak of pneumonia in northern China that appears to be mostly affecting children, Al Jazeera reported.
'Modi must see how we live, what we have to do to educate our children.'
The government also announced that healthcare cover under the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme will be extended to all ASHA and anganwadi workers and helpers.
The implementation of the policy would require public health spending to rise to nearly 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product, from the present dismal one per cent, with the Centre bearing about 40 per cent of it.
Ahead of the upcoming elections, political parties have started announcing incentives to benefit women, but what do women truly seek for genuine gender parity, asks Nivedita Mookerji.
'The first duty of the government is to learn lessons from a bad experience and course correct. It's a pity that the government is making policy without looking at evidence and differentiating between immediate and urgent.'
Even when China's widely-publicised exchange with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in response to the queries over the reports of surging cases of mycoplasma pneumonia and influenza flu triggered the worldwide alert, including in India, China said the spike in respiratory diseases was due to an 'immunity gap'.
The incident goes back to last month when Sunak made a quick visit to his hometown of Southampton to launch a new government scheme for the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) to expand the role of high street pharmacies.
The move comes in the backdrop of a Radio Free Asia report that nearly 250 million people in China may have been affected by COVID-19 in just 20 days after the 'zero-COVID policy' was diluted in the first week of the month.
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