Govt to harness Delhi's private hospitals to cover 3 lakh Delhiites falling under the poverty line.
Amid rise in swine flu deaths, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has asked Chief Ministers to take urgent measures to tackle spread of the dreaded virus in the country.
India, which has been polio-free for over a year now, was on Saturday taken off the list of polio endemic countries by the World Health Organisation. This announcement was made by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad at the polio summit 2012 in Delhi in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There were only four countries in the WHO endemic list, including Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
Sources said Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made a presentation on the swine flu situation in the country before the Cabinet following which the issue was discussed in great detail.
As part of efforts to improve falling sex ratio, 436 cases have been registered for violation of anti-sex selection laws in the last two years against 789 cases in past over 14 years, indicating better monitoring and effective enforcement by authorities.
Congress on Monday warned its leaders in Tamil Nadu that action would be taken against them if they make statements in public against the alliance with the state's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Arguing that it was very difficult to post MBBS doctors in rural areas, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said the proposed Bachelor of Rural Health course was targeted at areas where only nurses and midwives were available and no doctor was willing to go.
After a prolonged delay, government will soon notify new pictorial warnings on tobacco products, which will be "harsher" in case of chewing tobacco as it has been found more harmful than smoking.
As the number of swine flu deaths in the country touched 10, the Centre on Tuesday asked state governments to gear up their act to face the threat of the virus and dispatched Central teams to all states and Union Territories to help them coordinate the preparedness.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily will oversee the smooth transition of power in Andhra Pradesh.
Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
Amid pressure from various quarters for an early decision on the creation of a separate state of Telangana, the government on Saturday said more consultations with various parties are needed on the contentious statehood demand and the exercise would take "some time" to end. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel discussed the situation in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's alleged comments regarding homosexuality at a conference on Monday have incited a huge backlash. Do you share his opinions? Take our poll and let us know!
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday reciprocated the good wishes conveyed to him by senior Indian leaders and hoped that the stalled dialogue between the two countries would be resumed soon.
"We have decided to send officials from both sides to sit on table either in New Delhi or Moscow to remove the bottlenecks, including clinical trials of new drugs," Azad told the Indian media after meeting his Russian counterpart Tatiana Golikova.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi meeting their party's stalwart of many decades -- President Pranab Mukherjee -- is not unusual, but the timing of their visits is, notes Sheela Bhatt
P Chidambaram was conspicuous by his absence on the dais at the second day of the plenary.
With swine flu cases across India rising sharply, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday issued fresh guidelines specifying screening and testing module for patients, to contain the disease in the country. As per guidelines, all individuals seeking consultation for flu-like symptoms would be screened at healthcare facilities -- both government and private -- or examined by a doctor and will be categorised broadly under three categories A, B and C depending on their health.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon emphasised India's growing role in the 21st century and how the world will benefit from its emergence on the global stage during his trip to the country late last month.
Impressed with India's successful effort in polio eradication, Pakistan is keen to emulate the model to achieve polio-free status even as it allayed fears of exporting the virus to the Indian side.
Suspense continued on Sunday over who would lead the Congress-led government in Uttarakhand, with top leaders from the state and the Centre huddled in the national capital to decide on the new chief minister.
The three-member panel of Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad met in New Delhi on Tuesday evening and "critically analysed" the pros and cons of the Delhi High Court judgement legalising gay sex.
Swine flu claimed 344 lives this year even though the pandemic has subsided in the country, Union Health Ministry told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Even though he doesn't say it in enough words, Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi wants people to take the H1N1 pandemic in their stride and not go by the coverage in electronic media.
The government on Monday said that it was working towards a consensus on the issue of nominating a candidate for the Presidential polls expected to be held in July this year.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is on a four-day visit to China, met his counterpart Chen Zhu in Beijing and sought his intervention to expedite clearance for Indian pharmaceutical companies.
As the prime minister asked the Group of Ministers on Bhopal tragedy to meet immediately, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is a member of the GoM, said on Monday that the panel can probe under what circumstances the industrial disaster took place and how the punishment for the culprits was reduced.
The government on Friday assured Parliament that the spread of swine flu was under control due to continuous efforts of doctors and was limited to only a few individuals. "We have managed to limit such cases to a few individuals, considering the size of our population and country," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour. Seeking to allay fears of the common man about the disease, he said, "There are guidelines and constant reviews."
Delegation to insist on flexibility in aiding low-cost access to HIV treatment.
A 26-year-old teacher became the first swine flu fatality in Bengaluru while an infant and two women died in worst-hit Pune on Thursday, taking the nationwide death toll to 21 even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said panic should not created and the government is doing its best.
Confirming the first swine flu death in Gujarat, State Health Secretary Ravi Saxena said Praveen Patel, an NRI, died of swine flu at city civil hospital at around 1.30 am.
Assuring people that the government is determined to control the spread of swine flu in the country, the government on Friday said within a couple of days it will review and decide on the open sale of Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), the drug used for treatment of the disease.
In a major setback to ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday shared the six Lok Sabha seats in the state as two Union ministers, including Farooq Abdullah, bit the dust.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was on Monday named as the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, while Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad was declared the Leader of the Opposition.
'Rahul Gandhi might not be holding any post as of now but everyone knows that he is the "captain of the ship'
India on Thursday urged United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to ask member nations not to cut down financial and technical aid for public health initiatives across the globe.
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Expressing his ignorance about allegations that Justice (retd) A K Ganguly was framed for his 2G verdict, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said Union Cabinet has done whatever done in his matter.
The chief minister said that the present situation was not ripe enough for withdrawal and any hasty step in this direction could be exploited by the militants that can result in loss of gains made over the years and can also lead to loss of lives.
General Rahul into battle... did Markandey Katju stage a 'walkout'... the DMK dress code braves the North Indian winter... and ahem! yet another 'son rise' in Lucknow... chai and gupshup from the Dilli Darbar.
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