This could be the UPA’s worst cut to its beloved aam admi. Healthcare has virtually been handed over to privateers.

Catching Them Young - 55,000 children diagnosed with cancer every year in India
Worldwide, the annual figure is 2 lakh; in the US, 12,500

The introduction last month of double fortified salt (DFS)—containing an iron supplement in addition to the usual iodine—brings a new edge to the fight against malnutrition.

Doctors are waking up to the dangers of taking vitamin supplements in excess
What Overdosing On These Can Do

The alarming new trend of asking patients to undergo surgery they could do without

In the last six months, the Union health ministry has suddenly adopted a proactive tack to banning drugs.

Correcting The Skew...

Among suggestions made for checking prenatal sex determination are:

Police presence outside suspect ultrasound clinics and hospitals
An online complaint forum to allow people to inform on erring clinics
Mapping of districts, identification of problem regions and analysis of data to determine causative factors
Tracking sex ratio through data collectio

Stronger, more revulsive images, it is hoped, will discourage tobacco use even more

In January, the Supreme Court ordered that all cigarette packets and tobacco products must carry pictorial warnings that are stronger than the current ones.

The nation, it seems, is in the sickroom this monsoon. Hospitals in Delhi are overcrowded with dengue cases, running into a few thousands, and last week, more than 75 cases were detected on a single day. Outbreaks of chikungunya have been declared over the last two months in as many as 14 states. Doctors in Mumbai are worrying over a major malaria epidemic.

HIV-positive cases in children on the riseIt’s an alarming fact that has made the Union health ministry sit up and take notice: data from across the country is showing a rise in the number of paediatric HIV cases. Of the 2.5 million people with HIV in India today, four per cent are below 15 years.

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