This article provides evidence on the impact of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana on access to healthcare and financial risk protection; its coverage across selected states and whether the targeting is effective. Overall, just about 11% of households were enrolled and almost half of these households actually belonged to the non-poor category.

The Rapid Survey on Children shows a new trend of an increased access to healthcare by marginalised communities like Dalits, Adivasis and Other Backward Classes which have made substantial gains in the last decade. However much needs to be achieved in the realm of nutrition and sanitation where these communities remain acutely deprived.

The mohalla or community clinics run by the Delhi government could be termed populist but have the potential to meet the needs of the people, make basic healthcare accessible and decongest higher level health facilities. These could also prove to be a landmark in health service delivery in India.

Successive Governments of India have promised to transform India's unsatisfactory health-care system, culminating in the present government's promise to expand health assurance for all. Despite substantial improvements in some health indicators in the past decade, India contributes disproportionately to the global burden of disease, with health indicators that compare unfavourably with other middle-income countries and India's regional neighbours. Large health disparities between states, between rural and urban populations, and across social classes persist.

The outrageous price rise of the 62-year-old drug, Daraprim (Pyrimethamine) has sent the United States medical fraternity into a dizzy. The price of the drug was raised from USD 13.50 to USD 750 per pill in just over a month. This obnoxious price rise of over 5,000% came after the New York-based pharmaceutical company Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the patent for the drug from Impax Laboratories. (Editorial)

Original Source

The draft National Health Policy 2015 is an improvement over its predecessors--the policies of 1984 and 2002. However, it also reveals several gaps, inconsistencies and blind spots which tend to dilute otherwise constructive proposals. The purpose of this article is to open up the draft to further public debate and comment.