Anecdotal information and case reports suggest that intravenously administered vitamin C is used by Complementary and Alternate Medicine (CAM) practitioners. The scale of such use in the U.S. and associated side effects are unknown.

Rather than just a medical issue health status of a population is now considered an important economic indicator of development for any economy. Health services have a major influence on the well-being of individuals and societies, and are an important part of a nation's politics and economy.

Medical schools in India produce the largest number of doctors than anywhere else in the world, corresponding to the rapid proliferation of medical colleges in the last two decades, especially within the private sector1. WHO has reported that by 2015, 36% of the medical manpower is going to be produced by India. Over the last few years there has been

The dissolution of the Medical Council of India must be followed by systemic changes. (Editorial)

When India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Ketan Desai, the president of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and president-elect of the World Medical Association, for allegedly accepting a bribe of 20 million Indian rupees from the vice-president of a medical college and hospital in the Punjab state, few in the country's medical community were surprised.

Many international statements have urged researchers, policy-makers and health care providers to collaborate in efforts to bridge the gaps between research, policy and practice in low- and middle-income countries. We surveyed researchers in 10 countries about their involvement in such efforts.

Gaps continue to exist between research-based evidence and clinical practice. We surveyed health care pro viders in 10 low- and middle-income countries about their use of research-based evidence and examined factors that may facilitate or impede such use.

The first thing that greets the eye at Amader Haspatal, a rural hospital in a remote part of West Bengal's tribal dominated Bankura district, is the sheer burst of colour all around.

Touching the border of Birbhum in West Bengal , in this abjectly poor district of Sahebgunj in Jharkhand the story of despair is stark. In the black stone mines of Pakur and beyond, run the dark narratives of Kala Azar, silicosis, malaria, tuberculosis and rampant malnourishment. Poverty stares brazenly but there is not even the shadow of a government or relief for the people.

A quiet movement in health care has been unfolding in the rural interiors of West Bengal, improving the lives of thousands of people in villages where no doctor has ever been before. It is an effort defined by vision and commitment and is far removed from the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which has spent 30 years in power in the state.

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