PHM members Amit Sengupta, Indranil Mukhopadyay, Manuj c Weerasinghe and Arjun Karki recently published an article on the privatisation of healthcare services in South Asia. This article was published on 11th April 2017 by British Medical journal. It reflects on how stagnant public investment in health in South Asia has seen a growth in private practice and may hamper efforts to enable universal health coverage in the region. Read the complete article here

Since the attack on resident doctor Rohan Mhamunkar in Dhule on March 12, there has been a spate of attacks on frontline doctors working in public hospitals across the state of Maharashtra. The government has treated this purely as a law and order problem. What has not been highlighted sufficiently in the public debate so far, is the correlation between understaffed and inadequately resourced public hospitals, and the growing discontent among patients seeking care in these hospitals. Read this analysis by Abhay Shukla.

In addition to being a violation of human rights, the continued use of pellet guns has meant an incredible amount of pressure on the state’s public health care system and medical professional “I was returning home after visiting my sister when people told me there was some disturbance on the very road that I had to take… There was a lot of commotion, stones flying around, lots of angry crowds and forces… I was told not to go further. But I had to return. The children were alone at home. I waited for a while. All of a sudden something hit me, I don’t know what. I couldn’t see anything and I cannot describe to you the pain… ” ∼ A 22-year-old woman who was caught in crossfire and hit by pellets, and lost her vision. Read full article by N.Sarojini.

Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), Public Health Resources Network (PHRN) and Public Services International (PSI) are organising a panel discussion on World Health Day 2017: People over Profit, to be held on 7 April, 6 to 8.30 pm at Indian International Center Annex, Lecture Room 1. Find details of the programme here

Signatories express shock and dismay regarding dropping of criminal proceedings against surgeon R. K. Gupta, who was responsible for sterilisation deaths in Chhattisgarh in 2014. Read the full statement here. Read the earlier report on the sterilisation tragedy here.

At a time when the country is grappling with perilous effects of demonetisation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was expected to be sensitive to the suffering of millions of Indians and enhance the social safety nets in the form of expansion of employment, education, health, food and nutrition. He has, instead, made some nominal increases in the rural sector and offered tax sops to the middle class. This increase in allocation appears mere tokenism when we compare it to price increases and expenditure cutbacks over last few years… Read the full article (Courtesy Scroll.in)