health

Meera is a 13-year-old student at a government school of Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu. She has been nicknamed ‘water-tap’ by her classmates. They continuously made fun of her for urinating inside the classroom, everyday. "Neither Meera nor her family knew, what she is going through is a mental illness.” When I came to know about this from her teacher, I was curious to know whether she did this on purpose. I had a face to face meeting with Meera. After a long conversation she broke down. She mustered up the courage to speak about how her step-brother sexually harassed her every night. This came as a rude shock to me. She did not feel safe in her own home, did not know whom to talk to, and felt helpless and broken. “Why did Meera keep silent? Did Meera not trust her teachers to seek help and share this with them? What kind of a support system would be appropriate for this?” I kept thinking about these questions, and looked into this issue further. Would recruiting a psychiatrist for every school help many children like Meera? A psychiatrist could provide a temporary solution but what about the problems that she is going to face as she grows up? If not addressed in time, the scars of this can remain with these children for life. Nothing can be a better option that to equip these children with skills to protect themselves. An “effective mental health literacy" module, through art based therapy, in Government Schools would help the students. Starting with a pilot project, the module would consist of two hours of class per week for 8th-12th standard children. An effective mental health module would be a way to equip Meera with all that she needs to fight on her own, in all kind of circumstances, incase if she fails to get an external support. Meera eventually spoke up. There could be so many other Meeras who are silent because they don’t have an idea of whom to reach out for help! Sign my petition asking to introduce ‘effective’ mental health modules for students & teachers in 200 government schools of Pudukkottai. Support our Meeras! Your signatures will help them get a safe and brighter future. #MentalHealthMatters #BreakTheSilence #LetOurGirlsSpeakPicture courtesy : IndiaGlitz

    RTH Bill 2022   1.Right to residents for free consultation,to avail free services from private hospitals. 2.Residents covered under insurance scheme will have the right to avail free services under Insurance scheme through empaneled hospitals. 3.Right to proper referral transport by all health care establishments be it public or private. 4.No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect to any matter under this act. Why the need of this bill when already all medical services in public health institutions are free of cost. Why the government is involving private hospitals and clinic into this RTH bill,How is it possible for a private hospital or clinic to treat patients free of cost and also in need of referral to bear the cost of transportation. There are 35 district hospitals, 5 satellite hospitals, 16 sub-divisional hospitals, 551 community health centres, 2066 primary health centres and 13227 sub centres in the Raj. State.Apart from this there are 33 govt medical college, 1AIIMS.Are they not enough?Why private? Why don’t the government improve their public health structure,There is no provision for clean Water in their hospitals,Sanitation is very poor many cases of Rat biting the patient ear,Unexplained child death in Kota government hospital but no enquiry or corrective measure used. The public health institutions lack adequate nursing and paramedics as well as specialist doctors,Delivaries are conducted by GNM and ANM. Many states in Rajasthan are still having very high floride content in water, Does the people have right to free clean Air and water. We all private doctors have been requesting the government not to involve us in this bill,But they have ignored our demands and have passed the bill in assembly without any discussion and suggestions from other members of assembly. We are now forced for agitation the complete private medical services in Rajasthan are on strike since 18/3/2023. Many private doctors were being beaten by police at the agitation site including few ladies Doctor were also injured,Few doctors were taken at local police station from agitation site. Even after all this we are peacefully continuing our strike. If the Bill becomes a law private doctors would not be able to treat his patients to his full capacity. There would be flight between Doctors and patient on daily basis,A simple headache can be a emergency for the patients and will demand urgent treatment,Who will pay for his medicine,Investigation.The private hospitals have to bear all the cost and this is not possible for survival. We in india have to pay to use Sulabh sauchalaya which is owned by government and the government expect free treatment for residents from private hospitals is this Democracy. This is not RIGHT TO HEALTH BUT RIGHT TO KILL Bill understand why,A private doctor or hospital will avoid emergency patient as he is not going to get any money in exchange of his service so will give first aid and dump the patient to nearest government hospital,PHC,CHC whether they have facilities or not,so in the end it is the people who are going to suffer the most.. we request the people of India to take this matter and vote for a change. WE DEMAND NO TO RTH  

Undoubtedly, the introduction of a single, unified tax reform has brought a major transformation in the Indian tax administration. The elimination of a number of indirect taxes has also made tax compliance easier for businesses and has helped in making many of the goods and services more affordable for the consumers.  Of equal significance were those meaningful interventions to reduce the tax on certain areas such as  essential goods, food items and life-saving drugs. The reduced rate of 5% is a genuinely helpful step in the right direction.  In very similar lines, certain medicines are also extended a lower rate of 12% GST, which is another supportive gesture from the Union Government.   However, GST charged on the entire spectrum of insurance services is unfortunately at the rate of 18% (9% + 9%). And this comprises a much-needed service of health insurance as well. Add to this the fact that a great lot of seniors in their evening years depend solely on health insurance for their health needs, especially the high-cost hospitalisations which they have to undergo, in their late years, with no-one to turn to, either from within the family or governmental support.  Times have changed and the unsupported MAPL and APL geriatric population increasingly rely on meagre savings they create during their active career period for the benefit of their post retired life and management of health. With children mostly away, engaged in their own livelihood and jobs, a great lot of them are relying on the health insurance policies as a tool to protect them from increasing medical costs. Many modern governments have implemented various strategies to deal with the medical expenses of the geriatric population, who typically require more healthcare services due to their age-related health conditions. Unfortunately in India we do not have any such systems available as on date.  Even as the fact remains that the Indian Government has taken a few initiatives in the Healthcare sector for the common benefit of the aged, they pre-dominantly address the needs of the BPL sector and the retired government employees.  Excepting the rich and super-rich, the MAPL and APL population after contributing all that they could towards nation buildng (through taxes), are practically left in the lurch in their late years, when health becomes compromised, for most.  Their only fall-back option of health insurance becomes increasingly costly, as the premium cost is linked to the factor of age. The premium cost, as of date, has shot up steeply, thanks to the heightened claims costs arising from the COVID pandemic, and its complications. An important element that adds to the cost proportionately is the GST factor, which escalates the cost by an additional high element of nearly 20%.  Of course, the health insurance costs offer a tax deduction benefit to the tax payers, but a huge proportion of the aged who do not have taxable income are not entitled to this benefit too. This appeal is to make a deviation in GST rules confined purely to Medical/Health Insurance. The act of “NO GST” on the premium element of Medical policies for persons beyond the age of 60 can go a long way in helping the distressed geriatric population in India.  This would be an enormously helpful gesture to the seniors of India.  It is my solemn submission that the cited request be considered in right earnest for the benefit of the elderly population of India whose means of income are limited and healthcare needs unlimited.

Dear Health Minister, Save people from harmful packaged food: Print Warning On Unhealthy Food Products To reduce the impact of unhealthy food products on health, the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has initiated the model of Front of Packing Label (FOPL) of packaged food products. FSSAI has decided issue a draft regulation to include ‘Health Star Rating' (HSR). Food product will get a half to 5 Stars depending on its contents.  We believe that this is being done under pressure from the ultra-processed food industry, who earlier opposed a traffic light label and now happy with Stars.  Minutes of the meeting show that FSSAI has chosen to ignore public health and consumer interest by giving undue importance to the opinion of large food processing industries.  Scientific evidence favours that unhealthy foods be given a Warning Label, which has demonstrated to reduce consumption of unhealthy food products. Warning labels are quick to understand and impact on consumption. Link: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003015  Realizing the importance of this issue, many countries have introduced mandatory warning labels including Chile, Peru, Israel, Mexico, Uruguay, and soon to be introduced in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Venezuela. The Scientific evidence does not support Health Stars on food products.  Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jhn.12758  Scientists believe that these ultra-processed foods are causing many non communicable diseases ( NCDs) including cancer.  Link: https://www.napiindia.in/docs/Concept-Note-for-regulating-UPF.pdf  We have been eating healthy and nutritious foods, real and unprocessed, our diet has always been very balanced. But in the recent past, the trend of ultra-processed foods has increased and especially markets are flooded with ultra-processed foods and these are aggressively marketed affecting the health of both children and adults. Link https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v5i9/ART20161741.pdf  It’s notable that companies use excessive amounts of sugar, salt (sodium) and saturated fats to entice customers and make children get addicted to these products. In our country, diabetes, blood pressure, kidney and liver diseases are becoming common due to excess  of sugar, salt/sodium and saturated fats in the food.  People lack such awareness and unknowingly consuming these harmful food items. Therefore it is the responsibility of the government to tell people which food products are safe to eat and which are not.  If such a warning is posted on foods products having excess of sugar, salt or saturated fats beyond a WHO’s prescribed threshold limit, consumers will be able to learn and make informed decisions about their food purchase and consumption.  Today, when the country's food regulatory body is taking a decision in this regard, the health of the people of the country should be the first priority and not the profit of the companies.  Therefore, we the people of India, consuming the food products available in our market, would like you to : 1. Ask FSSAI, to make decisions without the involvement of food industry or its front groups.2. Ensure that packaged food products have warning labels expressing nutrients of concern if they are in excess to be harmful.