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Stem cell industry is playing on the emotions of naïve patients and families promising a future which may not really exist

In January this year, doctors at a corporate hospital in Delhi claimed to have treated an Iraqi patient of paraplegia using stem cells. The patient, who had lost sensation in his lower limb, was said to be able to stand now.

Tripti Tandon of Lawyers Collective talks to GOI Monitor about a recent case which brought the issue of immunity for drug users  under treatment into limelight

Q: Please tell us about the case of Aatish Suraj in which Supreme Court allowed Indian Harm Reduction Network to intervene?

The  movie ‘Extraordinary Measures’ released last year features a family conjuring all means possible to get treatment for their children who suffer from a hitherto unknown disease and are believed to be dying. The family’s struggle as it approaches politicians and pharma companies to seek help in finding cure for the disease depicts the never-say-die spirit of human beings. The disease they fight in the movie is called Pompe, one of the 8,000 rare diseases which are inflicting several children across the world.

The recent incidents of medical negligence and over pricing have spurred strong criticism of private players with Delhi government cancelling the licence of one hospital. What escapes the eye, however, is the constant support since 1990s that has led to growth of private sector at the cost of affordable government or public healthcare. The only solution is roping in private resources for public health system with regulations.

It’s imperative to save our children against diseases, but does that justify mindless immunisation drives like the one involving pentavalent vaccine?  

In 2007, the state government of Andhra Pradesh launched an insurance scheme that was designed to protect patients from the ‘catastrophic’ impact of out of pocket expenses incurred on hospital care. Termed as the ‘Rajiv Arogyasri’ scheme, it soon became

Are you free to be healthy? Can you cut back on junk food, jog around and reduce booze and cigarettes of your own will? "Yes," you might say, "we live in a democracy and can choose how to live." You are right but only partially. In the present times, junk food pervade not just the food courts but also what's cooked in our home kitchens, most of the open spaces for walking and jogging have been turned into parking lots and it's quite easy to relapse into smoking with surrogate tobacco promotions all around us. In fact, when it comes to choosing between various options, we don't have an absolute say. The State has already got that covered.

India’s health care system is one of the most privatised in the world. Thanks to policy of the government to encourage the growth of the private sector, especially since the 1990s, the share of private sector in various components of health care in India today is very high. Due to insufficient expansion of the public health system and overall private sector friendly policies of the state, the vast majority of doctors passing out from medical colleges have joined the private sector. This trend has accelerated with production of higher proportion of postgraduate doctors since the 1970s.

Around 70 million patients, mostly children, living with rare diseases in India have something to cheer about as the Union government has formally recognised their existence and formed a policy to address diagnostic and treatment gaps There are over 7,000 rare diseases in the world of which only 450 have been identified through reported cases in India. Most of these diseases go undiagnosed and most families can’t afford the high cost of treatment.