September 21 : The Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in Delhi has just acquired a "health dispenser" that churns out chips, biscuits, cakes - and condoms - at the drop of a coin.The dispenser - the first condom-vending machine, installed by Hindustan Latex Limited at a university campus in Delhi - was set up "to create AIDS awareness". September 21 The Himachal Pradesh Government will launch the seven year Rural Health Mission in the state in the month of October to provide efficient and adequate health infrastructure at the village level. This should bring about a revolution in the health sector. A sum of Rs.51.40 crores would be spent during the current financial year under this mission. September 17 Fresh beginnings were made and new milestones set in the medical history of India and Pakistan as seven doctors from across the border got together with their Indian counterparts in the capital to attend an international workshop called Primary Trauma Care (PTC) to deal with trauma victims across the world. September15 In what may be one of the most potent moves to empower women in protecting themselves from getting infected with HIV, the Government is soon expected to make female condoms available under the social marketing programme. With women accounting for more than one quarter of new HIV infections every year in India, this is a step in the right direction. August 11 The Centre has announced for setting up a National Surveillance Cell to conduct surprise checks on diagnostic clinics, to keep a check on sex determination tests that have warped the sex ratio over the past decade. August 4 Around 150,000 tourists from around the world are believed to have traveled to India last year for medical treatment in both conventional hospitals and traditional ayurvedic centres. The medical tourism sector is expected to generate revenue of up to 1.2 billion pounds within the next 7 years. July 11 The Planning Commission is launching Sarva Swasthya Abhiyan (Health for All) along the lines of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (Education for All). The mission is going to be entirely centrally funded as the States have regularly failed to set aside funds for health. July 4 The Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has made the first move to set medical equipment standards. The DMA has written to the Union Health Ministry suggesting a price control mechanism for devices like an imported stent or pacemaker and disposables being imported into the country. Presently, in the absence of a price control mechanism, the price forsuch devices is decided by the importer along with the hospital, and they are free to charge as much of a commission as they want. June 20 Despite ongoing studies which are not yet clear about the causes of pre-menstrual Syndrome (PMS) researchers have found that a regular intake of calcium supplements and vitamin D, which aid absorption of calcium are believed to reduce both the occurrence and severity of PMS by as much as 60 per cent. But it may not work for all women, experts caution. June 16 Too much fish oil could be bad for heart. Four previous studies had shown that fish oils cut the risk of fatal heart rhythm called arrhythmias. The Findings form a study of 200 patients carried out from 1999-2003 with implanted de-fibrillator that shocks the heart back to normal it was found that 65 per cent developed rhythm disturbances over the next six months. June 16 According to Dr. Asha Latha, of the Chiraayau Ayurvedic Rejuvenation Centre in Bangalore authentic and proven ayurvedic therapies for rehabilitating stroke/paralysis patients are being of fered. A wide range of treatments especially abhayange, pizichil, njavarakizi and elakizi shirodhara help to improve the functional ability of victims. June 13 The Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences under the DRDO has developed a Neem contraceptive named ‘concept’, which is at present under phase two trials. It can kill sperms, cure and improve vaginal infections. June 13 A Study by the Diabetes & Glandular Disease Clinic in San Antonio, Texas, USA Shows that non-diabetic men in the +45 age group more susceptible to risk of low testosterone than non-diabetic men. According to Dr. Schwartz, the Director, this makes them prone to sexual dysfunction. June 11 Dr. Hwang’s, Laboratory Director, of Seoul National University has created new colonies of stem cells that matched the DNA of their donors a leap towards a dream of growing replacement tissues for conditions like spinal cord injuries. Juvenile diabetes and congenital immune deficiencies. 11/06/2005 Research and animal tests at the Pune-based National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) has established that regenerated stem cells could be used to treat diabetics by using bone marrow trans plant as an alternative therapy. April 19 Gender disparity in education continues to be a problem in India, with just 91 girls in primary school for every 100 boys according to a UNICEF report on girls' education released yesterday. Moreover, India accounts for as many as 23 % of the world's children not in primary school. April 12 National Rural Health Mission launched today by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. April 10 The Maharastra government plans to ban irrigation water to sugarcane and grape farmers who have more than two children. A Bill to this effect has been introduced in the state Assembly by NCP leader Ajit Pawar. April 7 A multi-centre study on injectable contraceptives by the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai, has begun among 1,209 women. Based on the report, it will be decided whether to add injectable contraceptives into the National Family Welfare Programme. April 7 WHO releases World Health Report 2005, which says India is among the countries showing little progress in preventing mother and child deaths. Of the global 2.6 mill. child deaths every year, 2.3 mill. are in India; and of 5 lakh maternal mortality deaths, 1 lakh are in India alone. April 6 The Himachal Pradesh Assembly has passed the amendment to the Panchayati Raj Act removing the Two-Child Norm from the state. It says the norm is anti-women and has created a number of social problems. Mar 31 A Cabinet Committee approves the Janani Suraksha Yojana, the maternity benefit scheme that will replace the National Maternity Benefits Scheme. It will be an important part of the recently-announced National Rural Health Mission. Mar 28 Data on marital status as released recently from Census 2001 reveals that as many as 6.4 million Indians below the age of 18 are already married. Of this, a high 2 million of underage marriages are in urban areas. Mar 24 Supreme Court tells Union Health Ministry to formulate standard guidelines for sterilisation procedures to be implemented across the country. For instance, the court wants sterilisation to be carried out only by an approved panel of doctors and for the government to offer compensation if anything goes wrong. Mar 24 For the first time Himachal Pradesh witnesses a decline in sex ratio. It has gone down by 54 points - from 951 in the 1991 census to 897 in 2001, as brought out by the National Commission for Women in its latest report on the state. Mar 22 The Supreme Court has issued directions to the Collectors and Superintendents of Police in every district of the country to take immediate steps to prevent the illegal practise of child marriages. Mar 18 Gujarat has enforced the two-child norm. A Bill to this effect was passed in the state assembly yesterday. To begin with it will be applicable to elected members in local self-governing bodies. Mar 15 Uttar Pradesh's Family Welfare Minister Ahmed Hassan declared in the Legislative Council today that his government will not bring a policy making family planning compulsory. Hasan said the exercise should be voluntary. Mar 8 In the developing world India tops the chart on violence against women. A global UN study has come out with this grim result, where the subjects in the age-group of 15-49 weren't only from slum areas. Mar 8 The Rajasthan Women's Commission has made it mandatory for women who undergo ultrasound tests during pregnancy to submit a copy of the child's birth certificate to the test centre. This has been done to ensure that sex-determination tests are not misused. Mar 8 The Andhra Pradesh government today launched an insurance scheme for couples who undergo family planning operation after the birth of a single girl child. An insurance policy of Rs 1 lakh would be paid to the girl on reaching 20 years of age. Mar 2 The Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has announced that the government will extend full financial assistance to women who have lost their children to the tsunami and want to go in for reverse sterilisation at either government or private hospitals. Mar 2 Jammu and Kashmir appears set to become the first state in the country to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in the legislative Assembly. A legislation towards this purpose is going to be tabled during the ongoing Budget session. Mar 1 The Budget brings a 33 per cent increase in public health spending. The allocation has gone up from Rs 8,420 crore in the current year to Rs 10,280 crore. This marks a hike in spending on healthcare from 0.9 per cent to 2-3 per cent of the GDP. It spells good news for the National Rural Health Mission which is to be launched in the new fiscal. Feb 28 Over 2,100 private ultrasound clinics in Delhi are to face government scrutiny for conducting pre-natal sex determination tests. Alarmed by the declining sex ratio in the Capital, the Delhi government has simultaneously decided to track down couples who have resorted to abortions after undergoing ultrasound tests in the past one year. Feb 28 The Union government has been urged to set up gender cells in ministries to ensure appropriate allocation of resources to women, by a recently-formed national level organisation called WomenPowerConnect (WPC). The WPC has been set up to monitor and influence policy in Parliament and the state legislatures. Feb 26 India will surpass China as the world's most populous nation by 2030, the United Nations has said in a new study. The crossover will happen five years earlier than the UN's previous prediction. Feb 21 The Union Ministry of Health has disowned the two-child norm. In a recent affidavit to the Delhi High Court it states that there's no insistence on the two-child norm in family-planning programmes and couples "are free to decide the size of their family." This came in reply to a PIL seeking implementation of the National Population Policy of 2000. Referring to Emergency-time family-planning excesses, the affidavit admits that "rigid implementation of a target-based approach" to population control as in the 70's, is no longer to be followed. Feb 17 A shocking decline in the sex ratio in elite south Delhi has been documented by the Centre for Social Research. A mere 763 girls are born for every 1,000 boys here, much lower than the average sex ratio of the Capital. The study reveals that the Capital's rich and educated have a stronger preference for the male child. Feb 16 Medicines will be more expensive soon, with a Union government notification stating that the excise duty will now be levied on the maximum retail price or MRP instead of the price at which consumers buy the medicine. The duty, which has come as a shocker, has been hiked to 35 per cent. Feb 16 The Vishwa Hindu Parishad yesterday exhorted Hindus to go in for a population explosion. In a resolution passsed at its Margdarshak Mandal in New Delhi, the outfit said the time has come for Hindus to abandon the "two-child norm" and increase their numbers to counter the "frightening Muslim population growth" in the country. Feb 15 Delhi is to get its first-ever State Population Commission that will devise a population policy and suggest ways to decrease the pressure of migration. The Delhi Cabinet yesterday cleared the setting up of a 19-member body that will be chaired by the chief minister. It will play an advisory role to the Delhi government and will assist it in implementing the National Population Policy 2000 and in formulating a State Population policy. Feb 8 India's AIDS vaccine tested on people for the first time at the National AIDS Research Institute in Pune. Feb 7 Delhi State AIDS Control Society in collaboration with Hindustan Latex Limited to install condom vending machines at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University. Jan 28 Various women's groups and NGOs working in the area of health will be meeting the Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, to ask her to mark January 29 as the `Pre-Natal Diagnostics Technique, Regulation and Prevention of Misuse (PNDT) Law -- Evaluation and Monitoring Day.' Jan 4 A joint project between the University of North Carolina, University of California and the Indian Institute of Science successfully tested a reversible male contraceptive vaccine on monkeys. Dec 22 In a meeting with a five-member delegation team, Manmohan Singh assured women that the government would not adopt a coercive population policy and he did not favour the two-child norm. Nov 29 The government has decided to withdraw the 79th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which seeks to disqualify those with more than two children from being elected to either House of Parliament and legislative assemblies and legislative councils in the states. Nov 10 The Union Health Ministry has invited four reputed public health schools from the US to teach Indian healthcare professionals the nuances of public health management. Nov 1 Keen on panchayats playing the role of nodal agencies for healthcare in the country, the Union Health Ministry will be holding a national-level meeting with Ministers from at least 22 states to address the issue. Oct 16 The Registrar General of India has asked its state offices to prepare a monthly report of the births to monitor the child sex ratio. Oct 1 The state finance commission of Orissa has proposed that couples with more than two children should pay a cess to the government. Sep 24 The district household survey for immunisation 2002-2003 shows that 17.9 million infants were not immunized. This is likely to push back the deadline to eradicate polio and tetanus. Sep 23 National health insurance plan recommended by the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Sonia Gandhi to government. Sept 20 Seven months after the female condom was launched, commercial sex workers in Pune are still waiting to get them. Sep 19 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made high-fertility districts top priority for population control measures, as promised in the Common Minimum Programme. Sep 10 The Tamil Nadu Election Commission has asked the State to ensure that candidates with more than two children are not allowed to contest elections to local bodies. Aug 12 The Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss to engage an independent expert agency to review the working of the NACO (National AIDS Control Organisation) and to create greater awareness among the students on HIV/AIDS.