Swagata Yadavar

A pilot project pooling the procurement of cancer drugs has led to cancer institutes in India saving over USS 116 million – an 82% average reduction on the drugs’ reference prices.

The results of the pilot project, led by Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and published in the Bulletin of World Health Organisation, show how 23 cancer centres which are part of India’s National Cancer Grid have pooled their purchase of 40 high-value cancer and supportive care drugs, normally worth US$197 million.

Inhaling polluted air increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, the first study of its kind in India has found. Research conducted in Delhi and the southern city of Chennai found that inhaling air with high amounts of PM2.5 particles led to high blood sugar levels and increased type 2 diabetes incidence.

When inhaled, PM2.5 particles – which are 30 times thinner than a strand of hair – can enter the bloodstream and cause several respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

The study is part of ongoin

Rahul Jain and his mother Shashi were in Pune – 1,000 km from their home in Ashoknagar, in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh – when they were told there was no hope. They had undertaken the long journey together to get treatment for Shashi’s breast cancer. But after her primary tumour was removed, they were informed that the cancer had spread and was now stage IV. So Rahul brought her home.

He’d been advised that palliative chemotherapy could relieve some of her symptoms and slow disease

New Delhi: In his first year as a surgical resident doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, in 2017, Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh remembers being told, “ Jahaan time mile so jao, kha lo aur naha lo (Sleep, eat and take a bath whenever you find the time)."

He recalls sleeping all night in the hospital ward, waking up at 5am, rushing to the hostel for a quick bath and returning to the ward at 7.30am. This was the routine, three-four times a week, for postgraduate resid