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Delhi government plans to issue e-Health Cards to residents by next year

by Pragati Singh
written by Pragati Singh

Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, directed the Health Department on Friday to distribute e-Health Cards ahead of the deployment of the Health Information Management System (HIMS), which is set to commence in March 2023.

Kejriwal presided over a high-level meeting to examine the Health Information Management System (HIMS) and e-Health Card Project’s development.

The e-health card will be a QR-coded card that will identify and track each patient’s demographic and basic clinical information. Residents of Delhi will be mapped for all qualifying programmes and those using the card, and the health card will be connected with the Health Information Management System for efficient information sharing.

It was resolved at the meeting that, in addition to the implementation of HIMS in the year 2023, every Delhiite will also be provided a health card, said the Chief Minister’s Office in a statement.

The Chief Minister has directed that the e-Health Cards be distributed at least three months before the HIMS system is launched. According to the announcement, it is planned to commence in March 2023.

“The Health Information Administration System intends to revolutionise state healthcare management by bringing it up to global standards.” A project of this magnitude and calibre has never been undertaken in India.

Notably, the e-Health Cards will be the first of their type in the country, with all of the patient’s medical information kept in the cloud, “it stated.

Along with the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain, as well as senior officials from the relevant departments, were present at the meeting.

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Differently abled people’s health insurance alternatives

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

People with different abilities make up a sizable portion of India’s population. According to the 2011 census, the population is 26.8 million, accounting for more over 2% of the total. For a long time, India’s insurance sector has been underserved. When it comes to the differently abled, the number of insured is considerably smaller.

The insurance business is fast changing and gaining pace as a result of the epidemic, particularly in the health insurance area. Despite this, there are a number of misunderstandings, and there is a pressing need for education on purchasing health insurance policies that cater to the differently abled.

Individual insurance requirements vary, and this is especially true for those with special needs. The Indian insurance industry has a long way to go in terms of providing particular insurance products to meet all of these demands. It does, however, continue to sell insurance policies that guarantee to protect people financially in the case of a medical emergency. Let’s look at the alternatives open to them and the exclusions to be aware of while selecting a health insurance coverage.

Disabilities and their types

Congenital and incidental impairments are the two most common forms. Congenital disability is a condition that is present at birth, whereas accidental impairment comes as a result of an accident. Congenital disabilities include heart problems, neurological defects, and Down syndrome, to name a few.

Accidental disabilities can result in permanent whole or partial impairment. While most insurance plans only cover individuals who are disabled due to an accident, certain health insurance policies are now accessible for those who are born with impairments. Insurers, on the other hand, consider them high-risk individuals, and they may be subject to limits.

Before we look into disability insurance coverage, it’s important to understand the two types of policies available: comprehensive and limited. Comprehensive plans protect the insured completely, whereas restricted plans cover the insured just to the degree of the disability and may include exclusions.

There are two types of exclusions: temporary and permanent. Temporary exclusions may be accompanied by a waiting period after which the disability will be eligible for insurance coverage under the same terms and circumstances as pre-existing illness coverage. A permanent exclusion indicates that the disability will be excluded from coverage indefinitely, and the insured will be limited to filing claims for other medical situations.

Extent of coverage for different disabilities

Let’s start with planning for those who have been born with disability. People with atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect, for example, are covered by insurers such as Star Health Insurance and Care Health Insurance, but these impairments are permanently excluded. Health insurance is typically unavailable to those with certain impairments, such as Down syndrome. Similar limits may be imposed in mental health situations. Care Health Insurance with a temporary exclusion is available to those with schizophrenia and autism. Aditya Birla Health Insurance, for example, offers complete coverage for patients with bipolar illness, anxiety, dementia, and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Let’s look at how insurance may help those with physical disabilities. People with locomotor impairments can choose from Care Health Insurance and Aditya Birla Health Insurance plans that have a permanent disability exclusion. Polio patients with 40-50 percent disability can choose from Star, Care, Aditya Birla, or Niva Bupa Health Insurance plans.

Tax advantages available

There are tax advantages available. Individuals with disabilities can take advantage of tax benefits under Section 80U of the Income Tax Act of 1961 by purchasing health insurance. There are two types of disability under Section 80U: partial disability and severe disability. Individuals with a handicap of at least 40% are entitled for tax deductions.

It’s never been more necessary to be prepared for unexpected medical situations, especially now that COVID-19 and its variations are still a threat. Make sure you have all of the information you need and that you double-check the details with your insurer before purchasing a policy.

 

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Government Policies News

Poor awareness, treatment and control key challenges in diabetes reduction by 2025: ICMR-NCDIR Study

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

According to researchers at the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Centre for Disease Informatics (ICMR-NCDIR), Bengaluru, the prevalence of diabetes and impaired fasting glucose is high among adults, but awareness, treatment, and control are still low in India, according to a paper published in the international journal Frontiers in Public Health on March 14 that provides a comprehensive picture of diabetes care in India.

The paper, titled ‘Diabetes Care Cascade in India’ provides empirical evidence to strengthen diabetes care in the country and publishes assessment results from the National NCD Monitoring Survey (NNMS) on diabetes prevalence, prevention, and management services available at the public health facility.

The National NCD Monitoring Survey, led by ICMR-NCDIR with support from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India, aimed to examine empirical evidence to address deficiencies in the diabetic care cascade, identify disadvantaged population groups with diabetes, and track initiatives to reduce the growing burden of diabetes by 2025.

As part of this, 9,721 adults aged 18-69 years were surveyed across the country in 2017-18. The survey revealed that diabetes was more prevalent in women and in urban adults. Older age, obesity, raised blood pressure and high cholesterol were all observed to be key risk factors for diabetes. The key findings from the survey include that 9.3% of adults in India were found to be diabetic. Among them, 45.8% were aware of their diabetes status, 36.1% were under treatment and 15.7% had their diabetes under control.

The prevalence of diabetes was two times higher in urban areas (14.3%) than in rural areas (6.9%). However, poor awareness and treatment among rural adults than their urban counterparts is worrisome, Dr Prashant Mathur, Director, ICMR-NCDIR and lead author of the study said.

Women had a higher prevalence of diabetes (10.2%) than males (8.5%), however the majority of women were recently diagnosed (6.0 percent ). Furthermore, diabetes was found in 44.2 percent of individuals with high cholesterol and 16.3 percent of adults with hypertension.

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Government Policies News

Accommodate us in Indian Medical Colleges: Medical students rescued from Ukraine

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

Indian medical students who were forced to flee Ukraine owing to the continuing conflict have appealed the government to assist them in completing their studies in their home country. Thousands of Indian refugees, many of them medical students, have fled the war-torn country since Russia invaded Ukraine. Many students stated that they wanted to pursue medical courses in Ukraine due to the lower cost of living.

“I don’t want to go back to Ukraine, expecting the Central government to do something about our education here”, said Pratisksha Sharma, a medical student who returned from Ukraine told news agency ANI.

Pratisksha, a student of Vinnytsia National Pirogov Medical University, while narrating her escape from the war-torn country, said, “I was supposed to come back from Ukraine on February 24. I was in a bunker in Kyiv for three days. Then I went to the Hungary border from where I flew back to India through the Indian Air force flight.”

Speaking about her studies, Sharma said, “As of now, we are having online classes. If our government is accomodating us in Indian colleges, then I would study in India. If they are not accomodating us, then I will clear my KROK exam in Ukraine and go to some other safer country to finish my studies.”

Ukrainian medical examination, KROK, is a Licensing Examination, an obligatory part of state certification for awarding the qualification of doctor or pharmacist.

According to Pratisksha, medicine is a subject that needs lots of practical classes and studying it online will not make any sense. “Practical information is very important. We need live experiences. I don’t think online education will work for us and later there will be issues saying that we don’t trust you guys as you are from this batch that didn’t have proper classes. We don’t want that semi-educated tag on us,” she added.

“It’s difficult to go back there but KROK is important. I don’t want to go back and I am expecting the Indian government to do something,” she added.

“There will be no major amendment to absorb Ukraine-return MBBS students as of now. NMC will not take any such action. It is impossible to absorb almost 20,000 students. It is a huge number. There are limited seats in India, and if NMC plans to do an amendment now, then any medical student will return to India and demand a seat in Indian medical colleges,” the official cited above said on condition of anonymity.

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Government Policies News

Modi to kick off health ministry’s post-Budget webcast tomorrow

by Pragati Singh
written by Pragati Singh

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open a webinar on the timely execution of Budget announcements hosted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. Following the inauguration, there will be sessions on the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, E-Sanjeevani, and Telemental Health Programme.

“The objective of the webinar is to involve the stakeholders in taking forward the various initiatives of the government in the health sector. The Prime Minister’s address will set the tone for the post-budget webinars,” said the government’s Press and Information Bureau in a statement. “The sessions are planned in a manner to allow for ample interaction with stakeholders, with a view to evolving a participative approach for time-bound implementation of announcements.”

Union health and Ayush ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Sarbananda Sonowal will chair the valedictory session. V K Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog, will moderate the session on Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. This will follow National Health Authority additional CEO Praveen Gedam’s presentation.

Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health, Upasana Arora, Yashoda Hospital, Ameera Shah, MD, Metropolis Lab, Harsh Mahajan, president, NATHEALTH, and Rajeev Vasudevan of AyurVaid Hospitals will be among the speakers.

K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, will moderate the session on National Tele-Medicine initiatives and E-Sanjeevani. Health and family welfare ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal’s presentation will follow the session.

Pratima Murthy, director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, will moderate the session on Tele-Mental Health Programme, which has been a key focus of this year’s Budget.

National Health Mission director Vikas Sheel will make a presentation on the ministry’s efforts for tele-medicine services.

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Freebies to doctors to increase drug sales are illegal, and businesses can’t claim IT deduction: SC

by Pragati Singh
written by Pragati Singh

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that pharmaceutical corporations giving freebies to doctors to increase drug sales is “obviously banned by law,” dismissing a company’s request for a deduction under the Income Tax Act for giving incentives to doctors.

The top court termed as a matter of great public importance and concern the manipulation of doctors’ prescriptions in lieu of freebies offered to them by pharmaceutical companies, ranging from gifts such as gold coins, fridges, and LCD TVs to funding international trips for vacations or to attend medical conferences.
A bench comprising justices U U Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat dismissed the appeal of M/s Apex Laboratories Pvt. Ltd against the order of the high court and in the verdict, it also dealt with a tricky legal issue where tax deduction on account of granting freebies to doctors was claimed saying though medical practitioners are restrained under the regulations from accepting such gifts, it was not an offence under any law and hence, companies are entitled to the tax benefit.
Analysing the law and regulations concerned, the verdict, penned by Justice Bhat, said, pharmaceutical companies’ gifting freebies to doctors, etc. is clearly prohibited by law’, and not allowed to be claimed as a deduction under Section 37(1). Doing so would wholly undermine public policy. The well-established principle of interpretation of taxing statutes that they need to be interpreted strictly cannot sustain when it results in an absurdity contrary to the intentions of Parliament.
Deprecating the practice of giving freebies, the bench said medical practitioners have a quasi-fiduciary relationship with their patients and their prescriptions are considered the final word on the medication to be availed by the patient, even if the cost of such medication is unaffordable or barely within the economic reach of the patient such is the level of the trust reposed in doctors. These freebies are technically not free’ the cost of supplying such freebies is usually factored into the drug, driving prices up, thus creating a perpetual publicly injurious cycle. The threat of prescribing medication that is significantly marked up, over effective generic counterparts …, it said and referred to reports on the issue.
The firm, in its appeal, said the amended 2002 Regulations for doctors did not apply to pharmaceutical companies. While medical practitioners were expressly prohibited from accepting freebies, no corresponding prohibition in the form of any binding norm was imposed on the pharmaceutical companies gifting them, and in the absence of any express prohibition by law, it could not be denied the benefit of seeking exclusion of the expenditure incurred on supply of such freebies under Section 37(1) of the IT Act.
Under the provision, any expenditure, such as payment of hapta’, freebies, donations, protection, or extortion money will not be allowed as a deduction. This court is of the opinion that such a narrow interpretation of Explanation 1 to Section 37(1) defeats the purpose for which it was inserted, i.e., to disallow an assessee from claiming a tax benefit for its participation in an illegal activity, the judgement said.
It is also a settled principle of law that no court will lend its aid to a party that roots its cause of action in an immoral or illegal act meaning that none should be allowed to profit from any wrongdoing coupled with the fact that statutory regimes should be coherent and not self-defeating, it said. Doctors and pharmacists being complementary and supplementary to each other in the medical profession, a comprehensive view must be adopted to regulate their conduct in view of the contemporary statutory regimes and regulations.
Therefore, denial of the tax benefit cannot be construed as penalizing the assessee pharmaceutical company. Only its participation in what is plainly an action prohibited by law precludes the assessee from claiming it as a deductible expenditure, it said.
The company’s incentives in this case had the direct result of exposing the recipients to the odium of sanctions, resulting in a ban on their practise of medicine, according to the report. A notice was issued to the company in response to the IT circular, asking why a total of Rs 4.7 crore was spent on gifting freebies to medical practitioners such as hospitality, conference fees, gold coins, LCD TVs, fridges, laptops, and other items to raise awareness about the health supplement Zincovit’ and why it should not be added back to the company’s total income.
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NTAGI may soon make recommendations to shape India’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, Report says

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

After evaluating data on the “value of all vaccines” and their “relative importance” in a case where more than 97 percent of infection is due to the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) is expected to make recommendations on India’s COVID-19 vaccination policy in around two weeks.

This will help in making the country’s future strategy of COVID-19 vaccination and management, reported The Times of India citing sources.

According to the report, a senior official said “NTAGI is likely to make recommendations in around two weeks, based on which the government will take a call to modify the COVID-19 vaccination policy. A final decision is likely to be taken in early March.”

Expansion of the COVID-19 immunisation programme and strategy on booster shots, said the report.

 

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Third shot for all adults will be given if there is scientific need, says Centre

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

The central government said on Thursday that a decision on the third Covid-19 vaccination shot for all adults will be made based on scientific need.

“The scientific need is the first part that drives it, then other considerations – programmatic and epidemiological. Just because anyone else is doing it, they have their own context, we have our own context and all this is under constant scientific scrutiny and decision-making,” said Dr VK Paul, NITI Aayog member (health).

Responding to a question during the weekly press conference, Paul said that the additional need for vaccination and inclusion of population for vaccination is being examined constantly.

“… we also look at developments in the world and keep analysing and all options of vaccination are under active consideration and as decisions are taken, it would be announced,” he said.

In addition to this, Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary at the health ministry, said though there is variation in coverage of vaccination between different age groups, collectively the vaccination pace is still good in the country.

“In October last year, an average 77.55 lakh doses were given every day. In November, about 59.32 lakh doses were given. In December, the number was 61.91 lakh and in January, it was 69.49 lakh and in the last nine days, approximately 51 lakh doses were given on an average every day. But with 96 per cent first dose coverage and 78 per cent second dose coverage, the available number of people who need to get vaccinated reduces a bit,” he said.

“If we look today, we are giving 51 lakh doses on an average every day and we urge you to bring awareness among those in young adolescents who have not yet taken vaccination,” he added.

The central government had earlier last month also stated that a decision on precaution dose in India is based on scientific evidence.

While denying media reports on government revisiting the boosting policy in India and the third dose may not be given to all, Agarwal had said: “The media reports on this are totally wrong. All factual information is based on scientific evidence.”

“The decision is on the basis of the evidence submitted to the relevant group. It’s requested not to doubt such decisions,” he added.

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Aadhar not required on CoWin for Covid vaccination: Centre to SC

by Pragati Singh
written by Pragati Singh

The Supreme Court on Monday directed all authorities concerned to follow the government policy after the Centre clarified that the Aadhaar card is not required for registration on the CoWIN portal to obtain vaccination services, and that it is only one of nine documents that can be used for the purpose.

A case was being heard by a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant, who claimed that an Aadhaar card was required for giving Covid-19 immunisation via the CoWIN site.

“Pursuant to this court’s order dated October 1, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has filed an affidavit which records that Aadhaar card is not mandatory for registration on CoWIN portal and one of the nine identity documents can be produced. It is also recorded in the affidavit that a provision has been made for other category of persons who may not have identity cards in their possession like prison inmates, inmates at mental health institutions etc,” the bench pointed out.

Among the nine identity documents are passport, driving licence, PAN card, voter’s identity card and ration card.

The court said that the counsel appearing for the Centre had submitted that “about 87 lakh people without ID cards have been vaccinated”.

Disposing of the plea, the court said, “The grievance of the petitioner that he was denied vaccination for non-production of Aadhaar card has also been dealt in the affidavit. The Health Ministry addressed a letter to Principal Secretary, Health, in Maharashtra to take action against the private vaccination centre which denied vaccination to the petitioner despite production of valid passport ID.

“The grievance of the petitioner is duly met. All concerned authorities to act in accordance with the policy of the government.”

The petitioner claimed that insisting on Aadhaar breaches Article 21 and 14 of the Constitution’s basic rights.

 

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Zydus begins supply of ZyCoV-D to center

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

Zydus Cadila, a pharmaceutical company, said on February 2 that it has begun supplying the Central Government with its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D.

The company has begun supplying in response to the government’s directive, according to a statement from the pharmaceutical company.

The organisation also intends to make the vaccine available on the private market, according to the statement.

“The vaccine will be priced at ₹265 per dose and the applicator being offered at ₹93 per dose, excluding GST,” Zydus Cadila said.

The Ahmedabad-based drugmaker has also entered into a definitive agreement with Shilpa Medicare Ltd., a contract manufacturing organisation, to produce mutually agreeable doses of ZyCoV-D.

It has also entered into an agreement with Enzychem Lifesciences of the Republic of Korea for the manufacturing license and technology transfer for the Plasmid DNA Vaccine, Zydus Cadila noted.

ZyCoV-D is a Plasmid DNA vaccine that produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response mediated by the cellular and humoral arms of the human immune system, which play a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.

 

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