A high-level group recommends “Right to Health” to be declared a fundamental right

New Delhi: A high-level group (HLG) on health sector constituted by the Fifteenth Finance Commission has recommended that ‘Right to Health’ be declared a fundamental right on the 75th Independence Day in 2022and the Constitution be amended to shift the subject of health from the state list to the concurrent list.

The HLG also suggested separating training for medical teachers and service providers and prohibiting medical college faculty from professional private practice. The idea of making healthcare a right has been a matter of debate for long. The group, mandated to evaluate the regulatory framework in the health sector, was headed by Randeep Guleria, director, AIIMS, New Delhi. Panel also included Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Naresh Trehan, chairman, Medanta City, Gurgaon, Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), DG Mhaisekar, vice chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Science, Pune, and Bhabatosh Biswas, head, cardio thoracic surgery, RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata… (ET Bureau | Dinesh Narayanan, Sept. 3, 2019)

Healthcare News Monitor

Data protection: Why a comprehensive law is needed

Financial Express – Abir Roy

India doesn’t have a comprehensive and specific legislation on data protection, but certain guidelines on data protection can be inferred from the Information Technology Act, 2000, and rules issued thereunder, namely the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practice and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011. The IT Act under Section 43A provides that where a body corporate possesses/deals with sensitive personal data or information in a computer resource that it owns, controls or operates and is negligent in maintaining reasonable security procedures, such body corporate will be liable to pay damages by way of compensation to such person(s) so affected. Section 75 mandates that provisions of this Act shall apply to an offence/contravention committed outside India by any person if the conduct constituting an offence involves a computer/computer network located in India. Notably, Section 72A of the Act provides for a fine and/or imprisonment when there is disclosure of personal information in breach of a contract or without consent of the person the information is obtained from. The IT Rules have been incorporated vide Section 43A of the IT Act and provide for minimum standards on collection, disclosure and transfer of personal information—which is defined as “any information that relates to a natural person, which either directly or indirectly, in combination with other information available or likely to be available with a body corporate, is capable of identifying such person.” Sensitive personal data/information: The IT Rules further mandate a body corporate shall obtain prior consent from the provider of ‘sensitive personal data or information’ for using such sensitive information. The Rules provide for a list of personal information that can be construed to be ‘sensitive’ and includes passwords, financial information, health parameters, sexual orientation, etc.

No new pharmacy colleges till 2022 to avoid fate similar to engineering

The Times of India - Sheetal Banchariya

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) have unanimously agreed to ban setting up of new pharmacy institutes till 2022. The decision to impose a moratorium was triggered primarily due to the unprecedented number of applications received by the councils for starting new pharmacy programmes during the academic session 2019-20. The ban, however, will not be applicable to North East and states where the number of pharmacy institutions is less than 50. "Several technical institutes and nursing colleges saw a dip in the admissions. The buildings of these institutes were used to start pharmacy colleges. Presently, more than 3000 pharmacy colleges have enrolled more than 1 lakh students in undergraduate courses, which is adequate to meet the countrys need and to cater to the global health workforce," says Dr Suresh Bhojraj, president, PCI. As many as 1400 applications were received in 2019-20 to start new pharma colleges, of which 842 were granted approvals, with a maximum of 541 institutions in Uttar Pradesh. "The requests to start new colleges in 2019-20 where not geographically distributed and were originating only from a few states. The conditional ban would avoid the lopsided growth of the institutions and the manpower availability vis-à-vis job opportunities, leading to planned growth in the states where such education and opportunities are required," added Bhojraj. "In the past few years, regulators had approved a huge number of engineering colleges, which resulted in surplus seats and eventually, the colleges had to be shut down because there were no takers. The motive behind the decision is to avoid a similar stagnation in the field of pharmacy," says Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE.

ASCI upholds complaints against 5 cos for misleading consumers on false health claims

Pharmabiz India - Shardul Nautiyal

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has upheld complaints against 5 companies for misleading consumers on false health claims. The complaints are related to Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd product Nutrilite Traditional Herbs Range, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited product Revital H Woman, Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare India Pvt Ltd product with the brand name Ring Guard, e-pharmacies like Medlife and 1mg.com. ASCI, established in 1985, is a self-regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry in India. It is a non-government body focused to the cause of self regulation in advertising to ensure protection of consumers and patients. ASCI investigated complaints against these advertisements during the month of June 2019. In the case of Amway India Enterprises product Nutrilite Traditional Herbs Range, the print advertisements claim “Certified Organic and DNA Fingerprinted herbs with the promise of Purity, Safety and Potency” was considered to be misleading by ambiguity and omission of the reference to the product containing extracts (and not whole herbs). ASCI said, “The advertiser is not using the herbs as such in the product but is using their extracts whereas the advertisement headline presents the product range as “Nutrilite Traditional Herbs Range”. The second claim “1 Tulsi tablet is equal to over 100 dried organic leaves of Tulsi herb” was also not substantiated. The CCC was of the opinion that the word “herb” cannot be used synonymously with the word “extract”.

Legal notice served to health, FDA authorities in Haryana for breach of Section 42 of Pharmacy Act

Pharmabiz India - Peethaambaran Kunnathoor

In protest against breach of Section 42 (1) of Pharmacy Act 1948 by medical officers of PHCs, CHCs and Civil Hospitals in Punchkula in Haryana on August 26 and 27, the state government pharmacist association, has through advocate Neeraj Goel, sent legal notices to the heads of health department and FDA asking for explanation. According to the legal notice, (a copy of which was reviewed by Pharmabiz), unqualified persons dispensed medicines from pharmacies to the patients in the absence of pharmacists on 26th and 27th of August 2019. The persons included staff nurses, multipurpose health workers, students of BAMS and nursing. The pharmacist association was on strike demanding pay revision on these days. Responding to queries from Pharmabiz, advocate Neeraj Goel said the employees and students were acting as agents of the authorities of the institutions, but their act is punishable under Section 42 (2) of the Pharmacy Act. Unless the heads of department take proper penal action against the violators, his clients (the working pharmacists) will go for legal proceedings in the concerned court as per the law. On behalf of the pharmacist association, the counsel said, in Haryana the medical superintendents often outsource services of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other staffs in emergencies. But, on 26th and 27th, instead of hiring pharmacists from outside, the medical officers entrusted the job of dispensing with unqualified persons, many of whom were students.