The government is making modifications to the draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2013, to accommodate suggestions made by different Ministries and departments.

The concerned departments and Ministries have reverted with their comments to the draft Cabinet note and the draft ART (Regulation) Bill. “Currently, the Department of Health Research is examining and evaluating the comments and [accordingly], clarifications, modifications, deletions and additions to the draft Bill would be made,” an officer of the Department of Health Research said. The note and the Bill, carrying the necessary modifications, would then be sent to be vetted by the Law Ministry.
Source: The Hindu
Read more

 A woman died of excessive bleeding after a family planning operation at a camp in the Bargarh district headquarters hospital, around 350 km from here. Her family members lodged a police complaint at Bargarh town police station, alleging negligence, while the hospital has ordered an inquiry.
Sources said Shanti Mahanand, 35, of Chitakhei village under Sohela police station, underwent the surgery along with scores of other women, on Tuesday. "Soon after the operation, the doctors asked us to shift her to VSS Medical College and Hospital, Burla, because she was profusely bleeding," her nephew Prakash Chandra Sekhar, who accompanied her to the hospital, said on Thursday.
Source: The Times of India
Read more

"A pilot project has been on in different districts of Haryana for the last four-months and we are training 1000 health workers. This project would be actually implemented in the state in the next two-month time. Right from attending the course to taking part in quizzes to giving examinations, everything would be done over the mobile phone. These steps span from two to 30-minutes," said Rajmanohar Somasundaram, who started this company after passing out from IIT Kanpur in 2007.
Source: The Times of India
Read more

A significant progress has been seen in a number of countries in Asia and the Pacific in reducing new HIV infections by over 50 per cent since 2001, but the impact appears to be slowing down with overall numbers across the region remaining largely unchanged in the past five years, a latest UN report has said. It also warns of emerging epidemics in some countries, including Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Launched at the 2013 International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, the report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), titled “HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Getting to Zero” found that more people than ever before had access to HIV services across the region. However, inadequate focus on key populations at higher risk of HIV infection and geographical areas with higher HIV burden mean that most countries in the region were not progressing fast enough to reach global targets on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Women across the world are playing a significant role in improving women's health and empowerment, said world leaders who came together in Ethiopia for the 2013 International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP 2013). They underlined how women leaders were reaching out to eachother to ensure that they had access to family planning methods, contraception and an overall empowerment to make their own choices.
Source: The Times of India
Read more

Rashmi (name changed) underwent sterilisation in 2008 to prevent pregnancy. She was 25 years old and a mother two boys when the operation was performed at the district women's hospital. After five years, she realised that she is pregnant again. Last week, she arrived at the family planning and counselling centre of the hospital to register a complaint. She is still awaiting indemnity for the failure of sterilisation.
Source: The Times of India
Read more