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Category: COMMENTS
April 01, 2012
Moral Science is the report and recommendations on current ethical standards for the protection of human subjects in research funded by the American government. The report was made public in December 2011. It was commissioned by the president of the United States - a move catalysed by the recent ...
April 01, 2012
The 2011 census has once again brought into focus the deficit of girls in India. While the census of 2001 had revealed that the child sex ratio, computed as the number of girls per 1,000 boys in the segment aged 0-6 years, had fallen to 927; in 2011 it has come down further to 914. A low sex rati...
April 01, 2012
It was hoped that following polio eradication, immunisation could be stopped. However the synthesis of polio virus in 2002, made eradication impossible. It is argued that getting poor countries to expend their scarce resources on an impossible dream over the last 10 years was unethical.
January 01, 2012
Much of the evidence-base from research is biased. Systematically assembled, quality-appraised, and appropriately summarised reviews of the effects of interventions from all relevant intervention studies are needed, in order to use research evidence to reliably inform health decisions. The Cochra...
January 01, 2012
The management of hunger has to look into the issues of availability, accessibility and adequacy of food supply. From an ethical perspective, this paper argues in favour of the right to food.
January 01, 2012
There are, at present, over 335 medical colleges in the country conducting the MBBS course. Of these, well over 50 per cent are run by private organisations. Further, an overwhelming majority of institutions set up within the last two decades are privately run and not state sponsored.
January 01, 2012
A “disability certificate” is necessary to access benefits afforded under the Persons with Disabilities Act (1995) in India. This paper analyses this requirement and concludes that it constitutes a major challenge to maintaining privacy of health information especially for persons with mental hea...
January 01, 2012
A legal framework is essential to promote and safeguard the interests of persons with mental illness. Since the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912, mental health legislation has come a long way. Currently efforts are underway to modify the existing Mental Health Act taking into account the resolutions under...
October 01, 2011
Ethical analysis in medicine has been dominated by an approach derived from “the four principles” which focus on actions. By contrast, consideration of the virtues emphasises the importance of the moral agent. A renewed emphasis on virtue ethics, not as a rival, but integrated into deontological ...
October 01, 2011
The World Development Report 2011 describes the relationship between conflict, security and development and makes a strong argument in favour of strengthening legitimate institutions to reduce the fragility of countries facing protracted cycles of violence, and moving from violence to resilience ...