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schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and
nearly 50 million (5% of the population)
from common mental disorders such as
depression and anxiety," the Union
minister said in a written reply to Rajya
Sabha.
Separately, the minister also informed
that India has witnessed the highest
number of infant deaths due to prema-
ture births. "As per World Health Or-
ganization publication 'Born too Soon:
The Global Action Report on Preterm
Birth', out of an estimated annual 2.7
crore live births, in India 35 lakh babies They have also sought that their opin-
are born pre-term and, out of these,
3.03 lakh babies die due to complica-
tion of preterm birth," Nadda said. He
said that under the national health
mission, key interventions are being
implemented all over the country to
bring down the infant mortality.
Muslim women seek re-
forms in Muslim Personal
law
Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a
national coalition of Muslim women
with over 70,000 members across 13
states, has written to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and other leaders on
reforms needed in Muslim Personal
Law.
This comes as the Supreme Court bench
of Justice Anil Dave and Justice Adarsh
Kumar Goel instructed the National
Legal Services Authority of India to re-
ply by November 23 on whether "gen-
der discrimination" suffered by Muslim
women should not be considered vio-
lation of their fundamental rights.
Zakia Soman, co-founder of the outfit
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which is now nine years old, said, "Gen- capped at around Rs 20,000, whereas
der justice is the principle of our Con- that of drug-eluting stents may be fixed
stitution. With our letter to the prime
minister, we want to get the concerns
of Muslim women registered with the
government of India. We have pre-
pared a draft that reflects the aspira-
tion and demands of Muslim women.
Accepting its provisions will help Mus-
lim women lead a dignified life.
The women have presented a draft
and urged the PM to take into account
Constitutional rights of Muslim women.
ions be taken on board, on issues of
equality and justice.
In the draft, the Muslim women have
drawn from the Quran to seek that
polygamy be declared illegal and halala
made an offence. They want women
to have equal shares of property.
Govt may restrict stent
prices at Rs. 20,000
The government is moving ahead with
its plan to cap prices of coronary or
cardiac stents and is expected to take
a final decision soon, official sources
said.
The proposal, which has been pending
for a long time despite strong support
from key ministries like health and
commerce besides the department of
pharmaceuticals, is learnt to be in its
final stages and awaiting approval
from a core committee on essential
medicines.
Sources said once the approval comes
through, maximum retail price (MRP)
of bare metal stents is likely to be
PR COMMUNICATION AGE February 2016 35
at Rs 28,000.
Currently, bare metal stents are priced
in the range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000
in the local market while drug-eluting
stents cost anywhere between Rs
23,000 and Rs 1,20,000, depending on
the product specifications.
Cancer, HIV, Hepatitis C
drugs added to 106 essen-
tial medicines list
The government has added 106 drugs
including that for Cancer, HIV/AIDS
and Hepatitis C to the list of essential
medicines, taking the total number of
items to 376.
In a revision of the National List of Es-
sential Medicines (NLEM), 2011 by the
core committee constituted by the
health ministry, 106 medicines were
added while 70 were deleted after a
series of meetings and consultations
across the country.
"There were 348 medicines listed in
NLEM, 2011. A total of 106 medicines
have been added and 70 medicines have
been deleted to prepare NLEM, 2015
which now contains a total of 376 medi-
cines," a notice by the ministry said.
"The NLEM, 2015 has been prepared
adhering to the basic principles of effi-
cacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, consid-
eration of diseases as public health
problems in India," it said.
The committee recommended that
the list, which comes into effect imme-
diately, be revised every three years.