Homoeopathic medical education in Maharashtra: growth and challenges

The growth of homoeopathy medical colleges in Maharashtra state has been very rapid post-1985. This has resulted in the state’s having the largest number of homoeopathy colleges in the country. However, not even a single government college of homoeopathy exists in the state, creating a significant gap in the health services system. It is in this context that the pattern and growth of homoeopathy medical education in the state and the contribution of government policies towards their growth is examined in this article. Government policies have facilitated the growth of homoeopathy colleges exclusively in the private sector. This growth is rapid, driven by commercial interest and does not match professional opportunities. The article raises some of the key problems of homoeopathy medical education in the state and calls for efforts towards the improvement of the medical system.

Has the commercialisation of medical research gone too far.

Government policy has been complicit in the increasing role of commercial companies in research, which in turn have little incentive to share the benefits of research. As a result, huge swathes of medical research rely on commercialisation and related patent protection in order to thrive. There is a distinct lack of evidence that commercialisation has led to an improvement in public health, the claim of increased innovation simply does not have empirical support. Commercialisation has led to skewed benefits in favour of companies, whereby industry is using the public‟s resource without adequately paying for it, this imbalance may be seen as a form of exploitation. In this paper I argue that the skewed relationship between commercial and public interest needs to be addressed in order to ensure we meet healthcare needs of our patients in the future and ensuring the healthcare remains affordable.

O agir econômico como motor da política de saúde na Alemanha: consequências para a prevenção e promoção da saúde / Economic behaviour as leitmotiv in health policy in Germany and its consequences for prevention and health promotion

Since the mid 1970s the health policy in Germany has focused on cost containment - precisely reduction of employer's contribution for statutory health insurance (SHI). However political parties and the government have also changed their strategies to achieve this aim. The grown structures of SHI concerned with financing, provision and management remained unaltered till the early 90s. The 90s are marked by a broad transformation of the health sector. Regulatory instruments have been developed to create financial incentives for all stakeholders (sickness funds, health care providers, insured/patients) to reduce expenditure in health sector. The transformation process is marked by normative principle of taking stakeholders as economic subjects acting rationally. The article aims at evaluating the desired/undesired impacts of this paradigm shift, where solidarity is surpassed by competition, co-payment and privatisation. It shows where this paradigm change can be observed and which instruments have been used for its realisation. It is also given an analysis on the reaction of important stakeholders to this change. Finally, it is demonstrated ,by using examples of prevention and health promotion that the only focus on economic models doesnït allow health policy to adequately meet the challenges set upon it.