logo
Raghav Chadha pushes for free yearly health check-ups amid post-Covid heart risks

Raghav Chadha pushes for free yearly health check-ups amid post-Covid heart risks

India Today4 days ago
Rajya Sabha MP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha raised a serious health concern during the recent monsoon session of Parliament. In a post on X, Chadha said that heart attacks and other health problems have gone up sharply in India, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.To deal with this rising health crisis, Chadha demanded that annual health check-ups be made a legal right for every Indian citizen.advertisementIn his post, Chadha wrote, 'Post Covid-19, we're seeing a sharp rise in heart failures and other health issues. Early detection can save lives.'
He pointed out that many developed countries offer free annual health check-ups to all citizens, paid for by the government. 'Why not in India?' he asked.I raised a demand in Parliament:Make Annual Health Check-up a Legal Right of every citizen.Post COVID-19, we're seeing a sharp rise in heart failures and other health issues. Early detection can save lives.In many countries, the government funds & mandates annual health pic.twitter.com/FqnloWNx3x— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) July 22, 2025'Healthcare must not remain a privilege for the elite,' he added, stressing that regular medical tests should be available to everyone, not just to those who can afford them.He ended his post with a powerful line: 'Jaanch hai toh jaan hai' (If there's a check-up, there's life).Interestingly, Chadha's speech was also the last one made in the Parliament while Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was still on the Chair. Dhankhar later resigned from his post due to health reasons.WHY THIS MATTERSSince the pandemic, doctors and hospitals have reported a rise in sudden heart attacks, strokes, and other serious conditions, even among young people. Many of these cases could have been caught earlier through routine health checks.Health experts agree that early detection saves lives and reduces the cost of treatment and, in many cases, avoids symptoms to get worse. Tests like blood pressure checks, ECGs (for heart health), blood sugar levels, and cholesterol screenings can warn people about risks before they become emergencies.If annual health check-up is make a legal right, it could be a major step toward making healthcare in India more preventive rather than just curative.- EndsTrending Reel
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘At least a year' before India-UK trade deal is operational
‘At least a year' before India-UK trade deal is operational

Deccan Herald

time25 minutes ago

  • Deccan Herald

‘At least a year' before India-UK trade deal is operational

New Delhi: The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and the UK, signed in London on Thursday, will take at least a year to become operational, as it requires approval from the British Parliament, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Friday.'In the UK, it will take almost a year or so before it is ratified in Parliament,' Barthwal stated at a media said that the agreement must be approved by both houses of Parliament — the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There is also likely to be a select committee discussion on the issue. In India, the deal has already been approved by the Union Cabinet. No parliamentary approval is required here for free trade agreements to be to discussions with his British counterpart, Barthwal said the UK has expressed willingness to ratify the agreement in Parliament at the said that the British government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is keen on the early implementation of the to Barthwal, the Indian government would utilise the time for capacity building of exporters and other claimed that the deal would bring significant benefits to several labour-intensive sectors, including textiles, leather, footwear and gems & will India's auto, farm sectors benefit from UK trade deal?.'Four times concessions'On the auto sector, Barthwal said, 'India has secured market access to the tune of four times the concessions given to the UK on electric vehicles in the British market.'The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which represents major vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers in the country, welcomed the agreement, saying that it would open new trade opportunities across industries.'The commitments made by the Government of India on automobile sector tariffs strike a thoughtful balance — addressing consumer interests while supporting the broader goals of Indian industry,' said Shailesh Chandra, SIAM who is also the Managing Director of Tata Passenger Vehicles, added, 'We view this agreement as part of a wider strategic engagement and believe it opens new avenues for collaboration and opportunity with a key global partner.'Commerce Secretary Barthwal clarified that no concessions would be given to the UK in the import of electric, hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles in the first five years of the implementation of the deal.'Market access in EV is given mostly in the high price segment of vehicles priced above 80,000 British pounds,' he said.

Suicides on campus: Supreme Court issues 15 guidelines, calls for mental health policy
Suicides on campus: Supreme Court issues 15 guidelines, calls for mental health policy

Indian Express

time25 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Suicides on campus: Supreme Court issues 15 guidelines, calls for mental health policy

Outlining the rise in suicides and mental health issues among students in educational institutions, the Supreme Court on Friday issued pan-India guidelines to combat the problem. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said there remained a 'legislative and regulatory vacuum' in the country with respect to a unified, enforceable framework for suicide prevention of students in educational institutions, coaching centres, and student-centric environments. While issuing 15 guidelines, the bench said the measures should remain in force and binding, until such time as appropriate legislation or regulatory frameworks were enacted by the competent authority. All educational institutions were directed to adopt and implement a uniform mental health policy, drawing cues from the 'Ummeed' draft guidelines, the 'Manodarpan' initiative, and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. 'This policy shall be reviewed and updated annually and made publicly accessible on institutional websites and notice boards of the institutes,' the bench said. The top court highlighted Centre's preventive steps to mitigate the situation, with 'Ummeed' (understand, motivate, manage, empathise, empower, and develop) draft guidelines — meant to prevent school student suicides — released by the Ministry of Education in 2023. For a broader reach, the court said, the Ministry of Education launched 'Manodarpan', mental health and well-being of students during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. The verdict came on an appeal against an order of the Andhra Pradesh HC, rejecting the plea to transfer the probe over the unnatural death of a 17-year-old National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test aspirant, preparing in Vishakhapatnam, to the CBI. The bench said all educational institutions with 100 or more enrolled students should either appoint or engage at least one qualified counsellor, psychologist, or social worker with demonstrable training in child and adolescent mental health. 'Institutions with fewer students shall establish formal referral linkages with external mental health professionals,' the verdict said. The bench continued, 'All residential-based institutions shall install tamper-proof ceiling fans or equivalent safety devices, and shall restrict access to rooftops, balconies, and other high-risk areas, in order to deter impulsive acts of self-harm.' All educational institutions, particularly coaching institutes or centres, were asked to refrain from segregating students' batches on the basis of academic performance, public shaming, or assignment of academic targets disproportionate to their capacities. 'All educational institutions shall establish robust, confidential, and accessible mechanisms for the reporting, redressal, and prevention of incidents involving sexual assault, harassment, ragging, and bullying on the basis of caste, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or ethnicity,' the order said. The bench stressed on the need for zero tolerance when it came to retaliatory actions against complainants or whistle-blowers. In all such cases, immediate referral to trained mental health professionals must be ensured, and the student's safety, physical and psychological, should be prioritised, it said. 'Failure to take timely or adequate action in such cases… shall be treated as institutional culpability, making the administration liable to regulatory and legal consequences,' the bench added. The guidelines would apply to all educational institutions, including public and private schools, colleges, universities, training centres, coaching institutes, residential academies and hostels, irrespective of their affiliation. The top court in a separate case took cognisance of suicides in educational institutions and directed the constitution of a National Task Force on mental health concerns of students and prevention of suicides in higher educational institutions.

NCERT panel head defends ‘broad survey' approach in new social science textbooks
NCERT panel head defends ‘broad survey' approach in new social science textbooks

Indian Express

time25 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

NCERT panel head defends ‘broad survey' approach in new social science textbooks

The new NCERT social science textbooks for classes 6 to 8 provide a 'broad survey' of Indian civilisation from prehistoric times to Independence, and an 'in-depth, detailed treatment of any period of India's history is not only impossible, but undesirable,' according to Michel Danino, chairperson of the NCERT's curricular area group for the new social science textbooks. 'Were it to be attempted, we would be falling back into the old pitfall of burdening students with loads of data that they simply cannot digest or relate to, and end up resenting,' Danino, a guest professor at IIT Gandhinagar, wrote in a note that responds to the recent criticism of the new social science books. Last week, NCERT released part 1 of the social science textbook for class 8. Pointing out that his note represents his personal opinion, Danino wrote that the rationale for these books providing only a broad survey is that 'a number of school students drop out at the end of class 8, and should be exposed to such an overview before leaving school.' However, he added that a 'survey' need not be superficial and 'it has been our attempt to touch upon key figures, events, concepts, developments etc., which we would like students to remember all their lives.' Referring to a new approach to the syllabus and textbooks in the context of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, Danino wrote that this new foundation for school education has formulated new pedagogical approaches, new classroom transactions and a reduced syllabus. The new approach focuses on essential principles, concepts, events, and developments, 'moving away from data-heavy, supposedly 'comprehensive' textbooks that only promoted rote-learning,' he wrote. On recent references to 'omissions' from these textbooks, including that of the Paika rebellion of Odisha's Khurda region against British rule in the 19th century, Danino wrote that no chapters have been 'added' or 'omitted' since 'the whole basis is different.' The new social science textbooks cover history, geography, political science, and economics in one book, unlike in earlier years when there were different books for these themes. '…each new textbook has combined in a single volume what was earlier dealt with in four. This alone testifies to our concern for content reduction, as mandated by the NEP 2020,' Danino wrote. Listing 23 rebellions against British colonial rule, relevant to the period that the class 8 textbook's chapter covers, Danino pointed out that only six of these rebellions figure in part 1 of the textbook. 'Keeping the student in mind, we selected them as sufficiently representative, in our view, of the growing discontent among Indian populations against colonial rule. We must now ask our critics the following questions: who is to decide which of these uprisings and rebellions are major and which are minor? Should people of the states or clans mentioned in the 17 rebellions (and many more) not covered in this chapter start protesting that they are hurt by the 'omission' of those particular rebellions?' Danino wrote.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store