Highlights:
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Doctors oppose parliamentary panel’s recommendation for 24 hrs OPD at AIIMS.
- While doctors are overworked in AIIMS, 607 ghost doctors in Rajasthan, missing!
- Digital Dangers, UK health Dataset up for sale on Chinese platform! Repeat of Indian AIIMS Data Hack?
- UK proposes law to ban tobacco for Gen Z, those born after 01 January 2009.
- Proving the point: Bihar gets its high in spite of prohibition! Indian “Jugad” in play.
- The Gujarat Experience of prohibition is similar to the Bihar situation.
Website: https://uho.org.in
By Dr. Amitav Banerjee, Chairperson of the Universal Health Organisation (UHO)
Doctors oppose parliamentary panel’s recommendation for 24 hrs OPD at AIIMS.
Opposing the parliamentary panel’s recommendation for 24 hours OPD services at the All India Insitute of Medical Services, New Delhi, the resident doctors have argued that round the clock OPDs are not only inhuman but also a blatant of “basic labor rights.” Referring to international standards and various judicial mandates for 48 hours work week, the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association (RDA), pointed out that most residents in India work 80 to 100 hours a week. Therefore the RDA mentioned the panel’s suggestion as ignoring the fact that doctors are human an need periods of rest to prevent burnouts. We concur with the stand taken by the RDA and would also like to add that overwork without periods of rest increase the incidence of medical errors. Having said this, there can be some timing for evening OPDs. OPD during evening hours is a necessity for many working people. Something like 4pm to 7pm and doctors can attend it in rotation. Total working hours can be adjusted by allotment of duty hours.
The parliament standing committee on Health and Family Welfare submitted the one hundred and seventy first report on working of AIIMS, New Delhi and problems faced by patients in availing healthcare and treatment to the parliament on March 18, 2026.
Interestingly, the report also mentions the faculty shortage at the AIIMS, New Delhi. Out of 1306 sanctioned posts of doctors, 509 (39%) are vacant. Almost a similar proportion of senior resident appointments are lying vacant. One fails to understand the logic of increasing the working hours of doctors when so many vital posts are lying vacant. In addition to running 24 x 7 day and night OPD, the report recommends setting up more AIIMS in all states to reduce the patient load at AIIMS, New Delhi.
According to the UHO, a major oversight is the report’s omission to address our primary and secondary level public health infrastructures. Due to lack of quality primary and secondary health care, many conditions which could have been treated at the peripheral health centres at low cost to both the patient and the state, land up in more advanced stages in tertiary health care institutions like the AIIMS.
We recommend equitable distribution of quality health services up to the village level which would benefit both the people and reduce the burden on tertiary health centres like the AIIMS which should focus on highly selective and difficult cases on proper referral from the peripheral hospitals and health centres.
While doctors are overworked in AIIMS, 607 ghost doctors in Rajasthan, missing!
Rajasthan has initiated disciplinary action against a large group of government doctors who have remained absent from duty for extended periods, in some cases spanning decades. The state health department has identified 697 such doctors and begun termination proceedings, bringing renewed attention to gaps in workforce management and accountability in the public healthcare system.
According to officials, many of these doctors continue to be listed as active employees despite prolonged unauthorized absence. Because their positions are technically occupied, new appointments could not be made against those posts. This has contributed to persistent shortages across government facilities, particularly in critical specialties such as general medicine, surgery, pediatrics, radiology, and obstetrics and gynecology.
The scale of absenteeism is underscored by specific cases cited in the report. A pediatrician in Udaipur has reportedly been absent since 2004. In another instance, a surgeon and medical officer at a hospital in Ajmer has been absent since 2007. Similarly, a senior gynecologist has remained absent since 2013.
District health authorities have been directed to initiate formal disciplinary action within a fixed timeframe. The process includes verifying absence records, issuing notices, and moving forward with termination where no satisfactory explanation is provided. In addition, authorities have been asked to recover financial penalties in cases where doctors violated mandatory service bonds after completing postgraduate medical education.
Preliminary assessments suggest that some of the absent doctors may have transitioned to private practice, pursued opportunities abroad, or failed to report after transfers or postings. Regardless of the reasons, their continued presence on official rolls has created an administrative bottleneck that directly affects patient care delivery.
The state’s decision is expected to free up long-blocked positions and enable fresh recruitment, which could help ease the burden on overstretched facilities. At the same time, the situation highlights systemic issues in monitoring attendance, enforcing service obligations, and maintaining accurate workforce records.
The development underscores the importance of transparent tracking systems and enforceable policies to ensure continuity of care. It also raises broader questions about how public health systems can balance accountability with workforce retention in resource-constrained settings.
Digital Dangers, UK health Dataset up for sale on Chinese platform! Repeat of Indian AIIMS Data Hack?
Alibaba Group is a massive Chinese multinational technology conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail, internet services, and AI.
Citizens globally are increasingly dependent on various digital platforms making them vulnerable to thefts of personal information including health details.
Murphy’s Law has played out on this possibility of privacy breach. UK is investigating how data from a health charity came to be advertised for sale on China’s Alibaba, including a dataset with health information of 500,000 individuals. The data were advertised for sale in three different listings by several sellers on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms. Quick actions by the UK government in collaboration with the Chinese government and the vendors have ensured the removal of the listings.
The incidence has implications for public health and also been covered by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). According to the information shared by UK BioBank with the BMJ, Data for sale included people’s gender, age, month and year of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, mental health, self-reported medical history, cognitive function, and physical measures.
Measurements from haematology, biochemistry, metabolomic, and proteomic samples, as well as data on health outcomes in conditions coded in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), such as cancer—including diagnosis dates—were also available, UK Biobank told The BMJ.
Founded in 2003 by the Department of Health and medical research charities, UK Biobank holds genome sequences, scans, blood samples, and lifestyle information from 500 000 volunteers. Rory Collins, chief executive of UK Biobank, said that the charity had “taken our research platform offline whilst we add a further upgrade that helps prevent de-identified data being taken out of the platform.”
He added that this was expected to take three weeks and that Biobank’s “existing plans to implement an automated ‘airlock’ that checks files and data continues at pace.”
A similar data breach had occurred few years ago in our country, from the apex medical institution, AIIMS, New Delhi in November 2022. This online attack also originated from China. According to government sources the breach was contained and sensitive data of lakhs of patients were retrieved.
UHO expresses deep concerns on such “cyber-attacks.” We are living in the era of “information warfare.” This is carried out in various ways. The most common misuse of the digital space is psychological warfare by building up an environment of public panic around existential threats by way of emerging viruses as we saw during the pandemic.
Connecting the dots, another disturbing development is the push by WHO for the Pandemic Treaty and accompanying amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) which has provision of “Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing,” (PABS), among countries.
This is a legally binding mechanism under the WHO Pandemic Agreement, designed to ensure rapid, transparent sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and their genetic sequence data (PSI) in exchange for fair, equitable access to vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics. We have to keep in mind that based on reports and analysis, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, observers have noted that China exerts significant influence over the World Health Organization (WHO), largely driven by Beijing’s financial contributions and diplomatic efforts.
UHO recommends stringent regulations on personal data protection, with provision fo a special category of sensitive personal data, including health data, which together with information on pathogens under PABS as proposed by the WHO Pandemic Agreement can be used to advantage by parties hostile to our country and pharma for commercial interests.
UK proposes law to ban tobacco for Gen Z, those born after 01 January 2009.
According to a report in ET Healthworld, Britain is considering a law for lifetime ban on smoking for those born after 01 January 2009. Lawmakers approved the Tobacco and Vapes Bill introducing a rolling age restriction permanently barring anyone born on or after 01 January 2009. The proposed law also tightens rules on other nicotine products and vaping, particularly around marketing and display.
We feel that while in theory the intentions are good and beneficial for health of the coming generations, in practice people circumvent the law and continue to indulge in their habit if they are addicted. Prohibition has not worked in other addictives like alcohol to eliminate substance use. On the contrary, it has led to black markets and profiteering. Tobacco is more addictive than alcohol. UK is the first country to enforce prohibition on smoking and it would be interesting to see the impact of this law on smoking behaviour of future generations in that country.
Proving the point: Bihar gets its high in spite of prohibition! Indian “Jugad” in play.
According to an investigative report by the Times of India, dated 30 April 2026, prohibition in Bihar is only on paper since the past 10 years. In practice, it has given rise to innovative methods of bootlegging alcohol perfecting the “home delivery model” which got a fillip during the pandemic lockdowns. Prohibition in the State has created a flourishing black market where liquor is delivered to the doorstep by young agents operating within a thriving illicit supply chain, under the garb of “grocery wallahs.” “Grocery-wallah,” “Samose-wallah,” and “Sanyasi-Baba” are code words for young agents who deliver Indian Made Foreign Liquor” (IMFL), faster than pizza delivery.
The system is full-proof with no shops or signboards. They operate through WhatsApp groups under code names like “Health & Fitness.” Messages like, “Need two milk-shakes and two protein shakes,” are get a quick response with a “milkman” arriving in record time with heavy milk cans. Code words like “Pure milk and protein shakes” are used to order expensive brands of Scotch whiskey.
While the affluent enjoy these privileges uninterrupted by prohibition, there are tragedies involving hooch deaths among the poor due to low quality spurious liquor containing methanol.
The Gujarat Experience of prohibition is similar to the Bihar situation.
Gujarat is no different so far as “Dry Sate” label since 1948 is concerned. According to a reliable anonymous source, police conduct raids in rotation with full knowledge to the person being raided, so not all vendors are affected at a time and they can also show their performance in the department. For all practical purposes it is a mockery of the law.
The weekly newsletters bring the updates on the science, battered and bruised during the pandemic, legal updates and impact of activism for a just society, across the world. These are small steps to promote Transparency, Empowerment and Accountability – the ethos of the UHO.
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Also Read:
Universal Health Organisation (UHO) Weekly Newsletter – 24 April 2026