Allied Healthcare (GAHC)

Following a series of student suicides, IIT Kharagpur has introduced a full-fledged mental health and wellness programme called SETU — Support, Empathy, Transformation and Upliftment. Unveiled on Friday by Director Prof. Suman Chakraborty, the initiative hopes to restore student well-being through a highly integrated, tech-powered yet human-focused ecosystem.

SETU, which translates to bridge in Sanskrit, attempts symbolically to bridge isolation with inclusion and distress with strength. The new policy follows four campus student fatalities in 2025 — Shaon Mallik in January, Aniket Walker in April, Mohammad Asif Qamar in May, and Ritam Mondal last week — with desperate pleas for institutional reform to curtail academic pressure and emotional fragility among students.

Referred to as a "human-tech renaissance" of higher education, SETU@IITKGP is located as a move away from stigmatized, conventional mental health services. Instead, it integrates support into the lives of students by coupling 24/7 counselling via platforms such as YourDOST, individual therapy, psychiatric services, and peer-based support systems.

Among the most significant innovations of the framework is its AI-based emotional health monitoring system. Incorporated within classroom and living environments, it provides anonymous check-ins, early warning notices, and culturally responsive outreach, enabling real-time intervention prior to crisis buildup.

The program also facilitates decentralised, student-centred wellbeing through enabling hostel-level welfare units and peer support groups. Through active engagement of students in structuring their own support networks, the institution aims to shift wellbeing from being a clinical intervention into a campus cultural change.

By doing this, IIT Kharagpur is not just treating a crisis situation but also leading by example for all other premier institutions to recognize mental health as a vital part of success in studies and institutional integrity. SETU, both in name and essence, wants to be the connecting link between silence and support.

Are you one of the thousands of NEET PG 2025 admit cardholders waiting impatiently for yours? Here's a piece of good news for you — National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) will put out the NEET PG 2025 admit cards on July 31, a week in advance of the scheduled date of the exam on August 3, 2025.

If you are looking for "NEET PG 2025 admit card release date" or "how to download NEET PG hall ticket," we've got you covered.

NBEMS already released the exam city slips on 21st July, and thus the candidates would already be aware of where they are going to conduct the exam. The link to download the NEET PG admit card will shortly be enabled on the official website — natboard.edu.in.

???? Downloading Steps for NEET PG 2025 Admit Card:

Go to the official website of NBEMS: natboard.edu.in

Click on the "NEET PG 2025 Admit Card" link

Put in your registration number, date of birth, etc.

Your NEET PG admit card will be displayed on the screen

Save a copy for future use

Admit card will have all the information such as test date, candidate name, roll no, test center, and other relevant instructions. The candidates have respectfully verified all the information and in case of any error, NBEMS can be reached at 91-7996165333 (9:30 AM to 6:00 PM working hours).

Wait for NEET PG official website for news updates and never forget downloading your hall ticket one day before exam rush day.

For those who want to be doctors, this is the last thing to be done before D-day—ready and documents in hand! Put the correct words like NEET PG admit card 2025 download link and natboard hall ticket and look for news on Google at the same time.

The Himachal Pradesh government will soon open the recruitment process for specialist surgeons to introduce robotic surgery facilities in the state.

The step is to make high-quality medical treatment available within government health centers for ensuring high-quality healthcare reach to the residents of the state.

A proposal to present the recruitment regulations for these specialist surgeons to the state Cabinet for approval is coming up soon. 

Aside from conducting surgeries, the hired specialists will also teach other physicians robotic surgical skills, which will help establish a future-proof team of competent professionals in the dtate.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu revealed this information in a review meeting of the Health Department on Friday evening.

The Chief Minister declared, "The government is determined to extend quality health care services to the people by way of public health institutions. New technologies and health equipment are being fitted in all government medical colleges and other health institutions within the State."

Health facilities akin to AIIMS, Delhi will be offered at the Atal Institute of Medical Super-Specialty at Chamiyana, while robotic surgery facilities will also be started shortly at this institute, while a robotic surgical system will also be soon installed at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, he added.

He further ordered the department to proceed with the process of installing robotic surgical machines at Hamirpur Medical College and Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, as a part of the State's efforts towards modernised healthcare services.

Sukhu further insisted on filling empty posts in the health department at the earliest to further consolidate healthcare delivery in Himachal Pradesh.

The Directorate of Medical Education will hire 100 fresh medical officers, whereas 50 more nurses will be recruited at Chamiyana shortly, he mentioned, and recruitment is under way for paramedical staff, technicians, and other support staff to add to the overall capacity of the state's health infrastructure.

He stated "The state government has raised the honorarium of operation theatre assistants from Rs. 17,820 to Rs. 25,000 and radiographers and X-ray technicians from Rs. 13,100 to Rs. 25,000 per month."

Sukhu stated that in order to solve the dearth of paramedical education seats in the government sector, the government has concluded to raise intake capacity in major courses after 23 years in order to strengthen the health sector.

In IGMC Shimla, seats in courses of B.Sc. Medical Laboratory Technology, B.Sc. Radiology and Imaging, and B.Sc. Anesthesia and OT Technology have been enhanced from 10 to 50 in each course. Likewise, at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, seats in courses of B.Sc. Medical Laboratory Technology, B.Sc. Radiology and Imaging, and B.Sc. Anesthesia and OT Technology have been augmented from 18 to 50 in each course.". This will allow local youth to be professionally trained within the state itself," he added.

In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to disburse stipends in two weeks to 11 foreign medical graduates doing internships at the university's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College.

A Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Arvind Kumar bench delivered the order after considering the interns' plea, filed by petitioner Zabihullah, that they were being discriminated against under the stipend policy. The interns argued that they were being deprived of their stipends while doing the same work as Indian medical graduates, contrary to the National Medical Commission (NMC) rules.

The court categorically held that "all medical interns of whatever nationality or country of graduation are entitled to stipends" for what work they perform under internship. The justices also ordered AMU to disburse the amount from its own funds within a brief period.

A similar relief was received from the court not to mandate the University Grants Commission (UGC) to take any penal action against AMU for disbursing the stipends without first seeking sanction. AMU, on hearing, said it was in talks with the Centre and the UGC regarding additional funding assistance to foreign medical graduates in future batches of internships.

The case draws attention to the overall issue of reasonable treatment of foreign graduates who want to pursue medical studies in India. Legal professionals believe the judgment will set a precedent for other institutions that have foreign interns.

This action comes in the wake of growing apprehension about compliance with NMC standards and parity of treatment to international nationals in Indian medical schools. Due to the intervention of the court, the centuries-old demand for stipend parity has finally got judicial approval.

With child obesity and lifestyle diseases becoming a major problem in India, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a new directive to all its affiliated schools in India to install so-called Oil Boards, which were designed to help students adopt more healthy eating habits. This new campaign will be the second after the success of the last year sugar campaign dubbed as the Sugar Boards where a national campaign was rolled out last year on reducing the consumption of sugary foods in the country by raising awareness in the school setting. What this would really mean to students, schools and parents is really explained here.

Oil Boards After Sugar Boards In Schools

The implementation of the idea of the Oil Boards is because of the shocking numbers on the health of the Indian youth. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019-21) shows that over a fifth of adults in urban regions of India are obese or overweight with rapidly increasing levels among children. A study in Lancet predicts that overweight and obese adults already currently stand  at 18 crore in India and may reach 45 crore by 2050. In addition, the consumption of food that is rich in unhealthy oils and fats by students with a low level of physical activity is known to be one of the factors that have contributed to this trend. Schools are the logical places where to promote awareness and transformation of lifelong eating habits.

What are the oil boards of CBSE?

The concept of Oil Boards is a visual display on a poster or digital screen in strategic locations in CBSE affiliated schools like cafeteria, hall ways, class rooms, staff rooms, and other popular places where students spend time. These boards will have:

• Facts and warnings of the health hazards of using foods containing high fats and oil.
• Student-friendly graphs indicating the level of oil in the snacks that people often eat.
• Advice on healthier diet (e.g. selecting snacks that are baked rather than fried).
• Positive messages on the diets that strike a balance between fruits, vegetables and low-oil foods

CBSE Healthy Eating Campaign instructions for schools

The campaign by CBSE is for the welfare of students. The Board has requested schools to be holistic:

• Install Oil Boards: Put visual displays with warnings and health information at points of heavy traffic.
• Health Messages in School Stationery: Print advice and reminders on eating healthy on paper stationery items, such as notebooks, letterhead, and other school material and maintain the message all through the time, during school days.
• Healthy Menus: Advertise to have healthier foods in canteens such as fruits, vegetables and low-fat foods. Restrict or eliminate the consumption of deep fried snacks and sugary drinks. 
• Promotion of Physical Activity: It is recommended that the schools should have brief physical activity breaks, encourage stair use and enable walking paths to counter the sedentary trends.
• Experiential Learning: The students will be able to participate in creating their own oil boards and posters and even create a research project connected with the topic of healthy eating.

The Road to 'Oil Boards' Success': Sugar Boards

This Oil Board project is based on the previous program of the use of Sugar Boards that informed students on the presence of hidden sugar in common snacks and beverages. Good results were seen in many schools and they included:

• More student knowledge of the sugar in food. 
• More healthy meals in canteens and fewer sugar items are available. 
• Regular workshops and classroom experiences to emphasize on the importance of mindful eating.

Given that CBSE will implement this strategy in many more areas, it will result in a much higher change in kids' awareness and choices of food, including rather poor decision making that are caused by unhealthy oils and fats.

Why does this matter? 

A long-term effect of making healthy food the convenient choice in schools is the motivation of this campaign of CBSE:

• Children shall Learn about Healthy Lifestyle: Introducing children to nutrition recommendations early in life helps them to improve their choices in the house and invigorates other family members to reconsider their lifestyle.
• Benefits Community Wide: Given that the parents and teachers are also included in the conversation, the word is spread about the wellness way beyond the school gates.
• Potential Impact: Research also demonstrates that projects of this kind, namely health education, may decrease childhood obesity rates as much as 20% in particular.

With the launch of 'Oil Boards', this is a significant initiation towards the battle against lifestyle disease in the upcoming generation of Indians. With education, environmental interventions, and the involvement of family combined, CBSE is optimistic to develop sustainable healthy breakthrough eating habits building outwards to the classroom.

Schools and school going children can do much to assure a brighter, fitter future of India as they become a central source of support in the creation of lifelong fitness and maintaining proper diets. 

The Madras High Court has held that self-financing private medical colleges are obligated to pay only the stipend to the in-service government doctors who study postgraduation and super-specialty courses in medicine in such colleges and not salary like their counterparts in the government medical educational institutions.

A division bench headed by justices R Subramanian and K Surender gave the order recently while partially granting the writ appeal moved by Karpaga Vinayaga Medical College at Maduranthakam in Chengalpet, challenging a single judge order that ruled that the self-financing colleges have to pay salary for the in-service doctors.

The government had made a policy decision not to give salary to the in-service doctors if they undertake PG and super-specialty courses in self-financing medical colleges, and a G.O. was released in 2020 in this context. There have been several litigations on this issue ever since.

Contrary to the view of the sole judge, the bench held that in-service doctors are not employees of the private medical college, while the in-service doctors who are studying PG in government medical colleges remain in the government's service.

"So, the position of an in-service doctor in a private medical institution is that of a PG student and nothing beyond that.". If that is the case, they can only be treated as equally as the other PG students of the same institution, and they would be entitled to whatever compensation that is being received by the other PG students of the same institution," the bench observed in the order. It ruled that in light of Regulation 13.3 of the Post-Graduate Medical Education Rules (PGMER), they would be eligible for the stipend.

Deciding that the responsibility is on the self-financing institution to remunerate in-service doctors who undertake their higher studies, the bench held that they would be responsible to pay only the stipend as determined by the state.

"The in-service doctors, who seek their higher studies in private medical colleges cannot claim salary from these institutions comparable to their more meritorious counterparts who seek higher studies in government medical colleges," the bench held. 

Advocate General PS Raman represented the government, while advocate Abishek Jenasenan represented the appellant-medical college.

The appeal was submitted by the appellant against the 2024 single judge order holding that salary for in-service PG, super-specialty, broad-specialty and PG diploma in self-financing colleges should be paid by such colleges.