Allied Healthcare (GAHC)

A single bench of Rajasthan High Court Tuesday ordered medical authorities to frame an expert committee to test the skills and abilities of a 23-year-old MBBS student who suffered blindness after an accident while going to college.

Since she could not study further after two years, she came to the HC asking them to quash the order that had disqualified her from further studies.

The court also requested the committee to recommend modalities and methodologies for her to finish the remaining course of MBBS.

Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand bench issued these orders during a hearing of a petition filed by Anikta Singodia, a resident of Murlipura in Jaipur.

"Ankita was admitted in MBBS course in Aug 2014 and had completed her first and second year successfully till 2017. On Apr 7, 2017, she had suffered a road accident wherein she has got a serious head injury, skull fracture, and the injury resulted in 100% loss of her vision," Shailesh Prakash Sharma, lawyer for the petitioner, informed the court.

Subsequently, a medical board issued an opinion on June 12, 2020, to the effect that she be permitted to continue her MBBS. But another medical board opined to the opposite effect that she might not be able to discharge effectively the responsibility of a doctor.

Justice Dhand stated with a firm vision, unwavering hard work, and the ability to take the risk, visually impaired persons can overcome their limitations and excel in their profession of choice.

An incredible scientific discovery is bringing the world to its knees: a bacterium that gives the ground living in the soil, Cupriavidus metallidurans, can turn some of the deadliest metals into real gold. This natural process of excreting gold is becoming the new reality of green, environmentally-friendly mining, as traditional environmentally-destroying methods of digging may be abandoned in favor of more environmentally-conscious ones.

Cupriavidus metallidurans grows in environments contaminated with heavy metals, including copper and gold, which are lethal to the majority of living things. The bacterium detoxifies and regulates these metals by employing special enzymes within its own cells. Within the presence of gold ions, the bacterium uses a special mechanism that involves utilization of protein in neutralizing the metal and converting into non-toxic and solid particles of gold. They add up over time and the bacterium secretes tiny pieces of actual gold to the environment.

The references to recent research presented in Metallomics and other scientific media worldwide confirm that this process has a potential to transform the gold extraction industry by minimizing environment degradation, the usage of severe chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, and providing safer environments to both miners and the environment.

Scientists around the world are trying bioleaching and biomining technologies whereby, microbes are utilized such as Cupriavidus metallidurans and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans to leach noble metals such as gold and other valuable metals present in low-grade ores, mine wastes as well as e-waste and can recover metals effectively with very little pollution.

The conventional approach to gold mining uses poisonous chemicals and processes that consume large amounts of energy and result in the spread of pollution into the environmental soil, water and air, including those living in the immediate community and wildlife. The bacterial technique is:

• Eco-friendly: No mercury or cyanide required.
• Cost efficient: Is capable of retrieving gold even in low quality ores and electronic wastes.
• Safer: Minimizes the health hazards to the miners and surrounding inhabitants.

Indian scientists and mining firms have started to look at scalable biomining solutions to utilize the rich resources of mining waste and e-waste to recover gold production with the goal of reducing the impact of the mining industry on the environment.

The finding of bacteria that transform toxic metals into gold can be used to make mining gold greener, safer and more profitable in the future. The massive use of bacteria powered mining which safeguards people and the globe will soon come into reality as scientists hope to perfect this technique in the creation of precious metals in India and beyond in the years to come.

It was a peaceful Saturday when the tempest burst forth. The National Medical Commission, following almost nine months of Court-ordered deliberation and quietude, published its interim disability guidelines for admission to MBBS — two days prior to NEET 2025 counselling's commencement on 21 July. I had hardly finished reading the paper before my phone started ringing. Answering was an experienced paediatrician, his tone bristling with ire.

One of his patients — a young student who was partially hemiparetic — had passed the NEET 2025 exam. He had worked diligently than others, living in a world that never yields to someone like him. But now, his fate was to be determined not by his merit but by a checklist. A self-declaration affidavit asked questions like:

"Can you support weight and walk on your affected leg?""Can you go up or down stairs independently?"

The doctor was angered. "What is the relevance of this to being a good physician?" he demanded. He was correct.

On asking the wrong questions

This is a classic textbook case of what occurs when policymakers pose the wrong questions — questions that confuse bodily symmetry with clinical proficiency, and physical conformity with professional ability. Questions that boil a life down to a limb, and a vocation to a staircase.

I know this firsthand — not as an outsider, but as one living it. I, too, have a mobility impairment. I am not able to stand unsupported on one leg. Stairs have never been my ally. And yet, I work in a health care institution. I have taught, practiced, published, and argued in the nation's highest court. These are not accommodations made in spite of my disability — they are the facts I live and provide, each and every day.

Last year, when the Supreme Court was listening to Om Rathod vs The Director General Of Health Services, I had presented a report that the bench subsequently deemed "pivotal." The judgment was a turning point: it rejected deficit-based models of disability, asserted the right to reasonable accommodation, and instructed the NMC to implement a functional and inclusive approach. It requested reform. It requested imagination. It requested justice.

The physicians they didn't want to see

Soon enough, NMC contacted me — unofficially, naturally. Not to implement structural change or inclusive policy, but for a list. A list of physicians with disabilities.

Considering my background in disability rights litigation, they knew that I was part of a network of professionals who had defied every stereotype the system previously held against them. So I answered — not with names, but with stories.

I gave them ten.

A transplant surgeon who ambulates with an orthosis. A wheelchair-bound urologist who performs surgery. A blind psychiatrist whose vision is greater than sight. A neurodivergent physician who reins in the madness of medicine with understated genius.

Ten physicians who did not request to be honored. They requested only to be noticed.

But none — not a single one — was offered a seat on the final committee.

However, back came the same architects of the previous exclusionary guidelines. But there was a new addition — a physician from an Institution of National Importance who had a physical disability. When I spotted his name, I prayed.

But even he signed off on the screening-out criteria: "Can you climb stairs? Can you stand on your affected leg?"

The irony was painful. He couldn’t do those things either. And yet, he had approved their use to exclude others.

I understand why.

In medical college, I, too, once believed that my body was the problem. The curriculum, rooted in the medical model of disability, framed people like me as patients, not peers. My impairment wasn’t a variation — it was a flaw to be fixed.

It took years — and reading the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) — to unlearn this. The social model of disability shifted everything. It didn’t ask what is wrong with you? It asked, what is wrong with the environment that excludes you? That question was radical. And healing.

It's why when senior Supreme Court judge and former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud made a ruling in the Om Rathod case, he didn't just call for doctors with disabilities on expert panels. He insisted on experts in disability justice.

Because lived experience on its own isn't sufficient. Without critical consciousness, it threatens to mirror the very oppression it aims to flee from. This was also the reason behind the Supreme Court mandating training of all 16 medical boards with disabled doctors.

The guidelines we received

What we were given on 19 July is not reform. It's a specter of things past.

The temporary guidelines still query whether a student can ascend a stair, but not if the college possesses a ramp. They query whether a student can tolerate weight, but not if the system can tolerate the weight of its own bias.

Delayed rights — or coded as gatekeeping mechanisms — are denied rights.

The NMC had an opportunity to do better. It could have asked more pointed questions. It could have invited the right individuals. It could have heard from the doctors who redefined medicine by refusing to be erased.

It didn't. And that silence is louder than any statement.

Ultimately, it is not only disabled students being filtered out, but the potential for a more compassionate, equitable, and compassionate medical education system.

And that is a diagnosis the country can no longer refuse to see. Dr Satendra Singh is a physician and Director-Professor at University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, New Delhi. He tweets @drsitu. Views are personal.

As classical medicine receives increased attention, Gujarat is becoming a national model for Ayurvedic healthcare. Backed by strong government initiative and state-of-the-art infrastructure, the Government Ayurved Hospital in Gandhinagar is showing the way in which ancient medicine can become modern—and successful—in today's medical mainstream.

Patients such as Sarojben of Jamnagar, who have been suffering from insomnia for years, have shown real improvement in merely a few days of treatment. Others with long-standing diseases such as incontinence of urine and migraine are improving phenomenally, indicating the therapeutic potential of Ayurvedic treatment when backed by rational science and institutional support.

The Gujarat state government's strategy is holistic—curing patients as much as establishing a robust institutional base. There are attempts at upgrading the current Ayurvedic hospitals and wellness centers and taking the services to the rural and underprivileged areas. Aiming to build a pipeline of trained specialists and encouraging evidence-based treatment practices, plans for new Ayurvedic colleges and research initiatives are already underway.

This Gujarat Ayurveda renaissance is a component of wider national objectives under the Ayush mission, yet the state is pressing on with unprecedented tempo and intent. By combining ancient indigenous wisdom with modern mechanisms of healthcare delivery, Gujarat is creating a model for the rest of the states to emulate.

What sets this effort apart is not merely the magnitude of investment but real effects on patient care and popular sentiment. Ayurveda, until now considered ancillary or slow-effect, is increasingly being hailed for its prevention and cure potential, especially where the allopath has only symptomatic relief to provide in chronic lifestyle disorders.

With so much of the healthcare world schooled to be controlled by expensive interventions, Gujarat's Ayurvedic initiative is making treatment more accessible, affordable, and culture-focused—reinstating faith in India's ancient ethos while conjoining modern standards of care.

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has made a significant announcement for all NEET UG 2025 candidates. The option filling and locking option for round 1 counselling has been extended up to August 11, 2025, 11:59 PM. This provides students with additional time to choose and lock their desired medical and dental colleges carefully prior to the first round of seat allocation.

What is Choice Filling and Locking?

Choice filling is when the candidates prioritize their desired colleges and courses in order of preference on the MCC official counselling portal. Locking is when the choices are confirmed so that the system can take them into consideration when giving out seats. Choices cannot be altered once they are locked except when the deadline arrives and they can be unlocked.

Why was the Deadline Extended?

The MCC also extended the deadline following several requests from applicants, with some experiencing technical issues while making choices on the MCC's official portal mcc.nic.in. The authorities did not want any student to miss the opportunity to choose their desired seats securely in a timely manner because of last-minute technical issues or delays.

Key highlights

• Choice filling and locking till: August 11, 2025 (11:59 PM)
• Round 1 seat allotment result on: August 11 or shortly thereafter
• Candidates should visit the MCC website periodically for updates.

How to Fill and Lock Choices?

1. Go to the MCC official website at mcc.nic.in.
2. Login via your NEET 2025 roll number and password or application number.
3. Scroll through the list of available colleges and courses.
4. Choose preferred colleges in choice order.
5. Lock your choices prior to the deadline to ensure confirmation.
6. Save and download the confirmation slip for future use.

After declaring the round 1 seat allotment results, the candidates who have been allotted a seat have to report for admission formalities to the respective college within the provided timelines. Candidates who do not receive a seat or who are not content with the seat allotted can opt to attend later counselling rounds.

MCC has also implemented priority groups for Non-Resident Indians (NRI) and their family members for All India Quota seats. Candidates are recommended to enter preferences judiciously since seat allotment relies upon rank, preference, reservation criteria, and available seats. Check the official MCC website regularly for updates and notifications in real-time.

Extension of choice filling deadline to August 11 assists candidates in making definite final career decisions confidently and prevents anxiety due to last-minute mistakes or site problems. It also demonstrates MCC's concern for a transparent and just counselling process for India's next generation doctors and dentists.

Ganesh festival celebration money collection from students of Kurnool Medical College (KMC), suspected by a group of first year MBBS students as a case of ragging, has raised a scare among parents and the authorities. Again, the administration of the college categorically ruled out the occurrence of any case of ragging.

When going for fine collection, some of the senior students were said to have acted violently, and harassed first year students in their hostel rooms. Could no longer take pressure anymore, some of the first year students complained to the college authorities, and thus there was general alarm.

The problem soon snowballed, and attracted the wrath of the National Medical Commission (NMC), which acted decisively. The NMC requested the college administration to submit a report on the problem in detail.

Fueling the flames further, State Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav stepped in, calling up the college principal, and requesting him to explain.

No ragging had taken place: KMC principal

He said that such incidents were bringing a bad reputation to medical institutions, and promised strict action if the complaints were proved to be true.

The Health Minister also told the principal to put forward the report of the Anti-Ragging Committee at the earliest. There would be no leniency towards any harassment or misbehavior by seniors in educational institutions, he declared.

But in a press statement issued on Saturday, Dr K Chitti Narasamma, the principal of the medical college, went flat out and stated categorically that there had been no ragging.

Referring to the results of the in-house inquiry, she said, "There is no substance to the ragging allegations. The college Anti-Ragging Committee made an in-depth inquiry, one-to-one with students, and recorded statements in writing. During the investigation, nowhere were the students in a position to establish instances of ragging."

The principal himself, however, clarified that money collection was a part of regular annual festival activity utilized to be traditionally arranged by hostel students and not on a ragging basis.

Additionally, she assured that in case any student is harassed or disturbed under the guise of Ganesh celebrations, action will be initiated.

In addition to this, alumni and students have also put forward requests for more openness, requesting that the college give preference to student welfare and make such festivals voluntary rather than based on competition between juniors and seniors or coercion